Saving Seafood

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

BOEM Seeks Input on Draft Environmental Analysis for Additional Site Assessment Activities on Proposed Wind Energy Project Offshore Massachusetts

February 3, 2024 — The following was released by BOEM:

On Feb. 2, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will publish in the Federal Register the “Notice of Availability (NOA) of a Draft Environmental Assessment (Draft EA) for Additional Site Assessment Activities on Beacon Wind, LLC’s Renewable Energy Lease OCS-A 0520,” opening a 30-day public comment period that ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on Mar. 4, 2024. BOEM invites public comment on the Draft EA for additional site assessment plan (SAP) activities in the Beacon Wind lease area offshore Massachusetts.

The Draft EA analyzes the potential environmental impacts of proposed site assessment activities which consist of 35 deployments and removals of a single suction bucket foundation at 26 locations within the lease area to gather information to support the engineering design of wind turbine and offshore substation foundations that would potentially be installed within the lease area for a future Beacon Wind project.

On Nov. 7, 2023, BOEM published a “Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Assessment for Additional Site Assessment Activities on Beacon Wind, LLC’s Renewable Energy Lease OCS-A 0520.” The amended SAP and Draft EA can be found on BOEM’s webpage.

Virtual Public Meetings 

Two virtual public meetings are proposed during the 30-day comment period for the Draft EA. All times are Eastern:

  • Friday, February 23, 2024; 1 p.m.
  • Wednesday, February 28, 2024; 5 p.m.

How to Submit Comments 

  • Through the regulations.gov web portal: Navigate to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket No. BOEM-2024-0006 to submit public comments and view supporting and related materials available for this notice.  Click on the “Comment” button below the document link.  Enter your information and comment, then click “Submit Comment”; or
  • By U.S. Postal Service or other delivery service: Send your comments and information to the following address: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Office of Renewable Energy Programs, 45600 Woodland Road, Mail Stop VAM-OREP, Sterling, VA 20166.

BOEM seeks comments on important resources and issues, impact-producing factors, and potential mitigating measures analyzed in the Draft EA. The public comments will help inform BOEM’s decision on whether to approve the site assessment plan amendment. Following the comment period, BOEM will review the comments received to include information for consideration in the Beacon Wind Final EA.

More information, including registration for the virtual public meetings, can be found on BOEM’s website.

New wind strategy advanced to protect right whales

February 1, 2024 — The federal government announced a new strategy aimed at protecting the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale while the development of offshore wind ramps up.

The 78-page strategy from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and NOAA Fisheries, released Thursday, Jan. 25, lays out ways to continue evaluating and mitigating the potential effects on the whales and their habitat.

North Atlantic right whales are an endangered species, with an estimated 360 individuals remaining, a population that has been reported to be on the decline. That decline has been felt locally, as a juvenile right whale was found dead in Edgartown on Monday.

While NOAA reports that entanglement in fishing gear and ship strikes are the leading cause of death for the whales, the agency says that ocean noise is also a threat to the species, and sources can include energy exploration and development.

Read the full article at MV Times

Feds look to release plan to protect right whales while expanding wind power

January 29, 2024 — With whale deaths and offshore wind power now firmly connected in many minds along the Jersey Shore, federal officials released a strategy to protect one of the most endangered species while developing wind power off the coast.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, under the U.S. Department of the Interior, on Thursday released a final joint strategy aimed at helping the North Atlantic right whale recover while also developing offshore wind energy, citing a Biden administration goal of increasing wind energy development.

The North Atlantic right whale, weighing multiple tons and growing to be more than 50 feet long, is considered to be at the brink of extinction.

According to federal studies, only about 360 of the animals are left in the world, and of those, fewer than 70 are reproductively active females.

Read the full article at the Press of Atlantic City