Saving Seafood

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

MAINE: Maine leaders praise decision protecting vital lobstering territory from wind development

March 18, 2024 — Gov. Janet Mills and state congressional leaders on Friday praised a decision by a federal agency to exclude an important lobster fishing ground from the area in the Gulf of Maine that will be leased for offshore wind development.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on Friday released its final designated Wind Energy Area for the Gulf of Maine, which the agency said could ultimately support the generation of 32 gigawatts of clean energy.

The area excludes the entirety of Lobster Management Area 1, which is a crucial fishing ground for Maine’s lobster industry. That decision comes after Mills, Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins, and Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden repeatedly asked last year for that fishing ground to be excluded from the project.

“We appreciate that the Bureau has heeded our concerns and the majority of the concerns of Maine’s fishing communities in its final designation of Wind Energy Areas for the Gulf of Maine,” Mills, King, Collins and Pingree said in a statement. “This decision preserves vital fishing grounds and seeks to minimize potential environmental and ecological impacts to the Gulf of Maine.”

Read the full article at Rhode Island Current

Possibility Of Another Offshore Wind Farm Gaining Steam

February 28, 2024 — A second offshore wind farm is one step closer to becoming a reality and yes, it would be in the vicinity of Nantucket.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced on Monday that they have completed an environmental review of the proposed New England Wind project – which would be just 24 nautical miles southwest of Nantucket. BOEM’s decision whether to approve the project or not will be no earlier than April 2024.

The review was completed by BOEM in support of the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030.

BOEM estimates the proposed project would generate up to 2,600 megawatts (MW) of electricity, enough to power more than 900,000 homes with clean, renewable energy.

“Diverse public input was essential to BOEM’s careful and thorough analysis of the environmental impact of the proposed New England Wind project,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. “This document demonstrates the administration’s steady progress towards attaining clean energy goals that will better the lives of Americans now and in the future.”

Read the full article at the Nantucket Current 

BOEM Releases Final Environmental Report as New England Wind Nears Approval

February 27, 2024 — The U.S. offshore wind energy sector continues to develop momentum as the Biden administration continues forward with its clean energy agenda. In the latest development, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) completed its environmental review of the proposed New England Wind project offshore Massachusetts. This month, BOEM completed this review as well as approved the construction plan for Empire Wind, and defined the Oregon offshore wind area.

Today’s announcement highlights the time involved in the review process which several projects have now completed. The first lease for the site originally known as Vineyard Wind South was awarded in 2015 but in 2021 was transferred by Avangrid to Park City Wind and renamed New England Wind. The comment period on the draft environmental impact statement closed a year ago.

BOEM has completed the process and will publish the final statement at the end of this week. They note that they considered 776 comments received when developing the Final EIS for this project. The final environmental impact statement (Final EIS) analyzes the potential environmental impacts of the activities laid out in the New England Wind project’s construction and operations plan and reasonable alternatives.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

Feds complete environmental review for New England Wind

February 26, 2024 — Another offshore wind project off the coast of the Vineyard is a step closer to coming to fruition.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced in a Monday press release it has completed an environmental review of the proposed New England Wind project, formerly known as Vineyard Wind South.

The agency will issue a record of decision on whether the project is approved no earlier than April, according to the release.

New England Wind is an offshore wind project proposed to be located 20 nautical miles from the southwestern corner of Martha’s Vineyard and about 24 nautical miles from Nantucket. The project is expected to generate 2,600 megawatts of power, which the release states would be enough to power over 900,000 homes.

Read the full article at The Martha’s Vineyard Times

BOEM Approves Controversial Wind Energy Areas off Oregon

February 14, 2024 — After a months-long process of engagement with local fishermen and tribes, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has designated two final Wind Energy Areas off the Oregon Coast. Despite local opposition and skepticism from fisheries stakeholders, the areas will still go forward in BOEM’s planning process, but will be 11 percent smaller.

BOEM’s initial draft wind areas announced in August 2023 would have allowed the development of about 220,000 acres off Brookings and Coos Bay, with power generation potential of about 2.6 GW. After months of stakeholder meetings, held at the request of the state’s governor and both of its senators, the revised final areas cover about 195,000 acres – about 11 percent smaller than the draft – and have about 2.4 GW of generation potential. The physical locations and distances from shore are comparable to the draft areas.

The final result drew scathing criticism from the local fishing industry. Heather Mann, executive director of the Coos Bay-based Midwater Trawlers Cooperative, called BOEM’s engagement process “a slap in the face to Oregon’s coastal communities.”

“The final wind energy areas are slightly different from the draft wind energy areas produced earlier this year, but certainly not an acceptable or meaningful response to the many concerns including those raised by tribes, fishermen, marine scientists, environmentalists, and state and federal legislators,” said Mann.

Read the full article at the Maritime Executive

BOEM disregards Oregon objections and pushes forward with offshore wind energy areas

February 14, 2024 — The following was released by the Midwaters Trawlers Cooperative:

Despite overwhelming opposition from tribes, fishing organizations and coastal communities, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced the release of the final wind energy areas (WEAs) off Oregon’s south coast today. The WEAs remain unchanged from the draft areas released earlier this year. State agencies, fishermen, environmentalists, state legislators and others raised significant concerns about the draft WEAs, apparently to no avail.

“This is a slap in the face to the many stakeholders who have been trying to engage with BOEM for the last few years,” said Heather Mann, Director of the Midwater Trawlers Cooperative. “BOEM is a rogue federal agency pushing a dangerous agenda largely unchecked. BOEM will stop at nothing until our oceans are littered with wind turbines and all just to meet an arbitrary political deadline.”

Three weeks ago, Oregon’s Coastal Caucus sent BOEM a follow-up letter detailing concerns about the flawed BOEM process and the need for authentic engagement which most agree has not occurred. Oregon state legislators noted, “Coastal community members and individuals tied to the fishing industry have overwhelmingly spoken with great opposition towards offshore wind. These concerns have been echoed by marine scientists, engineers, environmentalists, tribes, and coastal municipalities. We cannot move forward with offshore wind in Oregon until the needs and concerns of these groups have been addressed.”

Mann said authentic engagement with BOEM has been non-existent. “The final wind energy areas are in prime fishing grounds where millions of pounds of sustainable seafood have been harvested. The areas are prime habitat for marine mammals and include nursery grounds for important fish species. BOEM is pitting renewable energy against sustainable food production.”

Fourth-generation fisherman Chris Cooper was also caught off guard by the announcement. “I am shocked and I’m angry,” he said. Cooper has plied the waters off southern Oregon for years. “We gave BOEM our track lines for where we fish, and I guess they have decided that our businesses and livelihoods are worth trading off to create gigantic wind farms. We will not be able to fish in these areas and we have no idea what the impact of these installations will be on the fish species found in there.”

The scale of floating offshore wind being contemplated for the West Coast does not currently exist anywhere in the world. The technology is also not successfully deployed in waters deeper than 300 meters. The WEAs finalized by BOEM for floating turbines off the Oregon coast are at 1300 meters.

Mann summed the situation up by saying, “This is a giant experiment and unfortunately, Oregon’s seafood industry and coastal communities are the ones who will end up paying the price.”

According to the BOEM announcement, the next steps in the process involve preparation of an environmental assessment of potential impacts in those areas. This will include a 30-day public comment period, during which concerned citizens are encouraged by Mann to voice their opposition.

Farther offshore, next New York Bight wind leases still draw opponents

February 12, 2024 — Six offshore wind lease areas in the New York Bight are more than 30 miles offshore of the region’s bustling suburbs and seaside resorts – distance that might have defused resistance to the wind energy projects before.

Now opposition groups that grew in reaction to nearshore projects, like Ørsted’s cancelled Ocean Wind plan off New Jersey, show few signs they will accept a new round of proposals farther east to the horizon.

Over 100 visitors walked through a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management public scoping session Feb. 8 in a Toms River, N.J., hotel meeting room, talking to BOEM workers and giving the agency testimony in video interviews and writing. The agency has grown to prefer the low-key scoping process – in-person and online – to fulfill its legal obligations to gather public input short of full-blown public hearings.

The visitors were not shy with opinions.

“What we’re really worried about is the cabling. It’s death,” said Ed Baxter, a commercial fisherman with the Fishermen’s Dock Cooperative in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.

The offshore leases now being planned for wind power development would need turbine towers linked by a network of power cables, and linked by energy export cables coming ashore near New York City and Sea Girt, N.J. A future cable network would potentially shut mobile gear fisheries like scallop dredging out of those routes, if fishermen can’t be safe that their gear won’t snag on cables, said Baxter.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman