June 9, 2023 — A legislative committee on Wednesday approved a bill to boost offshore wind power.
The measure sets a goal for the Public Utilities Commission to contract for 3,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy installed by 2040.
Biden administration unveils USD 2.6 billion in coastal resilience and tribal fisheries funding
June 9, 2023 — The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden announced a framework for distributing USD 2.6 billion (EUR 2.4 billion) in funding for coastal resilience and fisheries support made available through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
The money will go toward fisheries conservation, Tribal priorities, and a new competitive grant program to develop regional approaches to climate resilience.
Commercial Fishermen Urge Supreme Court to Reel In Agency Authority
June 8, 2023 — The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case challenging its landmark 1984 decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. The high court’s ruling could have important implications on federal officials’ discretion to regulate in many facets of American life.
Background and Chevron
When Congress delegates regulatory functions to administrative agencies, the delegating statute governs the agency’s ability to act. That is, the statute itself sets the agency’s boundaries and an agency may not regulate or take actions outside the scope of its delegated authority. But what happens when an agency takes actions that exceed the scope of its delegated authority? Or what happens when it is unclear from the statute whether an agency even has authority? For more than 200 years, the federal judiciary has served as a critical “check” on the powers and actions of the executive and legislative branches of government.
“Chevron deference” has become one of the most well-known precedents in administrative law. Arising from the Supreme Court’s landmark 1984 decision in Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., it is based on the principle that an agency, with its expertise, is better positioned than a judge to know a statute’s meaning and, thus, it requires judges to defer to “reasonable” interpretations of ambiguous statutes.
NEW YORK: NY offshore wind developers also seek price relief
June 8, 2023 — MAJOR OFFSHORE wind developers in New York say their projects may no longer be financially viable unless regulators amend their power purchase agreements to include adjustments for inflation and interconnection costs.
In petitions filed with state regulators on Wednesday, the New York wind farm operators followed the same script as developers in Massachusetts, who say their projects have been overwhelmed by inflation, rising interest rates, supply chain disruption, and the war in Ukraine.
The Massachusetts developers initially sought to modify their existing power purchase agreements, but when that plea fell on deaf ears at the Department of Public Utilities they moved to terminate the agreements they signed last year and rebid the projects at higher prices in a procurement coming in 2024.
In New York, the developers are asking state regulators to agree to price adjustments in the existing contracts. They point out that New York has approved including similar price adjustments as part of the state’s third offshore wind procurement process, and now should retroactively apply them to contracts approved in the first two procurements.
NEW JERSEY: Offshore wind encounters turbulence over NJ
June 8, 2023 — The offshore wind industry’s troubles continue to pile up — not only in New Jersey but in neighboring states along the Eastern Seaboard.
On Wednesday, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities President Joseph Fiordaliso, perhaps one of the sector’s biggest advocates, let loose with an uncharacteristic rant at a developer in the emerging industry. Although he did not name the company, it was seen as a reference to Ørsted, which owns and is developing New Jersey’s initial offshore wind project.
Fiordaliso expressed frustration over repeated delays in moving forward with the project. “Your delays are intolerable,’’ he said. As was his custom, he had an offshore wind logo pinned on his suit.
“We cannot afford any more delays,’’ Fiordaliso said, adding there are no delays in the pace of climate change. “Some of the things that are being delayed are indefensible.’’
The agency, which is overseeing the state’s offshore wind efforts, also deferred action on a related issue that Brian Lipman, director of the Division of Rate Counsel, urged the regulators to delay. In a letter to the agency, Lipman said his office had no opportunity to assess the potential impact of a proposal to make changes in how the state connects electricity generated by the wind farms to the power grid.
MAINE: Maine bill to pay lobstermen to test new gear gets initial Senate approval
June 8, 2023 — A bill to help Maine lobstermen test new gear in preparation for potential federal restrictions meant to protect endangered right whales gained unanimous bipartisan approval in the Senate.
The bill seeks to set aside $1 million a year for the next two years to help lobstermen comply with federal regulations that could kick-in within six years.
The industry has faced intense pressure in recent years as federal officials have instituted restrictions to try to save the whales, which are believed to number fewer than 340.
Following the Senate vote on Tuesday, bill sponsor Sen. Eloise Vitelli (D-Arrowsic) said federal regulators have “targeted Maine’s lobster industry as a scapegoat.”
How Warming Ruined a Crab Fishery and Hurt an Alaskan Town
June 8, 2023 — On a normal winter day on St. Paul, an island in the Bering Sea some 300 miles off the Alaskan coast, the community would be humming with activity. At the Trident Seafood crab processing plant, the diesel engines of commercial crab boats would be gurgling, and lifts would be running nonstop, transferring thousands of pounds of snow crab into the plant. “Those sounds are a reminder that money is coming in,” St. Paul’s city manager, Phil Zavadil, said in February from his office in city hall. But instead, St. Paul, a mostly Aleut community of just under 500, was silent. From “an environmental aesthetic point of view,” Zavadil admitted, the quiet was nice. “But it translates into the real-world [budget] cuts we’re experiencing now.”
In early October 2022, for the first time ever, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game canceled the Bering Sea season for snow crab (also known as opilio crab) after an annual survey revealed an almost total population collapse. No Bering Sea community was hit harder than St. Paul, whose economy relies almost entirely on snow crab, thanks to Trident, whose plant there is the largest crab processing facility in North America. Most of Trident’s some 400 workers are seasonal and come from outside St. Paul, but the facility generates millions for the city through a “landing tax” imposed on commercial fishing boats, a tax on crab sales, and fees for fuel, supplies, and support services for the snow crab fleet.
Heather McCarty, of the Central Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association, which manages community fisheries allocations for St. Paul, said in February that the city’s tax revenues went from about $2.5 million two years ago to approximately $200,000 this year. “It was all snow crab all the time,” she said at the time. “[Now] they have about a year’s worth of reserves that will allow them to survive with the municipal services relatively intact, but, after that, it’s anybody’s guess how they’ll actually pay for really basic things.”
Local fisheries manager calls for balance in PIRA sanctuary designation
June 8, 2023 — While supportive of marine preservation and conservation efforts, locally-based, Feli Fisheries Inc., asserts “that these must be balanced with the preservation of the livelihoods and lifestyle of the American Samoan people.”
This is part of Feli Fisheries’ comment letter, submitted by Edgar Feliciano, the company’s Fleet & Operations Manager, in response to the federal proposal for marine sanctuary designation for the Pacific Remote Island Areas (PIRA) — a move that would expand the Pacific Remote Island Marine National Monument.
Feliciano informed federal fishery regulators that the proposed discontinuation of the traditional fishing areas represents far-reaching implications, extending beyond the immediate scope of the Pacific Remote Island Marine National Monument enlargement.
“These impacts and resultant actions are interconnected and cannot be regarded as isolated events,” he said.
Feliciano declared that the “proposed extension of an already enlarged Marine National Monument throughout the Pacific region may precipitate unfavorable consequences for the US Purse Seine Fleet, potentially destabilizing American Samoa’s economy, inclusive of the local American Samoa-based US Longline Fleet.
World Ocean Day surveys reveal sustainability a big concern for seafood consumers
June 8, 2023 — A number of organizations released new data on the 15th annual World Ocean Day on 8 June that highlights consumer desire for greater ocean protection.
A new poll conducted by Morning Consult for the Walton Family Foundation targeted U.S. consumers, and found the majority of Americans think ocean health is important.
Higher prices forcing US shoppers to get creative to keep eating seafood
June 8, 2023 — U.S. shoppers are spending more on groceries this year as they balance their desire for quality and healthiness with the higher cost of food, including seafood, according to two new surveys.
Besides cost, American consumers are also considering eating well, quality, nutrition, freshness, convenience, family food preferences, individual cooking skills and habits, and individual shopping experiences when deciding whether to purchase a particular food product, according to the Food Industry Association (FMI) Vice President of Research and Insights Steve Markenson. Health attributes, quality, and sustainability are also factors in seafood-purchasing decisions being made by U.S. consumers in 2023, Markenson said.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 540
- 541
- 542
- 543
- 544
- …
- 3599
- Next Page »