Saving Seafood

NOAA questions Vineyard Wind environmental impact study

March 21, 2019 — A Gloucester-based division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has raised concerns that a government environmental impact study about the proposed Vineyard Wind project lacked sufficient detail.

Michael Pentony, the head of NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, warned in a March 15 letter that the report on Vineyard Wind completed by the U.S Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in December included conclusions that were not well supported by data and needed additional analysis of several key angles of impact.

“We determined that many of the conclusory statements relating to the scale of impacts for biological and socioeconomic resources are not well supported in the document,” Pentony wrote in his letter to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. “Specifically, impacts categorized as major appear under-inclusive, while impacts designated as moderate seem overly inclusive.”

The letter, posted online by fishing industry advocacy group Saving Seafood, serves as the office’s official response to the federal draft environmental impact statement on the construction and operation plan for Vineyard Wind’s proposed offshore wind farm.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

NOAA Fisheries Issues Public Comments on Vineyard Wind Project

March 20, 2019 — (Saving Seafood) — Last Friday, in a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), NOAA Fisheries expressed concern over how the proposed Vineyard Wind offshore energy project may negatively impact New England’s fisheries, marine life, and ocean habitats.

The letter was the agency’s official public comment on BOEM’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Vineyard Wind project, which is proposed for off the coast of Massachusetts. In the letter, NOAA Fisheries Northeast Regional Administrator Mike Pentony raises issues with BOEM’s analysis of the project’s negative impacts.

Specifically, the letter notes that the BOEM analysis does not include “the most accurate or updated data on fishery landings and associated revenue” for several fisheries, including squid, Jonah crab, and American lobster. The letter also faults BOEM for not sufficiently addressing the potential economic impacts of the project, particularly on the issues surrounding fisheries displacement.

“In some cases, if fishermen are displaced from an area they will move somewhere else, which can have direct economic impacts such as increased fuel costs, longer trips, etc., as well as indirect impacts such as increased conflicts with other fishermen,” the letter states. “However, it is also possible that the fish are simply unavailable to the fishery outside of the area.”

NOAA similarly criticizes BOEM’s analysis of potential mitigation measures for the project, noting that “the analysis is solely dependent upon an undefined financial mitigation package, while impacts to the fishing communities go beyond just revenue loss.”

Other areas of the DEIS criticized by NOAA include its limited analysis on critical habitats, impacts with marine mammals and endangered species, and the effects of project development and construction. The agency offered to continue to collaborate with BOEM to address these issues.

Read the full public comments here

 

NEW JERSEY: ‘It’s incredibly harmful’: Cape May rally against seismic testing draws crowd

March 19, 2019 — Every year, 65,000 people get aboard Capt. Jeff Stewart’s whale-watching boat.

Now, he says, his business may be in jeopardy as plans for seismic testing along the Atlantic Coast inch closer.

“Seismic testing will affect the whales and dolphins, along with the fish they eat,” said Stewart, of Cape May Whale Watchers. “They’ll have to leave the area and go somewhere else. It’ll be a detriment to the tourism industry.”

The widespread opposition along the Jersey Shore to planned seismic testing brought together more than 100 residents, local officials, high school students and even some inflatable dolphins at a rally outside the Cape May Convention Hall.

The protest comes after the Trump administration last year issued five authorizations to advance permit applications for air gun blasting from Delaware to Florida. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will soon rule on the applications, which would allow oil and gas companies to shoot sound waves into the water every 10 to 15 seconds to locate deposits under the seafloor.

“Our beaches, we can’t afford to lose them. This is our lifeblood down here,” Assemblyman Bruce Land, D-Cumberland, told a crowd with waves crashing in the Atlantic Ocean behind him.

In New Jersey, there’s been pushback from environmentalists and both political parties who say the testing — a precursor to oil drilling — would harm marine mammals and the state’s multi-billion dollar fishing industry.

In Cape May alone, commercial fishing was worth about $85 million in 2017.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

Offshore wind getting its sea legs in New Hampshire

March 8, 2019 — After years of advocacy and growing citizen engagement, New Hampshire’s clean energy industry finally has the wind at its back.

On Jan. 2, Governor Sununu sent a letter to the federal government requesting the establishment of a federal task force to coordinate federal, state and local government officials — along with relevant stakeholders — to determine possible locations for future offshore wind projects. Prior to that, New Hampshire had been the only New England state that hadn’t participated in exploring this rapidly developing clean energy industry.

The letter was directed to the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), triggering the establishment of what is known as the BOEM Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force. According to BOEM material, “BOEM’s task forces serve as forums to coordinate planning, solicit feedback, educate about BOEM’s processes, permitting, and statutory requirements, and exchange scientific and other information.”

Prior to the request, New Hampshire would only have been able to develop offshore wind projects within three miles off the coast — the point at which state waters end and federal waters begin. This task force will investigate the potential for projects farther out into the ocean, thereby reducing the potential for visual impacts.

Read the full story at the New Hampshire Business Review

$2B offshore wind farm gets R.I. approval

February 27, 2019 — Vineyard Wind cleared a major hurdle on Tuesday when Rhode Island coastal regulators determined the $2-billion wind farm proposed in offshore waters to be consistent with state policies.

Although the 84-turbine project is planned in Atlantic Ocean waters south of Martha’s Vineyard where the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management holds lead permitting authority, it needs consistency certifications from the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council and its counterpart in Massachusetts primarily because it would affect the states’ fishing industries.

With the Massachusetts approval still under consideration, the decision from the Rhode Island coastal council represents a step forward for a project that has divided opinion and would have come as a relief to Vineyard Wind.

“It has a been a long process. It has been a very intense process. It has also been a process when emotions have run high from time to time,” said company CEO Lars Pedersen.

Even though the Rhode Island council ended up voting unanimously in favor of the wind farm, it was far from certain until just a few days ago whether Vineyard Wind would be able to secure the approval at all.

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

Rhode Island fishermen accept Vineyard Wind mitigation

February 26, 2019 — A group representing commercial fishing interests in Rhode Island voted over the weekend in favor of a funding package the Vineyard Wind project proposed to help mitigate the possible impacts from the 84-turbine wind farm proposed for waters 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.

The unanimous, but non-binding, vote of the Rhode Island Fishing Advisory Board to accept a mitigation package of roughly $16.7 million from Vineyard Wind comes as the proposed 800-megawatt wind farm project faces an important regulatory vote in Rhode Island on Tuesday evening.

The mitigation package is intended to address concerns raised by Rhode Island fishermen that the wind farm could lead to economic hardship for fishermen by forcing them to alter their routes to fishing grounds and that electromagnetic fields around the turbines could cause species displacement.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

RODA Suggests Improvements for Federal Consideration of Fishing Impacts from Proposed Vineyard Wind Project

February 22, 2019 – WASHINGTON – The following was released by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance:

Today, the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) submitted comments to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement and associated Construction and Operations Plan for Vineyard Wind’s proposed wind energy facility off New England.

RODA noted the improved depth of fisheries analysis in the report compared to previous documents, but highlighted several concerns regarding the leasing process and suggested a wide range of topics for which information regarding fisheries impacts is inaccurate or requires further analysis. The comments are primarily intended to serve as guidance for improving fisheries-related consideration and analysis for this and future projects.

RODA is a membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing companies dedicated to improving the compatibility of new offshore developments with their businesses. RODA membership includes major fishing associations, dealers, and affiliated businesses, in addition to over 120 vessels across nine states operating in approximately 30 fisheries. RODA’s comments on Vineyard Wind are the result of extensive and direct input from a large number of industry members.

Read RODA’s public comments here

 

Public Comment Period for Vineyard Wind Closes Friday

February 21, 2019 — The public comment period for Vineyard Wind’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement closes Friday.

The DEIS is a preliminary analysis by the federal government describing the project’s environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the offshore wind proposal.

The project seeks to construct an 800-mega-watt wind farm about 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. Visit Cape Cod dot com for comment submission options.

The purpose of the review is to ensure the technical accuracy of all aspects of the document and offer an opportunity for the public to raise questions, express concerns and provide comment.

Comments can be submitted online at www.regulations.gov and searching for BOEM-2018-0069.

Comments can also be submitted by mail. Envelopes should be labeled “Vineyard Wind COP Draft EIS” and postmarked by February 22.

The submission address is Program Manager, Office of Renewable Energy, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, 45600 Woodland Road, Sterling, VA 20166.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

South Carolina Isn’t Happy with Trump’s Atlantic Oil Search

February 21, 2019 — More than half the registered voters in Republican-controlled South Carolina supported Donald Trump in a poll last month, but there’s at least one area where state leaders are ditching the president to join rival Democrats: a fight against oil exploration off the Atlantic coast.

While no new drilling has been approved in U.S. Atlantic waters, the Interior Department said in 2014 the region may contain 90 billion barrels of oil and 300 trillion cubic feet of gas. The Trump administration, eager to promote new sources of domestic energy, cleared the way in November for an essential first step to future drilling: geologic surveys using sound waves to pinpoint potential oil deposits. Permits could be issued as soon as next month.

That’s sparked a legal challenge by South Carolina and nine other Atlantic states, some coastal cities and environmental groups, to block a survey method companies have used for decades to scout petroleum reserves all over the world. The plaintiffs say the sound waves are unsafe for marine life, but their goal is broader — to prevent a new energy province off the East Coast that could threaten local tourism and fishing industries.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, a Republican, is taking “any and all actions necessary to ensure that we will never see any seismic testing or drilling” in the state’s coastal waters, Henry McMaster, the Republican governor and one of Trump’s early supporters, said in a statement. McMaster took office in 2017 when Nikki Haley was appointed by Trump to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

Whale-saving efforts target oil and gas companies

February 21, 2019 — In an effort to protect endangered whales, conservation groups today filed a motion to stop oil and gas companies from conducting seismic airgun exploration from Delaware to Florida.

“In my expert opinion, the introduction of seismic airgun surveys off the U.S. East Coast represents an existential threat to the North Atlantic right whale, an endangered species that is already in a dangerous state of decline,” Scott Kraus, vice-president and senior science adviser for the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium, said in an expert declaration filed with the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is poised to issue permits to five oil and gas exploration companies, and seismic surveys could begin as early as March 30, according to the motion.

The plaintiffs want to halt “seismic airgun blasting” in the Atlantic until the merits of their claims are resolved in court, according to the motion.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times