Saving Seafood

Vineyard Wind Biologist Talks Common Ground with Fishing Industry

February 21, 2020 — With about 20 years of experience on the seas, Crista Bank has worked in academia as a fisheries biologist, conducted research with commercial fishermen, earned her 100-ton U.S. Coast Guard captain’s license, journeyed across the globe aboard traditional sailing vessels and taught marine science in New England, Southern California and the Florida Keys.

In May 2018, she became a fisheries liaison for Vineyard Wind, an offshore wind developer based in New Bedford where she grew up and now lives. The company has two projects in the works — Vineyard Wind I, a 800-megawatt project off the coast of Massachusetts and Park City Wind, an 804-megawatt project for the Bridgeport region.

According to Bank, the “big objective” is communication between fishermen and Vineyard Wind.

“Some of it is teaching two industries about [each other] because the fishermen don’t totally understand offshore wind and developers don’t understand the fishing industry, so my job is to try to have both industries understand the other a little bit better,” she said.

The main purpose of her job is to make sure the developers at Vineyard Wind are receiving accurate information about the fishermen’s concerns and how the fishing industry might be impacted by offshore wind. She also relays information to the fishermen about offshore wind projects and Vineyard Wind’s work “to make sure that the fishermen are not going to be pushed out of their industry,” which she said has been beleaguered by multiple challenges.

Read the full story at The Connecticut Examiner

Vineyard Wind facing lots of hurdles

February 19, 2020 — A federal regulator speaking at a conference in Boston on Tuesday posted a slide suggesting Vineyard Wind would be operational in 2023, but the company itself is not saying whether its wind farm will be generating electricity by then.

Vineyward Wind originally hoped to begin construction in 2019 and have half the 800 megawatt wind farm up and running by January 15, 2022, and the remaining half a year later. That timetable was dashed when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management put the project on hold in August 2019 to allow for a broader review of the cumulative impact of the many wind farms being proposed along the East Coast. Last week, the federal agency said its review of Vineyard Wind would be completed this December.

Jim Bennett, the program manager of the renewable energy program at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, gave a slide presentation at a wind energy conference sponsored by the University of Delaware that listed 2023 as the year when Vineyard Wind would be operational. He then quickly added: “Please don’t take these dates as absolutes. They’re estimates based on our regulatory programs.”

The timing issue is significant for the nation’s first large-scale wind farm. Last year, when the project was put on hold, Vineyard Wind said it needed a quick resolution of the federal environmental review or the project might collapse. Since then, the company has indicated its construction plans are moving forward, but officials have declined to comment on how they intend to overcome the many hurdles caused by the regulatory delay.

Read the full story at Commonwealth Magazine

Political Interference Blamed for Vineyard Wind Delays

February 18, 2020 — Vineyard Wind is coming to terms with the fact that its wind project is behind schedule, as accusations of political meddling escalate.

On Feb. 7, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) released an updated permitting guideline that moved the facility’s likely completion date beyond Jan. 15, 2022 — the day the $2.8 billion project is under contract to begin delivering 400 megawatts of electricity capacity to Massachusetts.

Vineyard Wind is now renegotiating its power-purchase agreement with the three utilities that are buying the electricity.  The company is also in discussions with the Treasury Department about preserving an expiring tax credit.

The delay is being caused by a holdup with BOEM’s environmental impact statement (EIS). A draft of the report was initially expected last year, but after the National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declined to endorse the report, it was pushed off until late 2019 or early 2020. Back then several members of Congress from Massachusetts claimed the delay was politically motivated.

Read the full story at EcoRI

BOEM issues new timeline for offshore wind review

February 14, 2020 — The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has pushed back to December 2020 a final environmental impact statement on the Vineyard Wind offshore wind energy project, meaning backers of the 800-megawatt development off southern New England will miss their 2022 target to start making electricity.

Preliminary findings from that study – examining the potential cumulative effects of Vineyard Wind and more than a dozen other utility-scale projects planned off the East Coast – were originally anticipated for completion in March 2020. Rumors in the offshore industry circulated in late 2019 that the process could extend into late 2020, but regulators confirmed Feb. 11 they have been pushed back that to June 12 – with a final decision by Dec. 18.

“While we need to analyze what a longer permitting timeline will need for beginning construction, commercial operation in 2022 is no longer expected,” said Lars Pedersen, CEO of Vineyard Wind, in a Feb. 11 response to the agency update. “We look forward to the clarity that will come with a final EIS so that Vineyard Wind and deliver this project to Massachusetts and kick off the new U.S. offshore wind industry.”

Read the full story at WorkBoat

Vineyard Wind project delayed

February 12, 2020 — Vineyard Wind, the company developing an offshore wind farm that was the subject of a protracted dispute with Rhode Island fishermen, is pushing back the expected date of operation for the $2.8-billion project.

The company says that because of delays in permitting it will not be able to make its 2022 target date to go on line.

“We have received updated information from the Department of Interior that indicates the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Vineyard Wind I project will be published later than what was previously anticipated,” Lars Pedersen, CEO of Vineyard Wind, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“While we need to analyze what a longer permitting timeline will mean for beginning construction, commercial operation in 2022 is no longer expected,” he continued. “We look forward to the clarity that will come with a final EIS so that Vineyard Wind can deliver this project to Massachusetts and kick off the new US offshore energy industry.”

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

RODA Expands West Coast Fisheries Engangement with Launch of Pacific Advisory Committee

January 16, 2020 — The following was released by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance:

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) is excited to announce the launch of a Pacific Advisory Committee, which brings RODA’s mission of improving the compatibility of new offshore development with commercial fishing to the West Coast.

As discussions of offshore wind development in the U.S. continue to progress, Pacific fishermen have expressed significant concern over the lack of communication and collaboration necessary to inform coexistence among ocean users.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has identified 3 Call Areas off of California as areas of interest for offshore wind development. The strongest wind speeds are located along the North Coast, near the BOEM Humboldt Call Area. The other two sites, Morro Bay and Diablo Canyon, for possible development are located on the Central Coast (For more information visit the California Offshore Wind Energy Gateway). BOEM has also initiated a process for siting offshore wind projects off of Oregon, although it has not yet identified Call Areas there.

The RODA-Pacific Advisory Committee is comprised of leaders from several West Coast fisheries throughout California and Oregon. Its purpose is to improve science and policy approaches to development, while also increasing and improving communication to help strengthen ties between Pacific fishermen and fishing communities across the country.

As of January 1st 2020, the RODA West Coast advisory committee consists of:

  • Mike Conroy, West Coast Fisheries Consultants
  • Hugh Link & Tim Novotny, Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission
  • Mike Okoniewski, Pacific Seafood Group
  • Noah Oppenheim, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations
  • Peter Flournoy, International Law Offices of San Diego
  • Steven Scheiblauer, Marine Alliances Consulting
  • Lori Steele, West Coast Seafood Processors Association (WCSPA)
  • Susan Chambers, WCSPA and Southern Oregon Ocean Resource Coalition

Additional Pacific fishing industry organizations and representatives are invited to contact RODA for inquiries about membership.

RODA is a membership-based alliance of fishing businesses and communities that provides a “strength in numbers” approach to advocacy on issues of mutual interest to seafood harvesters, processors, and affiliated entities. It works on behalf of fishermen with regulators, offshore developers, science experts, and others to coordinate science and policy approaches to proposed ocean development in a way that minimizes conflicts with existing traditional and historic fishing.

About RODA

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) is a broad, membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and companies working to improve the compatibility of new offshore development with their businesses. It seeks to coordinate science and policy approaches, through public and private partnerships, to manage development of the Outer Continental Shelf in a way that minimizes conflicts with existing traditional and historical fishing.

Pending Federal Report Key to Offshore Wind’s Future

January 13, 2020 — The forthcoming report from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on the cumulative environmental impacts of the Vineyard Wind project will determine the future of offshore wind development.

BOEM’s decision isn’t just the remaining hurdle for the 800-megawatt project, but also the gateway for 6 gigawatts of offshore wind facilities planned between the Gulf of Maine and Virginia. Another 19 gigawatts of Rhode Island offshore wind-energy goals are expected to bring about more projects and tens of billions of dollars in local manufacturing and port development.

Some wind-energy advocates have criticized BOEM’s 11th-hour call for the supplemental analysis as politically motivated and excessive.

Safe boat navigation and loss of fishing grounds are the main concerns among commercial fishermen, who have been the most vocal opponents of the 84-turbine Vineyard Wind project and other planned wind facilities off the coast of southern New England.

Last month, state Sen. Susan Sosnowski, D-New Shoreham, gave assurances that the Coast Guard will not be deterred from conducting search and rescue efforts around offshore wind facilities, as some fishermen have feared.

Read the full story at EcoRI

Offshore wind in New Hampshire: Now what?

January 10, 2020 — One year after Governor Sununu announced plans to investigate offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine, much has been accomplished.

The first official Intergovernmental Task Force meeting — established to gauge the technology’s potential — was held on Dec. 12. Convened by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM for short), the meeting was well attended and provided a great deal of information and clarification on what the Task Force’s next two years will entail.

Still, this meeting was just the beginning — an inflection point that has since sparked the beginning of many other initiatives throughout the region. All with the aim of establishing greater understanding of the gulf’s marine environment and how offshore wind might fit in.

Over the next three to five years, the states of New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts will be gathering information to determine the most appropriate siting locations for offshore wind development. While this data-collection effort includes many moving parts, one word in particular looms largest of all: assessment.

Read the full story at the New Hampshire Business Review

Fishing advocates propose transit lanes for offshore wind

January 7, 2020 — A coalition of commercial fishing groups is calling for 4-mile-wide transit lanes through offshore wind turbine arrays off New England, as federal ocean planners and the Coast Guard consider maritime safety aspects of the projects.

In a Jan. 3 letter to those agencies, the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance proposed six vessel traffic lanes — each 4 nautical miles wide and up to 70 miles long — through wind turbine areas proposed by energy companies south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket off Massachusetts.

Those developers submitted their own proposal Nov. 1 to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Coast Guard, offering a consistent grid layout across their federal offshore leases that would space turbine towers 1 nautical mile apart.

Without endorsing that spacing — opposed by Rhode Island squid fishermen and others who say they cannot not work amid such arrays — the alliance letter is a counter-proposal that superimposes wider transit lanes on the developers’ plan.

“The proposal presented here utilizes the uniform 1×1 nm spaced turbines presented in the Nov. 1 proposal and includes transit lanes of adequate widths to preserve safe and efficient passage along the routes most often used by fishermen,” the letter states.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Offshore Wind Task Force Meeting Draws Crowd; Sununu Pushes For Quick Development

December 13, 2019 — Northern New England began an ambitious planning process for offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine Thursday.

More than 200 stakeholders packed into the first meeting of the new regional wind task force at UNH.

They say the new industry will take years to develop – but it could be a powerful way for Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire to fight climate.

The big turnout surprised organizers with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. One facilitator said he’d never been to a standing-room-only task force meeting before.

Governor Chris Sununu was energized as he kicked off the day-long event. He says he intends to see offshore wind development succeed in the Gulf of Maine as quickly as possible.

Read the full story at New Hampshire Public Radio