Saving Seafood

Feds Add NY-NJ Waters to Gulf of Mexico in Offshore Wind Development Spurt

June 15, 2021 — In the latest Biden administration push to meet its target to deploy 30 GW of U.S. offshore wind energy by 2030, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said that her agency jumpstarted the process announced in March to lease federal ocean tracts for projects in the New York Bight area between Long Island, N.Y., and coastal New Jersey.

The preliminary lease notice, published on June 14, follows a US Interior Dept. alert on June 11 that it will also open Gulf of Mexico areas for project development, seeking builder interest and public comment.

The government notice for the New York lease, which foresees up to 7 GW of offshore wind in three designated zones, launches a 60-day comment period, with specifics on lease proposal dates and exact lease sites to follow. Most observers speculate the lease auction will be held this year.

Currently, 11 developers have indicated interest in building projects in those areas and are approved to bid by Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the agency said. It said the areas could provide more than 9.8 GW of developable power supply.

Annie Hawkins, executive director of Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, which represents fishing interests and has been a vocal project opponent, noted developer mandates to consult on potential impacts before turbine array designs are proposed. But in a statement, she remains  concerned about opening new lease areas in the Bight, “which is perhaps the most spatially conflicted area in the country.”

Read the full story at the Engineering News Record

Feds propose leasing effort offshore commercial wind between New Jersey, New York

June 14, 2021 — The federal government wants to lease land in shallow water between Long Island and the New Jersey coast for offshore commercial wind energy development and the creation of union jobs.

The feds say the land, located on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the New York Bight, could enable more than 7 gigawatts of offshore wind energy and power more than 2.6 million homes. In addition, officials said the plan would support President Joe Biden’s goal of installing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030.

The proposed “competitive lease sale” includes a 60-day public comment period, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is seeking feedback on several mandates tied to the sale, including the requirement “to create good-paying union jobs and engage with all stakeholders and ocean users,” according to a news release.

The “announcement of new proposed lease stipulations puts a priority on creating and sustaining good-paying union jobs as we build a clean energy economy,” Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said in a news release, saying that climate change “poses an existential threat.”

Read the full story at The Center Square

Fishing Report: US agencies take on wind farm fish surveys

June 14, 2021 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have joined forces to address fish survey challenges presented by offshore wind farms. The NOAA and fishermen have expressed concern about the ability to do fish surveys in wind farm lease areas.

The aim of this joint BOEM/NOAA program is to mitigate the impact of not doing surveys in areas that have traditionally been studied.

NOAA Fisheries’ scientific surveys are essential for setting quotas for commercial and recreational fishermen, as well as monitoring and assessment for recovery and conservation programs for protected species and essential fish habitats.

The program will address impacts from exclusion of NOAA Fisheries’ sampling platforms from the wind development area due to operational and safety limitations; impacts on the random-stratified statistical design that is the basis for scientific assessments, advice and analyses; as well as alteration of benthic and pelagic habitats and airspace in and around the wind energy development. A timeline for initial actions will be developed as part of the program.

Read the full story at The Providence Journal

BOEM to offer New York Bight wind leases; scallop fishermen urge delay

June 14, 2021 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will offer eight new offshore wind lease areas in the New York Bight, potentially opening up to 627,000 acres for energy development between New Jersey and Long Island.

With a potential for more than 7 gigawatts of generation, the lease areas are touted by the Biden administration as a new economic engine for the region ¬– with and explicit promise by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to put “a priority on creating and sustaining good-paying union jobs as we build a clean energy economy.”

Northeast state governors and lawmakers have pushed offshore wind development as a new industry that will benefit their political allies in organized labor, and that theme is front and center in the administration’s new “all-of-government” push.

The announcement Friday brought immediate pushback from commercial fishermen in the scallop industry, one of the nation’s richest and most successful fleets, urging BOEM to delay leasing and adjust the proposed areas to preserve important shellfish habitat.

The agency should “shift the boundaries of the Hudson South area just five miles, so BOEM can better ensure that critical scallop populations will be unaffected, while not diminishing the potential for wind power in the area,” according to the Fisheries Survival Fund, an advocacy group for the East Coast scallop industry.

Read the full story at WorkBoat

Biden administration proposes offshore wind leases off LI, NJ

June 14, 2021 — The Biden administration on Friday took another major step toward powering local electric grids with offshore wind power, releasing a proposed sale notice for hundreds of thousands of acres off the coasts of Long Island and New Jersey.

An auction for the lease areas could take place later this year or early next, pending a 60-day comment period, an environmental assessment and other steps, officials have previously said, with development of the wind areas potentially taking place in mid- to late 2020s and beyond.

The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management earlier this year had released maps of the proposed sites and, after briefly including areas off the entire East End of Long Island, ultimately eliminated two sections located 15 miles south of the Hamptons. BOEM said they’re not being included “at this time” due to maritime traffic concerns, commercial fisheries, commercial viability and “state preferences.”

On Friday, the Fisheries Survival Fund, representing scallop fishermen and others in the industry, urged the Biden administration to “incrementally change” the proposed lease areas, noting that two are “located in particularly sensitive areas for scallops,” and would have a “serious negative impact” on the scallop fishery.

BOEM, in a statement, said the lease process will include a list of stipulations that would require developers to, among other things, issue a summary of existing users of their area and a “description of efforts to minimize any conflict between existing users” and the developer.

Read the full story at Newsday

Fisheries Survival Fund: Change Wind Energy Areas to Protect Scallops

June 11, 2021 — The following was released by the Fisheries Survival Fund:

The Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF), representing the vast majority of the limited access Atlantic scallop fishery, is calling for the federal government to change its proposed lease sale boundaries for wind farms off the coast of New York to better protect the region’s fisheries from harmful development. These changes are necessary because the government’s current proposed lease sales, announced today, fail to incorporate any of the recommendations made by FSF or the city of New Bedford, the nation’s most valuable fishing port.

The sea scallop fishery is one of the most valuable in the country: in 2019, commercial landings totaled more than 60.6 million pounds, valued at approximately $570 million. In the New York Call Areas alone, there were $268 million worth of scallops landed over a five year period, from 2012-2016. Atlantic sea scallops are, in fact, the nation’s most valuable federally managed fishery.

FSF is requesting that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which is responsible for leasing areas for offshore development, incrementally change its lease plans for the New York Bight. Currently, two BOEM Wind Energy Areas (WEAs), Hudson South and Central Bight, are located in particularly sensitive areas for scallops. In their current form, these areas, including hundreds of thousands of acres of ocean, will have a serious negative impact on the fishery.

BOEM’s proposed eastern-most lease areas in Hudson South are directly adjacent to the Hudson Canyon Scallop Access Area (“Hudson Canyon SAA”). The Hudson Canyon SAA is one of the most important scallop grounds in the Northeast. From 2001-2018, over 60 million pounds of scallops, valued at well over $600 million, were harvested directly from the area. Further, a recently published paper principally authored by the lead federal scallop scientist concluded that successful management of the Hudson Canyon SAA resulted in a sevenfold increase in scallops in the nearby Elephant Trunk Scallop Access Area, and benefited scallops in the Delmarva Scallop Access Area.

Altogether, the Hudson Canyon SAA has been worth well over a billion dollars directly to the scallop fishery in the past two decades, not to mention the multiplied indirect community economic benefits of these fishery landings. The Hudson Canyon SAA’s ecological and economic benefits explain why FSF has requested that BOEM operate under the well-recognized “precautionary principle” to create a buffer between wind farms in the Hudson South and this critical scallop area.

The Central Bight is in the middle of prime, historic scallop habitat, and represents tens of millions of dollars of scallop catches over the past decade. Leasing of the Central Bight should be delayed, just as BOEM delayed, for view-shed reasons, leasing of the two Fairways lease areas in the northern New York Bight.

Read the full release here

Biden eyes Gulf of Mexico for wind energy opportunities

June 10, 2021 — Fresh off announcing its intent to explore wind energy initiatives on the U.S. West Coast, the Biden administration is now looking for opportunities to do the same in the Gulf of Mexico.

On Tuesday, 8 June, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced it would release a request-for-information (RFI) solicitation to determine if there’s interest in employing wind technology off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

D.C. Circuit Affirms that Offshore Wind Lease Does Not Trigger NEPA Review

June 4, 2021 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) does not need to conduct full environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when granting an offshore wind farm lease, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed. The decision followed a lawsuit by commercial fishing organizations and seaside municipalities who claimed that BOEM violated NEPA and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) when it auctioned an offshore lease to Equinor (formerly Statoil) without performing an environmental review of the anticipated windfarm project. The decision puts to rest the question of whether a mere lease sale may trigger extensive environmental review under NEPA, potentially streamlining the initial lease acquisition process, but also requiring the investment of significant funds before developers have cleared environmental review.

In Fisheries Survival Fund, et al. v. Sally Jewell, et al.,1 plaintiffs challenged BOEM’s issuance of the lease, arguing that it violated NEPA because it failed to analyze the environmental impacts of constructing and operating a wind energy facility. Leases for offshore energy projects proceed under different processes depending on whether BOEM or the developer proposes an area for lease. Either way, BOEM must consult with state task forces, other state and local representatives, and with representatives of Indian Tribes whose interests may be affected. Before issuing a lease, BOEM follows a four-step process, issuing a Call for Information and Nominations, completing the Area Identification process, publishing a Proposed Sale Notice, and publishing a Final Sale Notice.

Here, BOEM published an environmental assessment at the same time it published the Proposed Sale Notice for the wind energy lease at issue. The environmental assessment found that the reasonably foreseeable impacts of the lease sale would not significantly impact the environment. Plaintiffs argued that that more extensive environmental review was required, not just of the lease itself but of the full impacts of the anticipated wind farm, alleging that BOEM violated NEPA by failing to perform this more extensive review. BOEM maintained throughout the litigation that additional analysis and environmental review under NEPA was not required until Equinor conducted a site assessment and proposed a construction and operations plan for the wind energy facility.

Read the full story at The National Law Review

Biden Administration Strikes A Deal To Bring Offshore Wind To California

May 26, 2021 — The Biden administration plans to open the California coast to offshore wind development, ending a long-running stalemate with the Department of Defense that has been the biggest barrier to building wind power along the Pacific Coast.

The move adds momentum to the administration’s goal of reaching 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035, coming just weeks after the country’s first large-scale offshore wind farm was approved off the coast of New England. Today, the country has just a handful of offshore wind turbines in the Atlantic Ocean, with around a dozen wind farms being developed in federal waters off the East Coast.

“It’s an announcement that will set the stage for the long-term development of clean energy and the growth of a brand-new, made-in-America industry,” national climate adviser Gina McCarthy says. “Now we’re thinking big and thinking bold.”

The agreement identifies two sites off central and Northern California with the potential to install massive floating wind turbines that could produce 4.6 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power 1.6 million homes.

Interest in offshore wind on the West Coast has grown for years, especially with California’s own ambitious goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The deep waters off the coast have the potential to produce a significant amount of energy.

Read the full story at NPR

Biden administration inks offshore wind agreement with California

May 25, 2021 — The Biden administration has reached an agreement with California seeking to advance wind energy development off the state’s northern and central coasts.

The Interior Department said in a statement that initial areas of development could bring up to 4.6 gigawatts of energy to the grid, enough to power 1.6 million homes.

The federal government aims to sell wind energy leases in mid-2022, the department said.

“Today’s announcement reflects months of active engagement and dedication between partners who are committed to advancing a clean energy future,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in a statement.

“The offshore wind industry has the potential to create tens of thousands of good-paying union jobs across the nation, while combating the negative effects of climate change,” she added.

Read the full story at The Hill