Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Vineyard Wind, Regulators Holding Public Comment Periods in January

December 21, 2018 — Federal and state regulators are again holding public comment periods for the proposed offshore wind development off the coast of Massachusetts known as Vineyard Wind.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has released its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) establishing a preliminary assessment of the impact of the project.

The Bureau is accepting public comment on the DEIS until January 22.

Massachusetts is engaged in its review of state portions of the project and will be accepting comment through the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Act (MEPA) review.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

East Coast states sue to challenge Trump’s offshore oil move

December 21, 2018 — Nine states along the East Coast have joined a lawsuit challenging a key move by the Trump administration that could allow offshore oil and natural gas drilling in the Atlantic Ocean.

The states’ Democratic attorneys general are objecting both to the possible harm to marine life from the administration-approved seismic testing and to the potential offshore drilling that could result from the testing.

The states filed a motion to join a lawsuit environmental groups filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.

“Seismic testing will have dangerous consequences for hundreds of thousands of marine mammals, including endangered species,” Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh (D), who is leading the multistate effort, said in a statement Thursday.

“While the administration continues to place the interests of the fossil fuel industry ahead of our precious natural resources, attorneys general up and down the Atlantic coast will continue to fight these and other efforts to open the waters off our shores to drilling for oil and gas.”

Frosh announced his lawsuit at Baltimore’s National Aquarium in an effort to highlight what he says would be the damage to marine life from both the testing and any drilling.

Read the full story at The Hill

Vineyard Wind Submits Final Environmental Impact Report To Massachusetts

December 20, 2018 — Massachusetts offshore wind developer Vineyard Wind has submitted a final environmental impact report (FEIR) to the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA).

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) recently issued a notice of availability for the project’s draft environmental impact statement (DEIS). According to the developer, both these steps move the project closer to approval of environmental permitting by state and federal officials. Endorsement of the FEIR will be the final step in the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) review process, which includes a focus on cables connecting the proposed 800 MW project in federal waters to the grid connection point in Barnstable, Mass.

BOEM prepared the DEIS as part of the agency’s review of the entire Vineyard Wind project, which will be constructed 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. The report provides an analysis of potential environmental impacts associated with proposed actions as set forth in the construction and operations plan, submitted to BOEM in 2017.

According to the developer, the FEIR reflects refinements that have been made to the project, including many based on input from state agencies, the Town of Barnstable and members of the public. The MEPA office will accept public comment until Jan. 25, 2019.

Read the full story at North American Wind Power

Rhode Island Fishermen Condemn Offshore Wind Farms Despite Potential Benefits

December 18, 2018 — Nearly 390,000 acres of prime ocean real estate are being auctioned off Thursday, with 19 bidders hoping to win a chance to establish the next major wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts.

At the same time, a recent vote by the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Advisory Board to block a wind farm project by Vineyard Wind has raised questions about the future of offshore wind power.

Over the next decade, Gov. Charlie Baker and his administration are expecting the state to receive more than 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power.

Read the full story at WBUR

Offshore wind auction draws huge interest and big money

December 17, 2018 — The blockbuster auction for offshore wind leases that wrapped up Friday should leave few doubts: The industry has finally arrived in New England.

Three developers backed by major European energy companies paid a record $405 million to gain access to 390,000 acres of federal waters nearly 20 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. These firms will each pay $135 million to the federal government for the rights to build massive windmills in their respective slices of the ocean.

“We are completely blown away by this result,” Walter Cruickshank, acting director of the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, told reporters after the auction ended.

Cruickshank was speaking for the agency that oversaw the auction, but he also summed up much of the industry’s reaction.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Senators Ask for Fishermen’s Input for Offshore Wind Farms

December 17, 2018 — Senators from Massachusetts and Rhode Island are asking that fishermen’s interests be considered earlier in the siting process for offshore wind farms.

U.S. Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, and Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed, of Rhode Island, have asked the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to adopt policies for the offshore wind leasing and permitting process that bring fishermen and other marine stakeholders into the conversation early, to minimize spatial conflicts and reduce the risk of economic harm to the fishing industry.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S News and World Report

Offshore Wind Bonanza Draws Bidding War in Record-Setting Sale

December 14, 2018 — Companies competed Thursday for the opportunity to install wind turbines in Atlantic waters off Massachusetts in an auction that shattered records even as it headed toward a second day of frenzied bidding.

After 24 rounds of sealed bidding, companies had already pledged $285 million toward the three offshore wind leases that are up for grabs — more than six times the previous high-water mark: Norwegian energy company Equinor ASA’s $42.47 million bid in 2016 for the rights to build an offshore wind farm near New York.

High bids in the offshore wind auction, set to resume Friday, also already eclipsed the $178 million the U.S. government collected in its August sale of offshore drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico.

By Thursday evening, when Interior Department officials called an overnight halt to the auction, four companies were still vying for the territory, drawn by growing demand for renewable power in the Northeast U.S. and a chance at gaining a foothold in the nation’s growing offshore wind market.

“The unprecedented interest in today’s sale demonstrates that not only has offshore wind arrived in the U.S., but it is set to soar,” said Randall Luthi, head of the National Ocean Industries Association.

Active Bidders

Some 19 companies were deemed qualified by the Interior Department to participate in the auction — higher than in any of the previous seven competitive sales of wind leases in U.S. waters. The prospective bidders included units of established offshore wind developers and renewable power companies that have primarily focused on land as well as oil companies such as Equinor and Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

Eleven companies were actively bidding at the start of Thursday’s sale, nearly twice the most-recent record, in 2016, when six developers competed for the New York offering. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is conducting the sale, will name participants after the auction ends, expected sometime Friday.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

 

Creating Transit Lanes for Fishing Vessels in Northeast Wind Energy Areas Still a Work in Progress

December 11, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Offshore Wind Transit Working Group is inching closer to developing transit lanes for fishing vessels in Northeast Wind Energy Areas.

Members of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), as well as other fishing industry representatives, offshore wind developer lease-holders, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the U.S. Coat Guard, convened in Newport, Rhode Island, earlier this month for the Working Group meeting, which aimed to develop fishery transit lanes through the Wind Energy Areas (WEA) in federal waters off of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Currently there are concerns about commercial fishermen safely traveling across WEAs to access fishing grounds. According to RODA, safety risks “greatly increase” due to the long distances that fishing boats may be required to take in order to get around or through the WEAs. To solve the issue, the working group is developing transit lanes.

The goal is for the group to come up with a transit lane option that preserves the most important routes to the historic fisheries. Some route options have been identified, but so far nothing has been finalized.

This story was originally published by SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Fishing industry says it doesn’t endorse Vineyard Wind’s ‘consensus plan’ for transit lanes

December 11, 2018 — The fishing industry said Vineyard Wind distorted its words on Monday.

A release by Vineyard Wind said the offshore wind company endorsed a “consensus” transit corridor plan supported by the fishing industry, but multiple people within the fishing industry told The Standard-Times they didn’t support or endorse the plan.

The consensus within the industry is a 4-mile wide transit lane. Vineyard Wind’s endorsed plan called for 2-mile wide corridors.

“It’s frustrating for the fishing because we’re coming with options even though we’re losing tremendous ground and we’re losing a lot of traditional transit (lanes),” said Meghan Lapp, a fisheries liaison for Seafreeze Ltd. “But we’re still trying to come to the table to make something work and in light of this press release, it doesn’t really seem like it’s being reciprocated.”

The model endorsed by Vineyard Wind is one developed in a September meeting in New Bedford. Eric Hansen, a New Bedford scalloper, attended the meeting and remembered the plan being thought of as a worst-case scenario for the fishing industry.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Wind Farm Near Martha’s Vineyard In Jeopardy

December 6, 2018 — Rhode Island fishing interests, given the authority to weigh in on offshore wind projects that could damage their livelihoods, are flexing their muscles. As a result, a 94-turbine wind farm planned for waters south of Martha’s Vineyard is in serious jeopardy.

Like Deepwater Wind’s South Fork Wind farm planned off of Montauk, the Vineyard Wind project is owned by European energy companies with global wind-farm interests. Rhode Island, as part of the permitting process, asked for and was given “Federal Consistency” because even though the project originates in Massachusetts, it affects fisheries in neighboring states. New didn’t ask for the right to weigh in, even though local fishermen extensively fish that area.

On Tuesday, November 27, the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council agreed to postpone its decision to grant a “consistency certification” for Vineyard Wind until the end of January. If Rhode Island denies certification, Vineyard Wind could appeal to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

It is not clear how the latest news affects the Deepwater Wind project off of Montauk Point but it is sure to come up during the state’s review of the project. In fact, fishing industry proponents are urging New York State officials to be proactive in the review of any proposed offshore wind farm in the immediate region.

Read the full story at The Independent