Saving Seafood

NEW JERSEY: Divided by Wind

May 11, 2021 — Cape May County Chamber of Commerce President Vicki Clark April 20 provided the organization’s position on offshore wind.

With three minutes to comment, Clark demonstrated a balancing act, supporting renewable energy and welcoming the potential economic opportunities that would accompany billions of dollars in new coastal infrastructure, while also raising concerns about the potential impact to the existing local economies.

It’s a discussion that has heated up this year.

Ocean Wind, the furthest along of several wind power projects proposed off New Jersey beaches, envisions 99 turbines, starting 15 miles from the beach. The company, Orsted, based in Denmark, plans to begin construction by 2023 and generate power by the end of 2024.

Local citizen opposition groups formed, while some governments expressed skepticism, including the Cape May County Board of County Commissioners and Ocean City Council, citing the potential impact on the local economy.

Fishing industry representatives said the current plan would effectively exclude commercial boats from some of their most important fishing grounds.

“The current process in use by the BOEM identifies wind energy area sites without consideration of their adverse environmental impacts in the original lease selection, on the locations historically rich and economically vital commercial fisheries, or on the communities that support and benefit from those fisheries,” reads a statement from Scot Mackey to BOEM, on behalf of the Garden State Seafood Association (https://bit.ly/3o27mUf). “The only factors even considered in the initial location determination was visibility from shore and an attempt to minimize bird interactions, not the needs of other ocean users, particularly fishermen.”

Read the full story at the Cape May County Herald

Interior Department approves first large-scale offshore wind farm in the U.S.

May 11, 2021 — The Biden administration on Tuesday approved the first large-scale offshore wind farm in the United States, a project that envisions building 62 turbines off Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts and creating enough electricity to power 400,000 homes.

Vineyard Wind is the first of several massive offshore wind-farm proposals that could put more than 3,000 wind turbines in the Atlantic Ocean from Maine to North Carolina. The Biden administration has committed to processing the other 13 projects under federal review by 2025 in an attempt to meet the administration’s ambitious goal of producing 30,000 megawatts of electricity from offshore wind by 2030, powering some 10 million homes.

The goal is part of the Biden administration’s effort to fight climate change by shifting away from fossil fuels.

“I believe that a clean-energy future is within our grasp in the United States,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a conference call Tuesday, describing the approval of Vineyard Wind as “a significant milestone in our efforts to build a clean and more equitable energy future while addressing the climate emergency.”

Read the full story at The Washington Post

Biden Administration Approves First Major Offshore Wind Energy Project

May 11, 2021 — The U.S. Interior Department Tuesday approved the country’s first large-scale offshore wind project, a final hurdle that reverses course from the Trump administration and sets the stage for a major shift in the energy landscape.

This “is a significant milestone in our efforts to build a clean and more equitable energy future while addressing the climate emergency,” Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said during a press briefing. She said an expansion of wind energy is critical to President Biden’s ambitious climate goals to make the electricity sector carbon-neutral.

The $2.8 billion project, known as Vineyard Wind 1, will consist of 62 turbines spaced about a mile apart, each standing about 837 feet above the water’s surface. Cables buried beneath the ocean floor will connect the power from these turbines with the New England grid onshore.

The project is expected to produce enough renewable electricity to power 400,000 Massachusetts homes every year, while also saving ratepayers billions of dollars and reducing annual CO2 emissions in the state by about 1.68 million metric tons.

Lars Pedersen, Vineyard Wind’s CEO, recently told public radio station WBUR that he expects offshore construction to begin next year, with renewable energy flowing to the grid by the end of 2023.

Read the full story at NPR

For Vineyard Wind 1, one last hurdle

May 10, 2021 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is close to issuing a record of decision for Vineyard Wind 1. This is the last major step before work on the 62-turbine offshore wind farm project commences. In a statement to The Times, BOEM wrote that a review through the lens of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) is the only thing left before the record of decision can be issued.

“Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA) requires federal agencies to consider the effects on historic properties of projects they carry out, assist, fund, permit, license, or approve throughout the country,” the agency stated. “If a federal or federally assisted project has the potential to affect historic properties, a Section 106 review will take place. In this case, the federal undertaking is to approve, approve with conditions, or disapprove the Construction and Operations Plan submitted by Vineyard Wind, LLC, for a wind energy development project southwest of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.”

Among the things beneath the ocean that must be considered in the Section 106 review are shipwrecks and Native American archeological sites.

Read the full story at MV Times

BOEM presses wind studies, but U.S. projects may lag

May 7, 2021 — As promised, the Biden administration is speeding environmental reviews of East Coast offshore wind projects.

That’s raising alarms among competing interests of the fishing and coastal tourism industries. But even with the worldwide movement toward offshore wind power, its emerging limitations may allow more time for compromises.

Globally, $810 billion could be spent developing offshore wind power by 2030, analysts at Norway-based Rystad Energy predict.

Despite broad federal government support – the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is looking to have environmental studies underway for as many as 10 projects this year – the U.S. market may see only $70 billion of that investment during the 2020s, Rystad reported.

With offshore wind turbines’ physical size and developers’ ambitions getting bigger, the global demand for large wind turbine installation vessels will make it very expensive to hire foreign-flag WTIVs to cross the Atlantic.

The first U.S.-flag WTIV is under construction for Virginia-based Dominion Energy, whose planners see it not just as a requirement for building their own 2.6-gigawatt offshore project but a long-term merchant vessel enterprise to serve other developers.

Read the full story at WorkBoat

Power surge: With Vineyard Wind on approval track, 10 more reviews in the wings

May 3, 2021 — A building wave for offshore wind energy surged out of the Biden administration, with March 29 announcements that set a goal of building 30,000 megawatts of capacity and opening up to 800,000 more acres for leasing in the New York Bight.

Two weeks later, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management moderated the plan, withdrawing potential leasing areas off New York — acknowledging conflicts with commercial fishing, maritime traffic and tourism that will be rife in the East Coast’s most crowded waters.

But on a broad scale, it appears to be full speed ahead for BOEM. Even during the Trump administration’s fitful approach to offshore wind, the agency itself worked consistently to make leasing possible for wind power developers.

Today there are 17 active leases, comprising 1.7 million acres, says BOEM Director Amanda Lefton. Ten more environmental reviews could be started this year, and construction and operation plans for 16 projects could be in place by 2025, Lefton said during an April 14 online meeting of BOEM’s New York Bight task force.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Revolution Wind project moves forward with start to federal permitting review

April 30, 2021 — Plans to bring 400 megawatts of wind power to Rhode Island are advancing, with the federal agency in charge of issuing the project permits on Thursday announcing the start to its review process.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in a statement said it will begin its formal review and decision on the 100-turbine Revolution Wind project proposed for federal waters off the coast of Block Island. The process begins with a public comment period and review of the project for its impact on wildlife, fishing and boating industries and other economic and environmental factors before the agency issues a final decision.

International renewable energy developer Orsted A/S, which jointly proposed the project with the utility company Eversource Energy, previously announced its original 2023 completion date would likely be delayed due to uncertainty in the federal permitting process under the previous presidential administration.

With BOEM’s announcement Thursday, the company will “soon be in a position to better refine the project’s timeline,” Orsted spokeswoman Meaghan Wims said in an email on Thursday.

In a statement, the company called the federal agency notice  “the most significant permitting milestone to date.”

Read the full story at Providence Business News

BOEM to start environmental review of proposed wind farm off Massachusetts, Rhode Island coast

April 30, 2021 — The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced Thursday it is about to open a 30-day public comment period for an offshore wind farm, Revolution Wind, planned for waters south of Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

This comment period kicks off the environmental review of the project. If BOEM approves it, Revolution Wind would be allowed to construct and operate an 880-megawatt (MW) wind energy facility. The Vineyard Wind project is slated to be 800 MW.

BOEM will hold three virtual public meetings and accept comments to inform the preparation of the environmental impact statement.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

The U.S. vs. Atlantic fisheries

April 28, 2021 — In its rush to burnish its green bona fides, the Biden administration is showering billions of dollars of subsidies onto European offshore wind developers, and in the process threatening both the environment and the livelihoods of Atlantic coast commercial fishermen.

The most recent example is the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) decision to fast-track offshore leases to wind energy companies in the New York Bight — a 16,000 square mile triangular area off the coast between Long Island and New Jersey, where Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Phil Murphy want to construct at least 18,000 MW of wind. All told, the Biden administration wants to construct 30,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2030, which would require erecting one 850-foot-tall wind turbine virtually every single day for the next decade.

The Atlantic coast contains some of the most productive fisheries in the world. BOEM is supposed to work with fisheries interests to ensure offshore wind development does not adversely affect habitat and the livelihood of fishermen. In fact, in December of last year, the Department of the Interior issued a detailed memo stating that the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act prohibits offshore wind approvals if a project would interfere with fishing. But just a few weeks ago, the administration reversed those findings.

Read the full story at The Daily News

NEW JERSEY: Wind opponents back Cape May County position

April 28, 2021 — They could not all go in to the meeting of the Cape May County Commissioners on Tuesday afternoon, but opponents of a planned offshore wind farm knew they were heard when the members of county government came out to them.

About 50 people gathered outside the county administration building on a sunny spring day, most carrying signs in opposition to wind turbines off the New Jersey coast. Ocean Wind, the furthest along of what could be multiple offshore wind projects, would mean 99 turbines placed 15 miles off the coast, powering more than a half-million homes starting in late 2024.

Danish energy giant Ørsted won the state contract for that project. A public comment period by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on the proposal concludes Thursday.

On Tuesday, the county government approved a resolution stating that Ørsted and partner PSEG failed to communicate with the county and raised concerns about the impact of the proposal on tourism and the commercial fishing industry.

At a workshop meeting earlier in the day, board members heard from representatives of the local fishing industry, including Greg DiDomenico of Lund’s Fisheries near the Cape May Inlet. He said he and others involved in commercial fishing wanted to like the wind power project.

But he argued the project does not take the needs of his industry or the safety of those working on commercial fishing vessels into account.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City