Saving Seafood

Blown Away: Offshore wind regulators ignore danger to fishing industry

April 18, 2023 — Last May, Tommy Beaudreau touted the potential of renewable energy sources like offshore wind to an audience that included some of his government colleagues and former industry clients.

“This industry, this group of people in the room today, really are the key to unlocking that clean energy future,” Beaudreau, the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, proclaimed at a conference hosted by the American Clean Power Association, a lobbying group largely funded by offshore wind developers.

Just one year earlier, Beaudreau had been a corporate lawyer, earning part of his $2.4 million income from offshore wind developers. Then he was appointed to regulate the industry he was previously paid to represent. During Beaudreau’s tenure, developers including several of his former clients have gained preliminary or final approvals for an unprecedented expansion of offshore wind, despite repeated warnings from federal scientists about potential harms to marine life and the fishing industry.

While the Trump administration put roadblocks in the path of offshore wind development, the Biden administration is fast-tracking clean alternatives like wind and solar to expand domestic energy production and slow the pace of climate change. In the next decade, 3,411 turbines and 9,874 miles of cable are slated to be built across 2.4 million acres of federally managed ocean.

Beaudreau is part of a revolving door between the government and offshore wind. Much as the Trump administration had a pipeline to and from oil and natural gas companies, in recent years at least 90 people have shuttled between federal, state or local government and the offshore wind industry, a ProPublica/New Bedford Light investigation has found. They range from rank-and-file bureaucrats to top policymakers like Beaudreau.

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light

RODA, NOAA, and BOEM Release Groundbreaking Report Synthesizing Scientific and Fishing Industry Knowledge on Fishing and Offshore Wind Energy Interactions

March 30, 2023 — The following was released by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance:

In 2020, the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) convened a first-of-its-kind workshop to evaluate the current state of science relevant to fisheries and offshore wind energy interactions. The final peer-reviewed report of the workshop is now available.

The “Synthesis of the Science” project was a key first step toward jointly building a regional fisheries and offshore science agenda. RODA brought together fishermen, fishing industry representatives, federal and state agency experts, wind energy developers, academics, and other prominent scientists from the U.S. and Europe to attend the workshop and contribute to the report.

This report enhances understanding of existing science and data gaps related to offshore wind energy development interactions with fish and fisheries on regional and broader levels. Ecological knowledge of the fishing industry participants was incorporated into all of the report topics covering:

  • Ecosystem effects – including interactions with benthic habitat, physical habitat, oceanographic processes, and ecosystem synthesis by species groupings;
     
  • Fisheries socioeconomics – covering fisheries operations, economics, and sociocultural effects throughout the fishing industry and dependent communities;
     
  • Fisheries management and data collection – incorporating effects to resource surveys and governance processes;
     
  • Methods and approaches – including addressing cumulative impacts, use of Integrated Ecosystem Assessments and innovative approaches and technologies; and
     
  • Regional science planning – highlighting fishing industry-identified research priorities.

Funded by NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center, the symposium and report advance a memorandum of understanding between RODA, NOAA Fisheries, and BOEM. Signed in March 2019, this ten-year MOU promotes collaboration on the science, research, monitoring, and process of offshore wind energy development on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.

In 2021, RODA received additional funds through this grant for a second synthesis of the science project. It is currently underway, and focuses on fisheries and floating offshore wind platforms. The project consists of a summary of current knowledge, research, and monitoring associated with floating technology, a workshop focused on floating turbine technology, and a review by the fishing industry of existing mapping efforts of fishermen’s data.

4 lawsuits threaten Vineyard Wind

March 29, 2023 — The lawsuits against America’s first major offshore wind project are coming to a head.

Four cases are challenging the federal environmental permit issued to Vineyard Wind, a 62-turbine facility being planned for construction in the waters off Martha’s Vineyard. A federal judge in Massachusetts heard arguments brought by landowners in two cases in recent weeks. The other two suits, brought by fishing groups, have been consolidated and will appear before the same judge for oral arguments in Boston on Monday.

The cases against Vineyard Wind allege that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management conducted an inadequate environmental review when it approved the project by failing to account for its impact on everything from fishermen to the critically endangered North American right whale.

The stakes are high. The Biden administration is betting that Vineyard Wind will begin an energy revolution in the United States by generating large amounts of carbon-free electricity needed to slash emissions and power the Northeast. Massachusetts utilities signed a contract to buy the project’s power to boost renewables in the state and cut emissions.

But the project has encountered resistance from a landowners group on Nantucket, a renewable energy developer with a house on Martha’s Vineyard and groups of fishermen who contend the turbines will irreversibly damage the ocean. The dispute has even attracted a prominent conservative think tank with a history of supporting fossil fuels.

“The administration has put all their political capital on offshore wind and is breaking all the rules in order to do it,” said Robert Henneke, executive director and general counsel for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which is representing fishing interests in one case. Henneke claimed that the Biden administration is guilty of hypocrisy, saying the government is relaxing endangered species requirements for offshore wind even as it imposes stringent regulations on other industries.

“The administration’s violation of the [Endangered Species Act] should be a complete bar to the whole project,” he said.

A BOEM spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment, and an official with Vineyard Wind declined to comment.

Read the full article at E&E News

MASSACHUSETTS: SouthCoast Wind Environmental Report Draws Divergent Views

March 26, 2023 — Falmouth residents joined others from across Massachusetts in a lively expression of their frustrations and hopes for SouthCoast Wind’s proposed offshore wind farm during a virtual public comment session on the project’s draft environmental impact statement.

Work on the nearly 2,000-page impact statement, prepared by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), began in November 2021.

BOEM’s SouthCoast project coordinator Genevieve Brune presented the statement’s findings to the 71 participants at the session, held online Monday, March 20. The evaluation is required under the National Environmental Policy Act and will guide permitting judgements by state and federal authorities, including the Army Corps of Engineers.

Read the full article at The Enterprise 

Pacific fishery council calls for new start to offshore wind planning

March 13, 2023 — Proposed offshore wind energy areas off the Oregon coast must be set aside and the planning process started anew, using more planning tools “to minimize siting impacts to fisheries and ecosystem resources,” according to the Pacific Fishery Management Council.

At its meeting in Seattle, the council voted Thursday to recommend the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management do a complete reset on outlining “call areas” off the Oregon coast, an early step in planning for future wind power leases to gauge potential developers’ interest.

A motion approved by the council calls for rescinding the Brookings and Coos Bay call areas previously outlined by BOEM. The council further “requests that BOEM restart the process to identify call areas and consider all water off Oregon from 12 miles and beyond, including waters that are greater than 1,300 meters in water depth, and using marine spatial planning tools to minimize siting impacts to fisheries and ecosystem resources.

“Exclude from further consideration all offshore banks and seamounts and require an adequate buffer zone surrounding them as determined by collaborative work” among the council and state and federal agencies.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

U.S. rule change equips offshore wind developers for faster growth

February 24, 2023 — Last month, the Biden administration set out new streamlined regulation for offshore wind development as it chases its highly ambitious installation target of 30 GW by 2030.

In the first major regulatory shakeup since 2009, the U.S. Interior Department will offer more flexibility on survey requirements, reform lease auctions and improve the verification of project designs, it said.

The new rules come as the Interior Department plans to hold up to four additional offshore lease sales by 2025 and aims to complete environmental reviews of at least 16 offshore wind projects by 2025, representing over 20 GW of new capacity.

Read the full article at Reuters

Biden administration proposes offshore wind auction in the Gulf of Mexico

February 23, 2023 — The U.S. Department of the Interior on Wednesday proposed the first offshore wind auction in the Gulf of Mexico.

The proposed auction includes an area of more than 100,000 acres in the waters off Lake Charles, Louisiana, and two similarly sized areas off Galveston.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management seeks public comment on which of the two areas offshore from Galveston should be included in the final sale.

“This proposed lease sale will continue the legacy of energy production in the Gulf of Mexico, providing Americans with an affordable clean energy supply. It will also help secure our nation’s energy independence while reducing costs for consumers,” said Josh Kaplowitz, vice president for offshore wind for the American Clean Power Association.

Read the full article at Texas Public Radio

Feds slash Gulf’s first wind farm areas to make room for drilling, shipping, fishing

February 23, 2023 — The Gulf of Mexico’s first slate of offshore wind farms will have much less space than the federal government proposed late last year.

A new wind energy lease sale plan released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management slashes the Gulf’s offshore wind energy development areas by two-thirds, potentially reducing the amount of jobs and clean energy the region’s leaders had hoped wind farms would generate in the coming years. BOEM’s decision to cut the size of wind energy areas is aimed at easing potential conflicts with the Gulf’s many other users, including the oil and gas industry, shipping companies and the military.

The new boundaries include a 102,000-acre area south of Lake Charles, and two areas near Galveston, Texas that will likely be trimmed to one zone stretching across about 100,000 acres. The Gulf’s total combined area will likely be just under 200,000 acres, according BOEM officials. That’s a substantial reduction from the 682,000 acres BOEM proposed in October.

It’s unclear how much the smaller areas may dampen the prospects for offshore wind development, which has been promoted as a potent force for job creation and clean energy in a region with deep but fading ties to the oil and gas industry.

BOEM had estimated the larger, 682,000-acre area could generate power for almost 3 million homes or enough electricity for all the residents of Houston, New Orleans and Baton Rouge. On Wednesday, BOEM cut its estimate down to 1.3 million homes, but that number could be cut again after the two Galveston zones are reduced to a single area.

BOEM Proposes Archaeological Rules as Criticism of Offshore Wind Grows

February 15, 2023 — Faced with a broad range of criticisms over the development of offshore wind farms, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is proposing steps that it says are designed to ensure that wind farms cohabitate with other ocean users and reduce potential harm in the ocean environment. The latest proposals address marine archaeological resources following steps at the end of 2022 to work with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries division.

To better protect shipwrecks and other cultural resources on the seabed from harm due to offshore energy activities, BOEM is proposing regulatory changes to its marine archaeology reporting requirements for activities on the Outer Continental Shelf. A notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comment will publish in the Federal Register on February 15, for a 60-day comment period ending on April 17, 2023.

BOEM says that after evaluating over 40 years of empirical evidence collected by and for the oil and gas industry, academic institutions, and state and federal agencies, it has determined that previously undiscovered archaeological resources may be present in any part of the OCS, regardless of the lack of any historical or predictive modeling evidence.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

 

BOEM Releases Environmental Plan for Next Offshore Wind Farm

February 14, 2023 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is moving forward with the next key step for the development of one of Massachusetts’ offshore wind farms even as the project has sought to renegotiate the key part of its plan. The federal government continues to push forward on its efforts for renewable energy from offshore wind keeping its focus on deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030.

“BOEM continues to make significant progress toward achieving this Administration’s vision for a clean energy future – one that will combat climate change, create jobs to support families, and?ensure economic opportunities are accessible to all communities,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. “In our review of offshore wind projects, we are committed to working collaboratively with our tribal, state, and local government partners as well as using the best available science to avoid or minimize conflict with existing users and marine life.”

Today, February 13, BOEM announced the availability of the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed SouthCoast Wind (formerly Mayflower Wind) energy project offshore Massachusetts. It begins a process of a 45-day comment period as part of the review by BOEM as the project moves into the final stage of permitting and approvals.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive