Capitol Comments

First Offshore Wind Farm Gets Green Light

By Mikel Chavers, CSG Associate Editor

After nine years of being put in a holding pattern by the federal government, regulators approved the first wind farm in the U.S. called Cape Wind, off the coast of Massachusetts, according to The New York Times. The offshore wind farm will use giant wind turbines placed in the water off the coast of Cape Cod. The turbines will use the stronger wind off the coast to generate electricity.

Offshore wind farms must wait to get the OK from the federal government because they are technically on federal property offshore and do not fall under state jurisdictions.

States Opt Out of First Phase of Federal Health Reform

By Mikel Chavers, CSG Associate Editor

Some states won’t have anything to do with the first wave of federal health care reform—here comes a new round of challenges to the new federal law.

Under the first phase of the new law, states must decide if they will form new high-risk insurance pools for people with pre-existing medical conditions who are unable to get private health insurance—most have been denied coverage because of expensive medical conditions. The pools would allow these folks to get health insurance coverage and would be subsidized by the federal government. So far, Georgia and Nebraska said they won’t operate the new high-risk pools, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Forbes magazine.