The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has approved Cape Wind's Chapter 91 Waterways application. 

In the letter notifying Cape Wind of their decision, a DEP official stated, "the Department determines that the proposed project serves a proper public interest which provides greater public benefit than detriment to the public's rights in said tidelands". 

Cape Wind's proposal to build America's first offshore wind farm on Horseshoe Shoal would provide three-quarters of the electricity used on Cape Cod and the Islands from clean, renewable energy - reducing this region's need to import oil, coal and gas. Cape Wind will also reduce global warming greenhouse gas emissions by 734,000 tons per year.

Cape Wind is proposing America's first offshore wind farm on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound. The project  would place 130 turbines about 4.7 miles off upscale Cape Cod. The wind turbines will be spaced six to nine football fields apart, allowing plenty of navigational room for shallow draft boats that pass through or fish Horseshoe Shoal. Cape Wind has been endorsed by the Maritime Trades Council and the Seafarers International Union, the largest fleet of commercial fishermen in New England.

Cape Wind communications director Mark Rodgers said, "This DEP approval finding Cape Wind serves a proper public interest and providing public benefit moves the project one step closer to its final approval."

Energy Management Inc. (EMI) is the developer of Cape Wind.