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A Wind Turbine? Pssh. How About A Whole Farm Of Them?

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Move over Alec Baldwin, there's a new wind turbine plan potentially in the works...and this one's pretty major.

In response to a LIPA's 2010 request for proposals "to provide additional electric capacity, energy and ancillary services", a Rhode Island-based Deepwater Wind submitted a plan to install between 150 and 200, 29 ton wind turbines about 30 miles off the coast of Montauk. If awarded the contract by LIPA, the Deepwater Wind Energy Center could potentially, according to the company's website, "produce enough electricity to power approximately 350,000 homes and displace over 1.7 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually."

And while officials from Deepwater Wind tout the plan's environmental benefits, they're already getting some pushback from Long Island environmental and fishing groups. "They're going to blast the ocean floor," noted the executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association in this week's East Hampton Press. "They don't have any science to show whether or not these things are going to impact upon migratory patterns of fish." The executive director of Concerned Citizens of Montauk echoed those concerns: "We have a lot of questions about what the impacts will be to environmental ecology of the area, but also commercial fishing interests."

Still, the company is optimistic that $4B-$5B project will begin construction next year.

· Company Proposes Wind Turbine Farm Offshore From Montauk [27 East]
· Deepwater Wind Energy Center [Official Site]