NEW BEDFORD — The first meeting of the governor's Fisheries Working Group on Offshore Renewable Energy nearly became the last.
About 30 members of the fishing industry met with state officials Monday in the Wharfinger Building, expressing deep skepticism and often open opposition to the idea of putting as many as 800 wind turbines on a 3,000-square-mile swath of Atlantic Ocean south of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.
Bill White, assistant secretary of federal affairs for the state's Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs, became frustrated that the meeting wasn't generating comments to submit to the Interior Department during what is an extended comment period.
"If you want to say 'no,' we don't need to meet again," White said at one point.
"We're not saying 'no' to anything. These are quick, initial recommendations to submit to the feds. We're sending them during the comment period to make recommendations to minimize impacts."
Yet several people expressed worry that participating in the review process is tantamount to endorsing the idea of wind farms atop a fishery and a critical habitat for spawning fish.
Read the complete story from The South Coast Today.