Saving Seafood

A tricky, sticky mineral that’s challenging offshore wind developers

October 22, 2o23 — Offshore wind developers are encountering an unexpected challenge on the East Coast seafloor: a crushable, green mineral called glauconite, sometimes precisely where they plan to install wind turbines. The mineral — which dates back to the age of the dinosaurs — is weaker and less predictable than sand, scientists say, presenting a new engineering puzzle for researchers and wind developers to solve.

Glauconite’s behavior poses a “significant risk” to offshore wind development, said a paper published this year by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the lead regulator of offshore wind. It said glauconite formations are “abundant” along the continental shelf, and that wind developers will “inevitably” encounter the material during construction.

At least two developers have run into the mineral in a total of three offshore wind projects — two south of Massachusetts and one south of Long Island, New York. In a document published last month, BOEM wrote that the geotechnical properties of the mineral make it an “extremely difficult material to build upon,” specifically for fixed-bottom wind turbines.

Glauconite’s presence has already caused BOEM to reject proposed wind turbine layouts that might have minimized a project’s potential effects on marine life and the fishing industry.

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light

Cape chamber, Board of Commissioners sue federal government over offshore wind approval

October 17, 2023 — A group of plaintiffs that includes the Cape May County Board of Commissioners and the county Chamber of Commerce is suing the federal government over claims it failed to factor in impacts to the county’s $7.4 billion tourism industry when it granted approvals for offshore wind development.

The suit names the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Department of the Interior and the National Marine Fisheries Service, a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It was filed Tuesday in Camden federal court, records show.

BOEM declined to comment on pending litigation. NOAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit follows Ørsted, the Danish energy company building wind turbines off the coast, putting down a $100 million guarantee that the first windmills of its 161,000-acre Ocean Wind I project will begin generating power by December 2025.

Read the full article at The Press of Atlantic City

Federal government completes environmental review of Dominion’s offshore wind project

September 29, 2023 — Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, which when built will be the largest offshore wind farm in the U.S., drew one step closer to construction after the federal government completed an environmental review of the plans Monday.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s issuance of the final environmental impact statement means the 2.6 gigawatt project continues to be on track for construction to begin early next year, with a completion date in late 2026. The last federal regulatory approval needed for work to start is BOEM’s record of decision, which is expected to be issued this fall.

“The completion of our environmental review marks another step towards a clean energy future — one that benefits communities and co-exists with other ocean users,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein in a statement. “The best available science and knowledge shared by Tribes, other government agencies, local communities, ocean users, industry, environmental organizations and others informed the analyses contained in this document.”

Approved in August 2022 by Virginia’s utility regulators, the State Corporation Commission, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project (CVOW) would consist of 176 wind turbines and three offshore substations located 27 miles off Virginia Beach. It is expected to produce enough electricity to power 1 million homes.

Read the full article at Virginia Mercury

Threat to whales cited in wind project appeal

September 27, 2023 — A group of Nantucket residents opposed to an offshore wind installation that is nearing completion want another round in their long-running legal fight.

The Nantucket Residents Against Turbines organization, which refers to itself as ACK RATS, late last week filed an appeal challenging a federal judge’s ruling in May that effectively dismissed the group’s prior complaint against the Vineyard Wind project.

Plaintiffs continue to argue that federal regulators including the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management failed to consider risks the wind turbines pose to North Atlantic right whales, an endangered species with only a few hundred animals remaining in the wild. Citing the threat of vessel strikes and whales experiencing hearing loss from turbine pile-driving and operation, the group alleges that allowing Vineyard Wind to proceed will push the whales closer to a “watery grave.”

Read the full article at WWLP

U.S. Pushes Forward with Offshore Wind Despite Financial Pressures

September 14, 2023 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced yesterday that it has completed its environmental review of the proposed massive Empire Wind Farm Project, which would become the U.S.’s largest offshore wind site to gain approval. The Biden administration continues to push forward while developers are looking to reset their agreements to reflect the changing economics for the projects.

“BOEM is doing its part to meet the Administration’s ambitious energy goals – while remaining diligent in our efforts to avoid, minimize, and mitigate impacts to ocean users and the marine environment,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. “We value the feedback we have received,” she said reporting the bureau plans to issue a Record of Decision on whether to approve the two-phase Empire Wind project this fall. That decision would establish the final conditions for the development, but not address the mounting financial issues which fall to the states.

Empire Wind, which is being developed by Equinor and BP, proposes the construction of two offshore wind projects, known as Empire Wind 1 and Empire Wind 2, in lease areas located about 12 nautical miles south of Long Island, New York, and about 16.9 nautical miles east of Long Branch, New Jersey. The two projects will be electrically isolated and independent from each other.

Read the full article at the Maritime Executive

BOEM completes environmental review for Empire Wind; developers seek 54% more money for NY power

September 12, 2023 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced Sept. 11 that it has completed an environmental review of Empire Wind, two offshore wind projects being developed by partners Equinor and BP near the New York Harbor approaches.

BOEM’s announcement follows on news that Equinor and BP are seeking a major increase in their New York contract prices for the 2,076-megawatt Empire Wind I and II phases, plus their Beacon Wind project.

Read the full article at WorkBoat

As US East Coast ramps up offshore wind power projects, much remains unknown

September 11, 2023 — As the U.S. races to build offshore wind power projects, transforming coastlines from Maine to South Carolina, much remains unknown about how the facilities could affect the environment.

And that worries some people, particularly those who depend on the sea for their livelihoods.

“We don’t have the science to know what the impact will be,” said Jim Hutchinson, managing editor of The Fisherman magazine in New Jersey. “The attitude has been, ‘Build it and we’ll figure it out.’”

Read the full article at Associated Press

OREGON: Federal officials will meet with Oregonians about controversial offshore wind energy projects

September 10, 2023 — Federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management officials will meet with Oregonians concerned or curious about potential floating offshore wind energy projects following public and political outcry.

Officials will host three in-person meetings in Gold Beach, Coos Bay and Brookings on Sept. 26, 27 and 28. The agency also doubled the public comment period from 30 to 60 days, until Oct. 16.

Generating clean energy from wind turbines floating in the Pacific Ocean is part of state and federal plans to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions contributing to global climate change. But some residents of the Oregon Coast and several tribal nations are concerned about the potential impact to marine life, fisheries and the industries and people who depend on them.

Coos Bay and Brookings are closest to the two swaths of Pacific Ocean identified by the ocean energy agency as ideal for large wind turbines that would float about 18 to 32 miles from land. Energy generated across the 344 square miles of open ocean identified for the projects could power nearly 200,000 homes. The federal agency would like to host an auction by year’s end, allowing companies interested in developing ocean wind energy to bid on leases for the sites. A similar auction in California in 2022 brought in $757 million in winning bids for four companies.

Read the full article at Oregon Capital Chronicle 

OREGON: Oregon tribes protest offshore wind plans

August 26, 2023 — Federal officials’ announcement of two draft wind energy areas off the Oregon coast poses danger to fisheries, jobs and the state’s coastal environment, the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians say.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s proposal “was premature and threatens fisheries, local fishing jobs, and some of Oregon pristine ocean viewsheds, some of which are sacred to the Tribe,” the confederation said in a statement issued Tuesday.

Objections coming out of Oregon are echoing those lodged against offshore wind projects off the East Coast, where local groups continue to mount fierce political and legal campaigns over anticipate impact on fishing and ocean views from coastal communities.

In months leading up to the draft wind areas release, BOEM was urged by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, fishing advocacy groups, tribes and Oregon elected officials to pause and start its planning process over again.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Biden administration approves Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island

August 23, 2023 — Revolution Wind, a 704-megawatt turbine array planned for 15 miles off Rhode Island, gained final approval from the Department of Interior Tuesday. The joint venture by developers Ørsted and Eversource is the fourth offshore wind project to be greenlighted by the Biden administration, which now expects to have 16 project plans reviewed by 2025.

Under intense scrutiny for the project’s anticipated environmental and economic effects, the final review by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and other federal agencies focused on BOEM’s “Alternative G” as the “preferred alternative,” which could rearrange wind turbine locations on the lease tract “to reduce impacts to visual resources and benthic habitat.”

The alternative includes up to 79 possible positions for the installation of 65 turbines and two offshore substations to fulfill the project’s designed total nameplate rating of 704 MW within a 1-nautical mile grid spacing.

“This flexibility in design could allow for further refinement for visual resources impact reduction on Martha’s Vineyard and Rhode Island, or for habitat impact reduction in the NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) Priority 1 area,” according to BOEM’s environmental assessment report issued in July.

That analysis foresaw “long term moderate to major adverse impacts depending on the fishery and fishing operation. If BOEM’s recommendations related to project siting, design, navigation, access, safety measures, and financial compensation are implemented across all offshore wind energy projects, adverse impacts on commercial fisheries due to the presence of structures could be reduced.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman