After nearly a decade of intense opposition, one of the country's highest-profile and most controversial wind energy projects - a wind farm just offshore from Cape Cod -- may be poised for approval to move forward. The long and difficult path faced by the project provides some teaching opportunities as renewable energy projects pick up momentum with the vocal support of the Obama administration. Attorney Scott Deatherage of the Dallas office of Thompson & Knight says that the Cape Wind project illustrates the need to mitigate any environmental concerns or perceived intrusions by offshore wind farms. To assuage neighbors' concerns, Cape Wind developers have proposed painting the massive wind turbines so that they will blend in with the horizon, among other things.

"Increasingly both the public and the government want to promote renewable energy and address concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Projects like Cape Wind and what we're seeing along the Texas Gulf Coast suggest that wind energy production and any impact on aesthetics and the environment can be balanced," Deatherage says. 

Indeed, the U.S. wind power industry grew by a staggering 39 percent in 2009, according to the New York Times.