Saving Seafood

Balance of power: BOEM and states look at compensation for fishermen; endangered whales pose challenge to developers

September 14, 2021 — The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is working with coastal states to come up with plans for potentially compensating fishermen for lost fishing grounds and other negative effects of developing offshore wind turbine arrays.

Fishing industry advocates are pushing anew to get fishermen deeply involved now to minimize impacts from sweeping plans to rapidly develop a U.S. offshore wind industry — and hoping to limit damage to the U.S. food supply.

The government’s drive toward creating more offshore wind energy areas in the New York Bight is looking like a repeat of its mistakes in planning southern New England projects and needs to be braked, fishermen said at an Aug. 6 meeting in New Bedford, Mass.

“It’s going to be responsible for the destruction of a centuries-old industry that’s only been feeding people,” Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, told officials of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Fishing Industry Group Files Legal Challenge to Wind Farm

September 14, 2021 — A coalition of commercial fishing groups on Monday sued the federal agency that approved construction of a 62-turbine wind energy farm off the coast of the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, saying it did not adequately take into account the project’s potential impact on the industry.

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance’s petition for review of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s approval of the Vineyard Wind 1 project was filed with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

“The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s hasty approval of this project, which could be the nation’s first commercial scale offshore wind installation, adds unacceptable risk to this sustainable industry without any effort to minimize unreasonable interference with traditional and well-managed seafood production and navigation,” the organization said in a statement.

The federal agency, in an emailed statement, said it had no comment.

A spokesperson for Vineyard Wind, a joint project of a Danish company and a U.S. subsidiary of the Spanish energy giant, Iberdrola, said the company dies not comment on pending litigation.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at US News and World Report

 

Interior Department Announces Environmental Review of Proposed Wind Energy Facility in the North Atlantic

August 31, 2021 — The following was released by the US Department of the Interior:

As part of the Biden-Harris administration’s goal to deploy 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy by 2030, the Department of the Interior today announced that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) plans to conduct an environmental review of a proposed commercial-scale wind project offshore New York.

“The Interior Department is committed to confronting climate change, creating thousands of good-paying jobs, and paving the way for the nation’s transition to a cleaner energy future. Offshore wind is a critical component of that ambitious agenda,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “The demand for offshore wind energy has never been greater — we will continue to invest in the infrastructure to develop the offshore wind industry and to help attract the domestic supply chain.”

The project proposes to build up to 122 wind turbines, which would generate 880 to 1,300 megawatts of renewable energy and power nearly 600,000 homes. The project would help New York meet its clean energy goal of achieving 70 percent electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

The lease area is in federal waters approximately 31 miles east of Montauk, New York; 19 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts; and 17 miles from Block Island, Rhode Island.

BOEM’s Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) opens a 30-day public comment period on the proposed Construction and Operations Plan (COP) submitted by Sunrise Wind, LLC, a joint venture between Orsted North America Inc. and Eversource Investment, LLC.

During the 30-day public comment period, BOEM is seeking information to determine the scope of important resources and issues, potential impacts to the environment, reasonable alternatives, and mitigation measures to be analyzed in the EIS. After identifying the scope of the review, BOEM will conduct a full environmental analysis as part of the EIS and determine whether to approve the COP.

BOEM will accept comments via U.S. mail, through Regulations.gov, and during three virtual scoping meetings where stakeholders and other members of the public can learn more about the project before commenting for the record. The meeting dates and times are:

  • Thursday, September 16, 2021; 5:30 p.m. (ET)
  • Monday, September 20, 2021; 1:00 p.m. (ET)
  • Wednesday, September 22, 2021; 5:30 p.m. (ET)

The comment period will close at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on September 30, 2021.

More information about the proposed offshore wind project, BOEM’s environmental review, and how to provide public comments may be found at BOEM’s Sunrise Wind webpage.

Offshore wind advocates see Gulf of Mexico opportunity

August 25, 2021 — Building on moves by Louisiana, offshore wind advocates see the Gulf of Mexico as a next major step for developing the U.S. industry – possibly including re-use of offshore oil and gas platforms and pipelines as assets for an allied “green hydrogen” industry.

“We know offshore wind takes a long time to get off the ground…we’ve got to move fast,” said Liz Burdock, president and CEO of the industry group Business Network for Offshore Wind, on the opening days of its International Partnering Forum conference in Richmond, Va.

BNOW’s Gulf of Mexico working group conferred by video Tuesday with officials in Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration and the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which has been working since June on Bel Edwards’ request to seek commercial interest in developing wind power off his state.

The agency is taking its early look at a swath of the gulf outer continental shelf out to 4,000-foot depth for potential siting of fixed-foundation and floating wind turbines.

“We are at the very beginning of that process,” said Tershara Matthews of BOEM. The agency is reviewing comments from stakeholders – along with some proprietary information offered by potential wind developers – to assess its next steps.

“There was interest in both fixed and floating,” added Mike Celata of BOEM, with more tending toward fixed development on the shallower shelf. Most of that is focused west of Lafayette, La., with “overlapping interest” by different developers, he said.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

New Date: BOEM Holds Virtual Public Meetings on Proposed Wind Energy Project Offshore New York and New Jersey

August 24, 2021 — The following was released by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management:

On August 10, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced the availability of a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) that assesses the potential impacts of the issuance of commercial and research leases within the nearly 800,000-acre wind energy areas of the New York Bight, and granting of rights-of-way and rights-of-use and easement in the region.

BOEM is holding two virtual public meetings regarding the EA. Due to ongoing storm impacts to the Northeast region, BOEM has rescheduled the virtual meeting originally planned for Tuesday, August 24 to Thursday, August 26. The new dates and times are as follows:

August 25, 2021 at 5:00 PM Eastern
Register for this meeting here:
https://cbuilding.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rm8imA4AREeZUB9G5yZbpQ  

August 26, 2021 at 1:00 PM Eastern [please note new date and time]
Register for this meeting here:
https://cbuilding.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uLhhaX9hRoiwCeAuyMrWDg

Participants who previously registered for the August 24 meeting do not need to re-register for the August 26 meeting date. We apologize for any inconvenience as a result of this change.

The draft EA, detailed information about the proposed leasing in the New York Bight, and how to comment, can be found on BOEM’s website at https://www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/state-activities/new-york-bight.

We hope to see you there.

Adverse impacts to commercial fishing from South Fork wind project, report says

August 20, 2021 — “Moderate to major” impacts on commercial fishing would be expected with construction of the planned South Fork offshore wind energy project south of Rhode Island, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s final environmental impact statement.

“These impacts would occur due to the increased presence of offshore structures (cable protection measures and foundations) that could reduce fishing access and increase the risk of fishing gear damage/loss,” the report states. “The extent of adverse impacts would vary by fishery and fishing operation due to differences in target species, gear type, and predominant location of fishing activity.”

Some for-hire recreational fishing operators could see long-term opportunities for fishing near turbines, when construction of towers and their rock scour protection creates an artificial reef effect to attract some species, the report notes.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Feds See Turbines as a Mixed Bag

August 20, 2021 — The construction and operation of the South Fork Wind farm is likely to have negligible to moderately adverse impacts on marine life and habitat, with some moderately beneficial impacts also likely. For commercial fisheries, however, moderate to major adverse effects, either temporarily or long term, are predicted, with minor to moderate disruptions on for-hire recreational fishing.

But climate change, other offshore development and vessel activity, and fishing itself will have “continuing temporary to long-term impacts” on commercial and recreational fishing. The wind farm’s impact on birds and bats, marine mammals, and air and water quality would be negligible to moderately adverse.

These are among the conclusions of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s final environmental impact statement on the proposed wind farm, issued on Monday and signaling BOEM’s completion of its environmental review.

The statement represents an exhaustive analysis of the potential environmental impacts of activities detailed in the wind farm developers’ Construction and Operations Plan. It follows BOEM’s January publishing of a draft environmental impact statement for the wind farm. In the ensuing 45-day comment period, the bureau received 1,300 public comments. It also held three virtual public meetings to solicit feedback on the draft environmental impact statement from individuals and groups including commercial fishermen and other stakeholders. Those comments are incorporated into the final statement.

The wind farm’s developers, Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind and Eversource Energy, plan a 12-turbine, 130-megawatt installation to be situated in a federal lease area approximately 35 miles east of Montauk Point. It would deliver electricity to the South Fork via an export cable making landfall at the ocean beach at the end of Beach Lane in Wainscott, a plan that has angered many residents of that hamlet and spurred a drive to incorporate a portion of it as a village.

Read the full story at the East Hampton Star

NORTH CAROLINA: Brunswick officials’ worries over offshore wind unresolved

August 19, 2021 — Brunswick County beach towns are back to square one in a push to ensure potential offshore wind farms are out of the line of sight from shore.

“Nothing has changed,” said Village of Bald Head Island Councilor Peter Quinn. “We’re still in the exact same situation. Nothing has been addressed.”

The village council first adopted a resolution in 2015 urging the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, to establish a buffer for offshore wind energy leases no closer than 24 nautical miles, or about 27 miles, off North Carolina’s southern coast.

In May, councilors once again passed a similar resolution, a move that triggered other beach towns in the county, including Sunset Beach, Ocean Isle Beach, Caswell Beach, most recently, Oak Island, and the county board of commissioners to follow suit.

As opposition mounts along North Carolina’s southernmost coast to wind turbines within the viewshed, or line of sight from shore, the federal government is ramping up proposed plans for what could be the first wind energy farms off the state’s coast. BOEM earlier this month began hosting a series of virtual public meetings as part of the agency’s environmental review of the proposed project’s construction and operations plans.

Read the full story at Coastal Review Online

BOEM advancement of New York offshore wind raising fishing industry concerns

August 18, 2021 — Two major offshore wind projects off the coast of the U.S. state of New York have taken steps forward over the past week, according to announcements made by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), and those developments have raised some significant concerns from the fishing industry in the U.S. Northeast.

On Monday 16 August, the agency issued its final environmental impact statement on South Fork Wind, a development that could generate 130 megawatts of power to the eastern end of Long Island.

However, according to letters from the Fisheries Survival Fund and the Port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, that’s not the case – at least in terms of the scallops fishery, one of the country’s most-lucrative fisheries.

Fishermen and port officials sent letters on Friday, 13 August, continuing to raise concerns about the largest planned development area, the so-called “Hudson South” area, which is located about 30 miles east of the central New Jersey coast and 60 miles south of western Long Island.

“The need for such precautionary measures is especially vital given that a sizeable body of research is shedding light on the extent of potential consequences to local fisheries from offshore wind-farm construction and operation,” wrote David Frulla, Andrew Minkiewicz, and Bret Spark – lawyers representing the FSF – in a letter.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Final Report on South Fork Wind Farm Cautions of Impacts to Fishing Industry

August 18, 2021 — The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has completed its environmental review of the proposed South Fork Wind Farm, and is expected to release its final decision on the project in October.

The agency said negative impacts to commercial and recreational fishing would be “major” and found there would be “minor to moderate” beneficial impacts in terms of jobs and investment in the local economy.

The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on the project, released on BOEM’s website Monday, Aug. 16, examines the potential environmental impacts of the proposal to build up to 15 wind turbines and an offshore substation in federal waters about 35 miles off the coast of Montauk. BOEM says in the FEIS that it prefers an alternative proposal to protect habitat by carefully siting just 11 turbines there.

The project, expected to be under construction by next year, would deliver approximately 130 megawatts of power to the South Fork, coming ashore at Beach Lane in Wainscott en route to a substation in East Hampton. It would be the first offshore wind farm to provide power to New York State.

The FEIS found the greatest potential for adverse impacts would be to the commercial and recreational fishing industry, “due to increased port congestion; changes to fishing access, primarily through reduced fishing opportunity when construction activities are occurring; damage to or loss of fishing gear; and impacts on the catch due to changes in target species abundance or availability during construction activities.”

“The “reef effect” of WTG foundations and associated scour protection would have minor beneficial impacts to for-hire recreational fisheries, depending on the extent to which the foundations enhance fishing opportunities,” they added. “Overall cumulative adverse impacts would be major.”

Read the full story at the East End Beacon