Cape Wind had arranged to borrow $2 billion from The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU), and Siemens had agreed to supply turbines for the project.

National Grid and Northeast Utilities eventually terminated their power purchase agreements in January 2015, making it difficult to obtain the necessary financing for the project to progress.

[11][12] At the time the project was envisioned, 45% of the Cape region's electricity came from the nearby Canal Generating Plant in Sandwich, a bunker oil and natural gas run facility.

At the state and local level, according to the Boston Globe, Cape Wind needed approval from the Cape Cod Commission; "a Chapter 91 license from the Department of Environmental Protection; a water quality certification from the state DEP; access permits from the Massachusetts Highway Department for work along state highways; a license from the Executive Office of Transportation for a railway crossing; orders of conditions from the Yarmouth and Barnstable Conservation Commissions; and road opening permits from Yarmouth and Barnstable.

[25] On 31 August 2010, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled 4–2 that the state had the power to overrule community opposition and granted the Cape Wind project a suite of local permits it needed to start construction.

"[27] At the federal level, Cape Wind originally applied for a permit in 2001 under Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 with the US Army Corps of Engineers.

[2] In a public comment period, many federal agencies, local governments, and community groups found that the draft EIS had deficiencies.

Whereas Cape Wind had expected to obtain approval quickly from the Army Corps, this transfer of authority to the MMS delayed the project.

[43] In Summer 2011, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) filed a lawsuit against the federal government for allowing Cape Wind to move forward.

[45] In July 2016, an appeals court ruled that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had not obtained "sufficient site-specific data on seafloor" as obligated by the National Environmental Policy Act.

[51] In January 2015, National Grid and Northeast Utilities cited Cape Wind's failure to obtain financing by 31 December 31, 2014 as grounds for terminating their contract.

National Grid spokesman Jake Navarro said the company was "disappointed that Cape Wind has been unable to meet its commitments under the contract, resulting in today's termination of the power purchase agreement".

[53] Because Cape Wind was positioning its project as a potential ecotourism destination, it was criticized for disguising (or greenwashing) its industrial aspects.

[58] Phillip Scudder, owner of the Hy-Line ferry service on Cape Cod, originally opposed the project because he wondered how to navigate around the turbines when going to Martha's Vineyard, but changed his opposition to support in light of the economic opportunity to provide "eco-tours.

[60] Other opponents included the late Senator Ted Kennedy,[61] former Governor Mitt Romney, and businessman Bill Koch,[62] who has donated $1.5 million to the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and the state’s junior senator John Kerry supported Cape Wind after it had passed key federal review thresholds.

Proponents suggested that some opposition was motivated in part by ownership of real-estate on Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard or the mainland and that it raised issues of environmental justice.

[65][66] A 2007 book by Robert Whitcomb, Vice President and Editorial Page Editor of the Providence Journal, and Wendy Williams argued that the fight over Cape Wind involved a powerful, privileged minority imposing its will on the majority.

[67] In 2014, a judge dismissed the 26th lawsuit against Cape Wind and commented "There comes a point at which the right to litigate can become a vexatious abuse of the democratic process.

"[68][69] In January 2015, Ian Bowles, the Massachusetts Energy and Environment head, cited the recent breach of contract from Cape Wind as indicating that the development most likely had been abandoned, "Presumably, this means the project will not move forward.

The winner, Democrat Deval Patrick, supported the project; his Republican opponent, former Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, opposed it.

William Koch, who opposed the Cape Wind project, was also a major contributor to Romney's presidential election, donating a record two million dollars.

[73] In the 2012 Massachusetts Senate race, Scott Brown, the Republican incumbent, opposed Cape Wind while his Democratic challenger and the election winner, Elizabeth Warren supported the project.

An independent production, the filmmaker interviewed subjects from both sides of the debate including Jim Gordon, the driving force behind Cape Wind and Isaac Rosen, then director of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.

[76] Wendy Williams and Robert Whitcomb wrote a book about the project's history called Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound.

[77] In an interview, one of the authors stated that the fight over Cape Wind was a case of "a very small group of people, with more money than most of us can possibly imagine, who decided from the very beginning [...] that they didn't want it there, it would upset their martini time.

[78] During the 4 November 2008 election, 87% of voters in eleven Massachusetts towns on the south shore, near but not on the Cape, voted yes on Question 4, a non-binding question that read, "Should the state representative from this district be instructed to vote in favor of legislation that would support the development of Cape Wind in Nantucket Sound and other possible future onshore and offshore wind power developments in Massachusetts?"

The measure was voted on by the towns of Braintree, Holbrook, Randolph, Cohasset, Hingham, Hull, Marshfield, Scituate, Hanover, Norwell, and Rockland.