Vast majority continues to support Cape Wind

The proposed 130-turbine wind farm for Nantucket Sound continues to enjoy widespread acceptance in Massachusetts, according to poll results that show four out of five residents support the controversial project.

That support disappears somewhat among residents of Cape Cod and the Islands, where opponents have focused their campaign against the project. The results of the new poll - released on Wednesday by the Civil Society Institute, a Newton-based think tank that often focuses on energy issues - show that about three out of five Cape and Islands residents support the offshore wind farm.

The polling, which was conducted by Opinion Research Corp. from July 25 through Aug. 2 by phone and involved 600 Bay State residents, shows no statistical change in the popular opinion of the Cape Wind project from a similar Civil Society Institute poll taken in May 2006.

Last year, 82 percent of the respondents said they support Cape Wind, compared with 14 percent who were opposed. In the most recent survey, 84 percent said they support the project, while 14 percent said they opposed it.

''It's hard to get 84 percent of the people of Massachusetts to agree on anything,'' said Mark Rodgers, spokesman for project developer Cape Wind Associates. ''To have that kind of support for Cape Wind is very gratifying.''

On the Cape and Islands, 58 percent supported the project in the most recent poll, compared with 61 percent last year.

''Even on the Cape and Islands, we're holding our own in the face of a barrage of paid advertising that the Alliance (to Protect Nantucket Sound) has been engaging all summer,'' Rodgers said.

Audra Parker, director of strategic planning for the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, questioned the statistical validity of the sample of Cape and Islands residents because only about 60 were surveyed. She said other polls in the region show the opposition at a dead heat with the supporters, or even with a slight lead.

''The closer you are to the point of impact or bearing the cost (of the project), the more likely you are to be opposed to the project,'' Parker said.

The survey question mentioned three criticisms that have been made against the project: its potential impact on Nantucket Sound views, recreational sailing and birds who fly over the sound. Parker said the question should also have mentioned navigational concerns raised by ferry captains and managers at the Barnstable Municipal Airport.

Parker also said the poll didn't offer respondents the opportunity to register support for a deep-water alternative to Cape Wind that could be built south of Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket.

''People are viewing this as wind or no wind, when that's not the issue,'' Parker said.

The Cape Wind project, which would be built nearly six miles south of the Barnstable coast, is nearing a crucial threshold. The U.S. Minerals Management Service is expected to issue a draft environmental report on the project within the next month, Rodgers said.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued its own draft in November 2004. But Congress in 2005 moved the final authority over offshore wind projects to the Minerals Management Service, creating a significant bureaucratic delay for Cape Wind.

Rodgers said the federal agency could make a final decision on the project by sometime in mid-2008. Construction could take about two years, although litigation could further delay the project.

Three years ago, the project's total price tag was pegged at about $800 million. Rodgers said the project is now expected to cost more than a $1 billion because of steel costs and the rising global demand for wind turbines.

Jon Chesto of The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, Mass.) may be reached at jchesto@ledger.com.