Saving Seafood

ICYMI: Secretary Haaland Announces New Five-Year Offshore Wind Leasing Schedule

April 24, 2024 — The following was released by BOEM:

In remarks at the International Partnering Forum conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, today, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced a new five-year offshore wind leasing schedule, which includes up to 12 potential offshore wind energy lease sales through 2028. Future offshore wind energy lease sales from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) are anticipated in the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, and the waters offshore of the U.S. territories in the next five years. The leasing schedule includes four potential offshore lease sales in 2024, one each in 2025 and 2026, two in 2027, and four in 2028. More information can be found on BOEM’s website.

Offshore wind sparks new lawsuits

April 18, 2024 — A federal lawsuit has been filed against the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and three other federal agencies for an offshore wind project off the coast of Rhode Island.

Non-partisan, Rhode Island-based Green Oceans has filed the lawsuit, claiming the bureau has broken the law by giving Danish energy company Orsted permits for their South Fork Wind and Revolution Wind projects.

Dr Lisa Quattrocki Knight, the president and co-founder of Green Oceans, said their lawsuit is about where these wind farms will be located — at Coxes Ledge off the Rhode Island coast.

“It is an incredibly biodiverse marine ecosystem that NOAA designated in November as a habitat of particular concern because it is one of the last remaining spawning grounds for southern New England Cod,” Quattrocki Knight said. “And is a winter foraging region for five endangered whale species. Nothing should ever have been developed on Coxes Ledge and yet they have gone ahead and permitted these two projects.”

Read the full story at WSHU

 

BOEM Approves Eighth Offshore Wind Farm Surpassing Third of U.S. Goal

April 3, 2024 — Regulatory efforts continue to accelerate pushing forward with the plans to develop the U.S. offshore wind energy sector. The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved the eighth large offshore wind farm for the U.S. surpassing 10 GW of approved capacity and the ability to power nearly 4 million homes.

The federal Record of Decision was issued to Avangrid, a member of the Iberdrola Group, for its two-phase New England Wind project. The decision comes a little over a month after BOEM completed the final Environmental Impact Statement for the project. The final step in the federal process is anticipated for July 2024 with the approval of its Construction and Operations Plan.

The proposal calls for the development of a project comprising 129 wind turbines, with up to five offshore export cables. They are proposing to bring the power ashore in Barnstable and Bristol County, Massachusetts. Last week, Avangrid submitted proposals in the coordinated wind solicitation between Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The states plan to announce the selected projects in August with Avangrid highlighting that New England Wind is an advanced project and “shovel-ready” set to proceed quickly once the approvals are in place

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

Fishing industry reels over Biden’s destructive wind farm plan: It’s ‘coming at us from every direction’

March 27, 2024 — Time is running out for fishermen and women in the Northeast who fear their industry is being put at risk by the Biden administration’s renewable energy agenda.

“Ground fishermen, lobstermen, whatever you are, you’re under the microscope right now, and it just seems to be something coming at us from every direction,” New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA) COO Dustin Delano said on “The Big Money Show” Monday.

“And with this offshore wind agenda out there to attempt to fight climate change,” he continued, “it’s almost like environmentalists and different folks are willing to destroy the environment to protect the environment.”

Two weeks ago, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), an agency within the Department of Interior, announced the finalization of what is known as a wind energy area (WEA), which is an area of the ocean that would allot for construction of enough wind turbines to produce 32 gigawatts (GW) of energy.

Read the full article at FOX Business

Ørsted Greenlights Seventh US Offshore Wind Farm as it Gets BOEM Approval

March 27, 2024 — The U.S. continues to push forward with its efforts to develop renewable offshore wind energy with the Biden administration highlighting that it has approved the seventh offshore wind farm. This comes as the latest in the series of rapid developments as the efforts reach the conclusion of the long permitting process and the administrations seek to add more opportunities into the pipeline.

The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today issued the Record of Decision for the Sunrise Wind project to provide power to New York State. It is a key hurdle for the project that was first auctioned in 2013. BOEM’s issuance of the Record of Decision formally concludes its National Environmental Policy Act review process and precedes the anticipated approval of Sunrise Wind’s Construction and Operations Plan, expected this summer.

The lease area is located approximately 16.4 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and approximately 26.5 nm east of Montauk, New York. The project calls for a capacity of 924 MW which they report will provide power for the equivalent of 600,000 homes in New York State.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

US Speeds Offshore Wind Farm Development with More Reviews and Tax Guidance

March 25, 2024 — The Biden administration continues to place a high priority on offshore wind as a key part of the country’s renewable energy strategy and is taking steps to support and accelerate the development of the industry. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced plans to start the environmental review for another project while the Treasury Department finally issued long-awaited updates on the tax credits the industry views as essential to its planning.

BOEM reports that it will commence the environmental review of the plan submitted for Vineyard Northeast, the second project from Copenhagen Investment Partners which already has the Vineyard Wind Farm under construction with Avangrid. This second project calls for 2.6 GW of capacity located 29 miles offshore of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

The Vineyard Northeast proposal includes the installation of up to 160 wind turbine generators, up to three electrical service platforms, and one booster station in an adjacent lease area. It also envisions two offshore export cable corridors, one to Connecticut and one to Massachusetts, and associated onshore transmission systems.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

Next BOEM studies will examine Gulf of Maine, NJ wind conflicts

March 19, 2024 — The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on March 18 opened two new environmental assessments of offshore wind power: one for the agency’s proposed Gulf of Maine wind energy areas, the other for the Atlantic Shores project off New Jersey.

Both proposals are hotly contested by ocean user groups, but supported by Northeast state political leaders along with the Biden administration. The processes opened March 18 with a “notice of intent” in the Federal Register, and come as the budding U.S. offshore wind industry remains under financial and supply-chain setbacks.

The Gulf of Maine wind energy area includes around 2 million acres off Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, from 23 mile to 92 miles offshore, according to BOEM. The agency says that is an 80 percent reduction from a much broader area initially examined by BOEM, and a further 43 percent down from an early draft plan.

BOEM officials say their process sought to avoid lobster and other fishing areas and habitats. In its own August 2023 summary report, the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association said BOEM should have conducted an environmental review before outlining wind energy areas, and warned of threats to lobster, haddock and endangered right whales.

In a joint statement Tuesday with 16 other New England fishing groups, NEFSA called BOEM’s planning “the culmination of a rushed development process that is poorly informed on economic, scientific, environmental and cultural issues of paramount importance. Without adequate consideration of these issues, leasing in BOEM’s WEA designation should not be pursued.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NEW JERSEY: Atlantic Shores offshore wind farm in New Jersey would have 157 turbines and be 8.4 miles from shore

March 18, 2024 — An offshore wind power project proposed for New Jersey would have 157 turbines and be located 8.4 miles (13.5 kilometers) from shore at its closest point, data released by the federal government Friday shows.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it will begin an environmental review Monday of the Atlantic Shores project. It released key details of the project in announcing the environmental review.

New Jersey energy regulators approved Atlantic Shores’ 1,510 megawatt project in 2021. It would generate enough electricity to power more than 700,000 homes.

The federal agency said the project’s operations plan proposes two potential export cable corridors that would make landfall in Sea Girt, New Jersey, with a second one either in Asbury Park or in the New York City area, possibly on Staten Island.

Read the full article at the Associated Press 

BOEM Advancing Offshore Wind Energy for New Jersey and Gulf of Maine

March 18, 2024 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management mapped out its next two steps in the ongoing efforts to implement the United States’ offshore wind energy program. A day after the U.S. marked the completion of its first large offshore wind farm, the agency overseeing the development process reports it is beginning the environmental review for the 1.5 GW Atlantic Shores North wind farm off New Jersey while the same time has completed the designation of a massive two-million-acre Wind Energy Area in the Gulf of Maine.

“BOEM is continuing to implement the Biden-Harris administration’s clean energy agenda, while maintaining a careful approach to prevent, reduce, and address any adverse effects on ocean users and the marine ecosystem,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. “As an integral part of our environmental assessments, we will continue to actively solicit feedback from Tribes; federal, state, and local government partners; the fishing community; and the public to help guide our actions.”

The launching of the effort to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Construction and Operation Plan for the Atlantic Shores project marks the twelfth wind energy COP environmental review they have initiated. It is another step toward the goal of 30 GW of offshore wind energy capacity in the U.S. by 2030.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

Interior cuts Gulf of Maine offshore wind area

March 18, 2024 — The Interior Department will not sell offshore wind rights in the Gulf of Maine’s prime lobster area in an upcoming auction, according to a final plan released Friday on where to advance wind energy in the north Atlantic Ocean.

Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it has designated roughly 2 million acres in the Gulf of Maine for potential wind energy, enough to support 32 gigawatts of renewable electricity. The area is 40 percent smaller than a draft plan BOEM released last year and avoids habitat for the endangered North American right whale.

The move is a significant step toward holding the first auction in those waters later this year and could boost floating wind technology, an emerging field needed for deep waters. The final wind energy area lies off the coasts of Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, ranging from 23 to 92 miles from the coastline.

Read the full article at E&E News