Saving Seafood

Pingree, New England Colleagues Urge Biden Administration to Study Sustainable Offshore Wind Development in Gulf Of Maine

February 22, 2022 — The following was released by The Office of Congresswoman Chellie Pingree:

U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Annie Kuster (D-N.H.), and Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) are urging the Biden Administration to fund critical baseline research and scientific studies to advance sustainable offshore wind opportunities in the Gulf of Maine. In a letter to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Amanda Lefton, the New England lawmakers urged BOEM to prioritize two studies that are crucial in determining habitat use and distribution of species in the Gulf of Maine—information they say is needed to protect critically important habitats for American lobster and Atlantic cod.

“Our states have enormous potential to produce significant renewable energy as well as anchor a burgeoning industry and workforce through the responsible development of offshore wind,” Pingree, Moulton, Kuster, and Pappas wrote. “While our state governments are already engaging with leaders of our region’s fishing industries and other ocean users to lessen conflicts with existing users and marine life, it is still crucial that BOEM complete further stakeholder outreach and scientific research to inform the agency’s planning process before conducting lease sales.”

“BOEM’s work to support regional outreach and comprehensive habitat and wildlife data collection and analyses using the best available science will be essential to advancing offshore wind in a way that is environmentally and economically responsible,” they continued.

In late January, Maine Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins, and Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also wrote to Director Lefton to highlight the significant potential for offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine, but stressed that additional thorough research is needed to assess the impacts on local industries and ecosystems.

Pingree, who is a member of the House Appropriations Committee and current Chair of the House Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, which oversees funding for BOEM, has been a longtime supporter of the efforts to develop sustainable offshore wind power.

Full text of the letter is available here and below.

Dear Director Lefton,

As members of the Congressional delegations of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, we write in support of funding for critical baseline research and scientific studies to advance sustainable offshore wind opportunities in the Gulf of Maine. The recent announcement from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland outlining BOEM’s plans to pursue offshore wind leases in the Gulf of Maine by mid-2024 brings new urgency to commence key research studies that will ensure offshore wind development in this area is underpinned by robust scientific research.

Our states have enormous potential to produce significant renewable energy as well as anchor a burgeoning industry and workforce through the responsible development of offshore wind. While our state governments are already engaging with leaders of our region’s fishing industries and other ocean users to lessen conflicts with existing users and marine life, it is still crucial that BOEM complete further stakeholder outreach and scientific research to inform the agency’s planning process before conducting lease sales.

In BOEM’s National Studies List for 2022, the Office of Renewable Energy Programs identified two studies that would provide essential information and enhance BOEM’s capacity to assess, predict, monitor, and manage the potential environmental impacts of offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine prior to inform the agency’s planning process. The two studies include an Ecological Baseline Study of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf Off Maine (AT-22-12), and a Comprehensive Assessment of Existing Gulf of Maine Ecosystem Data and Identification of Data Gaps to Inform Future Research (AT-22-11).

We urge BOEM to invest in the Gulf of Maine as funding decisions are made for the fiscal year by prioritizing these two studies, in particular the Ecological Baseline Study (AT-22-12). As part of this study, BOEM should consider using targeted benthic habitat surveys collected via high resolution multibeam mapping and ground truthing of the data using sediment sampling and benthic fauna characterization to generate detailed habitat and sediment maps.

Existing bathymetric and benthic habitat data is extremely limited for the Gulf of Maine, yet it is fundamental to determine habitat use and distribution of species. This information is needed to determine areas of complex habitats, which are critically important for several important species including American lobster and Atlantic cod. This survey would also protect areas in the Gulf of Maine that have been designated as critical habitat for the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale and other species. We also encourage you to prioritize a comprehensive marine mammal and wildlife surveys and the collection of fisheries data in coordination with NOAA and state marine resource agencies to inform our understanding of the potential impact of offshore wind development on regional fisheries and marine species.

Continuing engagement with regional stakeholders has identified gaps related to the socioeconomic and cumulative impact assessments of offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine. Accordingly, we support regionally specific research to investigate the projected economic impacts of offshore wind development on existing ocean users, as well as its cumulative impacts on our natural resources, existing uses, industries, and people.

The State of Maine spent more than a year working directly with fishermen and other stakeholders to put forward a comprehensive application to BOEM for a research lease. This project would use an innovative floating wind turbine technology developed at the University of Maine, which was developed with funding from the Department of Energy. We strongly support this research array application and believe it would contribute valuable and complementary data to an Ecological Baseline Study and a comprehensive evaluation of existing ecosystem data in the Gulf of Maine. Together, the resulting information will help advance floating offshore wind in the U.S. and build on our collective understanding of how to best minimize impacts to the fishing industry and the environment.

BOEM’s work to support regional outreach and comprehensive habitat and wildlife data collection and analyses using the best available science will be essential to advancing offshore wind in a way that is environmentally and economically responsible. We thank you for your attention to the Gulf of Maine and look forward to continuing to engage with you as you initiate these essential studies to aid in responsibly developing offshore wind.

 

BOEM announces effort to protect right whales

February 10, 2022 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced in a press release it is partnering with multiple federal and state entities to research and strengthen the protection of the endangered North Atlantic right whales. The groups mentioned in the press release include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NOAA Fisheries, and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.

According to the release, BOEM is working with NOAA to develop strategies to “protect and promote the recovery of right whales” while allowing responsible development of offshore wind farms. The two organizations, with other partners, are also working on a passive acoustic monitoring network to identify and monitor the movements and distribution of marine mammals.

Read the full story at The Martha’s Vineyard Times

 

Responsible Offshore Development Alliance Files Complaint in Vineyard Wind Lawsuit

January 31, 2022 — The following was released by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance:

Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), a broad membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing companies, filed suit today challenging the Interior Department’s approval of a massive offshore wind project to be constructed on a 65,000-acre tract in federal waters south of Martha’s Vineyard. The suit, filed in U.S. district court for the District of Columbia, names the U.S. Interior Department and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, among others. The suit alleges that government agencies violated numerous environmental protection statutes in authorizing the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind energy project.

Annie Hawkins, Executive Director of RODA, stated: “In its haste to implement a massive new program to generate electrical energy by constructing thousands of turbine towers offshore the eastern seaboard on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf and laying hundreds of miles of high-tension electrical cables undersea, the United States has shortcut the statutory and regulatory requirements that were enacted to protect our nation’s environmental and natural resources, its industries, and its people.” She added, “The fishing industry supports strong action on climate change, but not at the expense of the ocean, its inhabitants, and sustainable domestic seafood.”

On October 19, 2021, RODA issued the government agencies a 60-day Notice of its Intent to Sue if they did not comply with the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, and other federal environmental statutes. “The Alliance received no reply, and the environmental violations were not remedied,” Hawkins stated. “The decisions on this project didn’t balance ocean resource conservation and management, and must not set a precedent for the enormous “pipeline of projects” the government plans to facilitate in the near term. So we had no alternative to filing suit.”

 

World’s biggest offshore wind developers eyeing Louisiana for Gulf’s first turbines

January 24, 2022 — The Texas coast may have better winds for offshore wind development, but it’s Louisiana’s political winds that are drawing the interest of the industry’s two biggest players.

Orsted and RWE, which rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the booming offshore wind market, both highlighted Louisiana’s political support for offshore wind in letters to federal energy regulators tasked with readying the Gulf of Mexico for what could be a flurry of offshore wind development.

RWE, a German company that has renewable energy operations in 15 countries, urged regulators to focus on Louisiana despite studies showing Texas has a clear advantage with stronger, more consistent wind speeds.

“To date, Louisiana is the only state along the Gulf of Mexico that has signaled its interest in pursuing an offshore wind policy to meet its climate objectives,” Kate McKeever, an RWE manager of U.S. government affairs, told the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, also known as BOEM.

Read the full story from the Times-Picayune at the Rome News-Tribune

Final approval for South Fork Wind project

January 21, 2022 — The South Fork Wind energy project 35 miles east of Montauk, N.Y., won final approval Jan. 19 to begin construction, lining it up to be the second offshore wind turbine array in federal waters.

The federal Bureau of Offshore Energy Management signed off on the construction and operations plan for South Fork, setting out a 1-nautical mile spacing between a dozen 11-megawatt Siemens-Gamesa turbines and some areas set aside in the federal lease area to preserve bottom habitat for marine species.

Installing monopile foundations and turbines is scheduled for summer 2023. The 132 MW project by developers Ørsted and Eversource is seen as a keystone by New York State energy planners for bringing future power to Long Island – potentially for 70,000 homes by the end of 2023 – as they look to even bigger projects offshore to feed the New York City metro area.

“This milestone underscores the tremendous opportunity we have to create a new industry from the ground up to drive our green energy economy, deliver clean power to millions of homes and create good jobs across the state,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement after the BOEM approval. “As we tackle climate change head on and transition to a clean economy, these are the projects that will power our future.”

BOEM and wind developers continue to face fierce resistance from the Northeast commercial fishing industry. In December the Texas Public Policy Institute filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of fishermen in New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, charging that BOEM bypassed requirements for environmental review when it approved the construction and operations plan for Vineyard Wind, the first wind project in federal waters to be built east of the South Fork tract.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

EPA Approves Permit for Wind Farm Off Martha’s Vineyard

January 20, 2022 — The final air quality permit was approved for an offshore wind project by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency yesterday, paving the way for full project approval that was granted this morning.

South Fork will be a 130-megawatt wind farm off the southwest coast of Martha’s Vineyard. The EPA permit restricts air pollution during the construction and operation of the wind farm.

Construction is set to kick off with cable being laid on the sea floor, the company stated last week.

Final approval for the project from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management was announced this morning.

Read the full story at WBSM

Construction to begin soon on new US offshore wind farm

January 20, 2022 — Construction will soon begin on the second commercial-scale, offshore wind energy project to gain approval in the United States, the developers said.

The U.S. Department of the Interior approved it in November, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued its approval letter for the constructions and operations plan Tuesday, a major step in the federal process before construction can start.

Orsted, a Danish energy company, is developing the South Fork Wind project with utility Eversource off the coasts of New York and Rhode Island. They now expect the work onshore to begin by early February and offshore next year for as many as 12 turbines.

President Joe Biden has set a goal to install 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030, generating enough electricity to power more than 10 million homes. In November, work began on the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the United States, the Vineyard Wind 1 project off the coast of Massachusetts.

Read the full story from the AP at ABC News

New Bedford says wind boundary changes just a start

January 18, 2022 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management made minor boundary adjustments in its New York Bight wind lease areas to reduce conflicts with the scallop fleet. That’s just a small start toward reducing the impact of wind development on the nation’s seafood industry, New Bedford port officials say.

The 480,000-acre wind lease offering – the first of the Biden administration and biggest to date – has brought on a wave of proposals, from both the fishing and wind power industries, for how they could co-exist.

Six lease areas outlined by BOEM in a final offering notice Jan. 12 include a westward shift of 2.5 miles to the Hudson South wind energy area, and a reduction of the so-called Central Bight area. The modest adjustment responds to requests last year from the scallop industry and the East Coast’s highest-earning fishing port – now also a base for offshore wind developers.

It could be a baby step toward better avoidance of conflicts between the Biden administration’s aggressive push to open more ocean spaces to wind energy development, and urgent warnings from the fishing industry and some ocean environmental advocates that regulators need to build more foresight and safeguards into the permitting process.

Those tweaks in the New York Bight auction plan came as a surprise, said New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell.

“We didn’t know that had happened until we actually dug into it,” said Mitchell, who wrote to BOEM during 2021 in support of the Fisheries Survival Fund recommendation to move the southwest boundary of Hudson South by five miles, aimed at giving a buffer zone between turbine arrays and scallop grounds.

The Fisheries Survival Fund and Responsible Offshore Development Alliance – both well-established coalitions of fishing interests – presented highly detailed recommendations to BOEM for dealing with those issues. The American Clean Power Association, an influential group in the renewable energy sector, likewise came out with its own proposals.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Atlantic Sea Scallop Group Pushes BOEM to Create Plan for Fisheries and Wind to Prosper

January 14, 2022 — The Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF), a group that represents the majority of Atlantic sea scallop fishermen called on federal regulators to create an “adaptive and proactive mitigation plan” that will allow both fisheries and the offshore wind industry to thrive.

The FSF’s public comments follow the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)’s announcement that it will conduct a wind lease auction for 480,000 acres of ocean in the New York Bight area of the Atlantic.

“It is unquestionable that the proliferation of new turbine arrays will have detrimental impacts on the scallop fishery and other fisheries,” FSF wrote. “Windfarms will and demonstrably do change ocean ecosystems. The goal of mitigation should be to strike a balance that ensures mutual prosperity, not merely an uneasy, zero-sum co-existence.”

Read the full story at Seafood News

U.S. Seafood Organizations Recommend Steps to Reduce Impacts from Offshore Wind Energy

January 13, 2022 — The following was released by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance: 

On Friday, January 7, 2022, Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), along with many other commercial fishing associations and businesses across the country issued recommendations to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for reducing impacts from offshore wind energy development to fishing, coastal communities, and sustainable domestic seafood production.

Guidelines alone cannot achieve strong oversight

Strong mitigation requirements must be standardized to protect marine resources and existing uses of the Outer Continental Shelf. The most important step for BOEM to take immediately is to implement effective processes to mitigate fisheries impacts during offshore wind planning and project design. These must be supported by regulations and strong federal oversight, rather than deferring to developers’ voluntary measures to accommodate fishing safety and resiliency.

Mitigation must follow a step-wise approach 

The “mitigation hierarchy” outlined by the National Environmental Policy Act requires an agency to evaluate whether a project has taken effective actions to, in sequential order, avoid, minimize, mitigate, and compensate for impacts. Fishing industry groups urged BOEM to prioritize immediate action on the first step, avoidance, including developing measurable criteria to site offshore wind infrastructure off of fishing grounds.

Read the full release here