Saving Seafood

BOEM issues new draft environmental statement on Vineyard Wind

June 11, 2020 — A long-anticipated Bureau of Ocean Energy Management study of the 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind offshore energy project – broadened to examine potential impacts of similar projects from Maine to Georgia – has been released for a 45-day public comment period.

The draft supplemental environmental impact statement acknowledges Vineyard Wind and other planned wind turbine arrays will have major impacts on the commercial fishing industry. That aspect was flagged as a failing of an earlier impact statement, when National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Greater Atlantic regional fisheries office refused to sign off on BOEM’s study.

“Our goal is that all users can successfully coexist,” BOEM Acting Director Walter Cruickshank said Thursday during the International Partnering Forum, an online event held by the Business Network for Offshore Wind.

Cruickshank, whose agency is viewed skeptically by many in the fishing industry, stressed BOEM recognizes fishing as a crucial maritime industry and is reaching out to commercial and recreational sectors.

With the covid-19 pandemic limiting public gatherings, BOEM began planning early on for alternatives to public hearings on the environmental statement. The process now includes five live virtual meetings from June 26 to July 9 for public comments and questions.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Feds release Vineyard Wind environmental assessment

June 10, 2020 — Federal regulators on Tuesday released a detailed, 420-page environmental assessment of the proposed Vineyard Wind project that includes predictions about the future of wind energy along the East Coast and suggests the impact on commercial fishing of six possible wind farm configurations would be roughly the same.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management put Vineyard Wind on hold last year to take a look at the project through the broader lens of what’s going on in offshore wind overall along the East Coast.  The resulting assessment, called a supplementl to the company’s draft environmental impact statement, forecasts 22 gigawatts of offshore wind development along the East Coast over the next 10 years, the equivalent of about 2 percent of current electricity production. The analysis estimates as many as 2,000 wind turbines will be installed over the 10-year period.

Vineyard Wind would be located off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and consist of between 57 and 100 turbines producing 800 megawatts of power. The project is jointly owned by Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.

Read the full story at Commonwealth Magazine

First major U.S. offshore wind farm reaches permitting milestone

June 10, 2020 — The first major U.S. offshore wind farm, planned for the Massachusetts coast, reached a key permitting milestone on Tuesday with the release of a long-awaited federal environmental study that considers the project’s impacts on fisheries and navigation.

Publication of the document marks a step forward for the Vineyard Wind project, which has experienced delays over concerns that its wind turbines will hurt commercial fishing. The supplemental review by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, announced last year, also considered the impacts of many such projects due to the growing number of offshore wind farms planned for the East Coast.

The Trump administration has sought to fire up development of the nascent offshore wind industry as part of its policy to boost domestic energy production.

The 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind is expected to generate enough power for more than 400,000 homes in Massachusetts. The lease area is located 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.

Read the full story at Reuters

Interior: Offshore wind to have major ‘adverse’ effects

June 10, 2020 — Offshore wind farms could have a major “adverse” impact on commercial fisheries, according to a long-awaited analysis from the Interior Department released yesterday.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s draft supplemental environmental review for Vineyard Wind — the first anticipated large-scale wind project in the United States — arrives nearly a year after a final decision on the project was expected.

BOEM delayed a final environmental analysis at the eleventh hour last summer and announced the launch of the supplemental review, arguing that the rapid expansion of offshore wind proposals and coastal state wind procurement policies necessitated a broader examination of wind’s foreseeable impacts (E&E News PM, Aug. 9, 2019).

The supplemental study, which is to be published in the Federal Register at an unspecified time, looks beyond Vineyard Wind — which is planned off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. — and outlines a host of effects that the burgeoning offshore wind sector in the Northeast could have on other industries, the environment and marine life.

It notes, for example, major cumulative impacts to commercial and recreational fishing, scientific research, and in some cases environmental justice across a suite of development scenarios. Additionally, moderate cumulative impacts are expected to marine mammals and minor cumulative impacts to air quality.

Read the full story at E&E News

Responsible Offshore Development Alliance Calls for Changes to ‘Broken and Ineffective’ Wind Development Outreach

June 3, 2020 — The following was released by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance:

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) is calling on state and federal regulators to extensively revise their approach to planning offshore wind development off of Oregon, calling the current system “broken and ineffective” for preserving sustainable seafood production. The comments come in a public comment letter submitted by RODA on the engagement plan for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) Oregon Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force.

In the letter, RODA calls for BOEM to develop a new planning and engagement model that brings fisheries stakeholders into the process early, with greater participation from fisheries members on task forces and greater opportunities for public input.

Task forces need to work with the industry identify potential impacts on fishing before any offshore leases are issued. Often input from the fishing industry is sought too late in the process, after leases have been awarded and sites selected.

“Fisheries participants and experts must be wholly integrated into every step of the planning process through true collaboration,” the letter states.

Collaboration with the fishing industry is vital because of the many documented conflicts between fishing and wind energy development. These include potential environmental impacts on marine species and habitats; limiting fishing access; disruptions of scientific surveys; and interactions with protected species such as whales.

RODA is a membership-based coalition of fishing-related companies and associations committed to improving the compatibility of new offshore development with their businesses. RODA’s approximately 170 members represent every Atlantic coastal state from North Carolina to Maine, and Pacific coast members in California, Oregon and Washington.

Read the letter here

More offshore wind crewboat builds amid uncertainty for bigger investments

May 22, 2020 — Work is underway on the next support vessels for the fledging U.S. offshore wind energy industry, even as federal regulatory review — and now the global economic upheaval of coronavirus – clouds the prospect of building ambitious power projects.

The 804-megawatt Vineyard Wind project in southern New England waters, leading the pack of more than a dozen proposed wind energy arrays off the East Coast, remains stalled as the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management reassesses the cumulative environmental impacts.

The agency’s final impact statement is scheduled for December 2020. In the meantime, Atlantic Wind Transfers LLC, North Kingston, R.I., the first U.S. provider of offshore services to a wind farm, is pushing forward with its builders at Blount Boats, Warren, R.I., to construct two more crew transfer vessels (CTVs).

Atlantic Wind Transfers president Charles Donadio — a 22-year veteran of the offshore ferry business who had Blount build the first U.S.-flag CTV — aims to be ready first when BOEM allows wind developers to proceed.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Four New Studies to Examine Fisheries, Offshore Wind

May 21, 2020 — With the future of offshore wind waiting on the outcome of a major federal study, Massachusetts and Rhode Island officials announced plans Wednesday to take a look at one of the topics at the center of some of the tension about shared ocean usage: the fisheries.

The two states and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced grants worth $1.1 million to four institutions to conduct research on recreational and commercial fisheries, seabed habitat, and offshore wind policies in Europe.

“The continued success of offshore industries in the United States requires strong coordination and consultation with our state partners,” BOEM Acting Director Walter Cruickshank said. “The studies announced today will help ensure BOEM has sufficient baseline information to support its environmental assessments of offshore wind projects on the Atlantic OCS.”

According to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the studies will “advance the assessment of the interactions between offshore wind development and fisheries in the northeast” and “will help establish baseline datasets on fisheries and seabed habitat.” The initiative will also support and inform a regional fisheries science and monitoring program being developed under the Responsible Offshore Science Alliance (ROSA).

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Trump executive order could speed offshore aquaculture permits

May 13, 2020 — The Trump administration executive order on aquaculture and fisheries is raising hopes among some commercial fishing advocates to roll back what they view as excessive regulation.

But the statement’s strong emphasis on streamlining the permit process for ocean aquaculture alarms opponents, who won a 2018 federal court decision in Louisiana that said NOAA lacked Congressional authority to regulate aquaculture.

The “Executive Order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth” directs federal agencies to “identify and remove unnecessary regulatory barriers restricting American fishermen and aquaculture producers” and “facilitate aquaculture projects through regulatory transparency and long-term strategic planning.”

The document has other promises to U.S. seafood producers, especially in seeking fair trade and competition with imported seafood — including to hold imports to the same food-safety standards required for domestic products.

Chris Oliver, the assistant NOAA administrator for fisheries, said in a statement that a new Seafood Trade Task Force will “develop a comprehensive interagency seafood trade strategy. The strategy will identify opportunities to improve access to foreign markets through trade policy and negotiations; resolve technical barriers to U.S. seafood exports; and otherwise support fair market access for U.S. seafood products.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Delaware wind farm timeline delayed by one year

May 5, 2020 — A wind farm set to be built off Delaware’s coast should now be completed one year later than originally planned.

The company, Ørsted, says the turbines will now be built by the end of 2023 instead of 2022. Officials tell 47 ABC that Ørsted is receiving its “federal Notice of Intent” for the Skipjack Wind Farm later than originally anticipated. In a statement they say, “Ørsted remains firmly committed to working with our federal partners to complete Skipjack and provide clean, reliable offshore wind energy to 35,000 homes in the Delmarva region.”

According to Ørsted, “a Notice of Intent is a communication issued by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) during the federal permitting process announcing its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) submitted by Skipjack Offshore Wind, LLC.”

Read the full story at WMDT

Geophysical survey underway at Virginia offshore wind site

April 28, 2020 — A pair of offshore service vessels from the Gulf of Mexico are at work off Virginia, conducting geophysical studies on a 112,800-acre federal lease where Dominion Energy and offshore wind developer Ørsted plan to build a 2,600-megawatt turbine array beginning in 2024.

Geospatial surveyors TerraSond contracted with Houma, La.-based Bordelon Marine to use the Sarah Bordelon and the Marcelle Bordelon, both 170’x36’x10’, 440.9 dwt, to start the work in mid-April in the lease area, 27 miles east of Virginia Beach.

“These surveys will provide the company with the geological, biological, and oceanographic data needed to support planning and construction in a manner that facilitates coexistence between the natural marine ecosystem and clean energy development,” Dominion Energy said in a statement issued April 27. “Ultimately, this data will support preparation of the project’s Construction and Operations Plan to be submitted to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) later this year.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman