Interior Secretary meets with Mass. tribes

OAK BLUFFS, Mass. (AP) – The man who holds the fate of a proposed energy-generating wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod in his hands is meeting with Indian tribes opposed to the project.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is scheduled to meet Tuesday with leaders of the Mashpee Wampanoags and the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah and take a boat tour of the wind farm site in Nantucket Sound.

Developers have proposed erecting 130 turbines, each over 400 feet tall, over a 25-square mile swath of federal waters in the sound, several miles from the shore.

Supporters say the project will provide cheaper energy, reduce pollution and create green jobs. The tribes are opposed, saying the wind farm would interfere with their ancient and sacred rituals, and desecrate tribal burial sites.