Saving Seafood

Massachusetts picks lowest-price offshore wind option

October 31, 2019 — The Baker Administration announced Mayflower Wind as the winner of the state’s second offshore wind farm procurement, praising a proposal that the company said offered the lowest price and the least onshore investment of its three major offerings.

Few details about the price or the onshore investment were revealed, but Mayflower said in its original bid that the price would be “the lowest cost offshore wind energy ever in the US.” Mayflower is a joint venture of Shell New Energies and EDP Renewables.

The choice of the lowest-cost option is controversial because it touches on a sensitive policy issue. Officials on the South Coast have been pressing the Baker administration to focus more on onshore investment so that the state could begin to supply more and more of the supply chain for wind farms springing up along the coast. Gov. Charlie Baker is eager to see onshore industry develop, but he is wary of doing so at the cost of higher prices for power, which negatively affects customers and businesses across the state.

Mayflower laid out three options for a wind farm with a capacity of 804 megawatts. The first proposal, called “low cost energy,” offered the lowest price and some onshore investment. The second proposal, called “infrastructure and innovation,” offered a slightly higher price but promised more investment onshore. The third option, called “Massachusetts manufacturing,” offered the highest price but more onshore investment.

Read the full story at Commonwealth Magazine

MASSACHUSETTS: Governor, local officials celebrate $24M grant for harbor dredging

September 18, 2019 — Since the Port of New Bedford has ranked as the most valuable fishing port in the country for 18 consecutive years, there’s no doubt that it’s an important part of the city and beyond, and with a $24 million state grant for dredging, officials are proud and excited about what this means.

Gov. Charlie Baker Tuesday afternoon called the port “an incredibly important asset” to the community and region and underscored its greater significance.

It landed and processed $427 million of locally harvested seafood last year and processed an additional $275 million in international seafood, among other large statistics, Baker said.

Tuesday afternoon in the Whaling Museum Harbor View Gallery, local and state elected officials, including Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, talked about the listening, collaboration and hard work that helped turn out a $24 million grant for Phase 5 of the city’s dredging project.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Gov. Charlie Baker: Not concerned by Trump’s wind comment

August 29, 2019 — The future of Vineyard Wind is on hold amid a longer-than-expected federal review and President Donald Trump dismissed wind power as costly “dreams” this week, but Gov. Charlie Baker said he is not concerned that the government has any plans to block the offshore wind project.

Federal regulators, who have been auctioning off ocean tracts to wind energy developers, jolted the offshore wind industry this month when they announced that a key environmental impact statement Vineyard Wind needs to advance, originally expected by March 2020 at the latest, would be paused to allow for a broader study of the effects that such turbines would cause.

Baker, who moments earlier touted the implementation of a statewide partnership to enact a climate-resiliency plan, told reporters Wednesday that he remains confident about the project’s future, describing his conversations with Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and officials at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management as productive despite the uncertainty.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Massachusetts governor signs bill, makes it legal to process lobster in state

August 2, 2019 — It is now legal to process raw, shell-on lobster parts in Massachusetts, the US’s second largest state for landings.

Charlie Baker, the state’s governor, on Wednesday signed the state’s $43.3 billion fiscal 2020 budget bill, which included a provision to end the decades-old prohibition, the Gloucester Daily Times reports.

Under the new measure, which went immediately into effect, wholesale seafood dealers licensed by the state’s Department of Public Health are permitted to process raw lobsters and import raw, shell-on lobster parts and tails. The change also allows for the retail sale of already-frozen raw, in-shell tails, the newspaper explains.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

MASSACHUSETTS: Lobster processing claws its way into law

August 1, 2019 — The long-sought measure to expand and modernize lobster processing regulations in Massachusetts is now law, as of Gov. Charlie Baker’s signature on Wednesday.

Baker, sparing the veto pen, opted to retain the modernized lobster processing regulations in the $43.3 billion state budget for fiscal year 2020, clearing the way for Massachusetts lobster processors to begin in-state transport and processing of raw, shell-on lobster parts.

“We’re elated that the Legislature passed it and the governor signed it into law,” said Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association. “This will help the entire Massachusetts lobster industry compete with other states in the region.”

Under the measure, wholesale seafood dealers licensed by the state Department of Public Health will be able to process raw lobsters and import raw, shell-on lobster parts and tails. It also provides for the retail sale of already-frozen raw, in-shell tails.

Previously, Massachusetts laws allowed only the sale of live, cooked and canned lobster, as well as the processing and sale of frozen and cooked lobster tails.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Delay From Environmental Regulators Blows Vineyard Wind Off Course

July 31, 2019 — Construction of the $2.8 billion Vineyard Wind, the nation’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm, is on hold as developers wait for an environmental impact statement from federal regulators.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management does not technically have to submit the impact statement until early next year, but it was expected in mid-July, and regulators gave no reason for the delay.

An investigation by Reuters found that two other federal agencies — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service — refused to sign off on the project’s design, citing concerns over its impact on commercial fishing.

On Monday, Gov. Charlie Baker met with Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt in Washington, D.C., to urge movement on the project.

Read the full story at WBUR

Federal fisheries, energy agencies negotiate deadlock over Vineyard Wind

July 31, 2019 — Gov. Charlie Baker and other Massachusetts politicians pushed federal officials to break a deadlock over the environmental review of the Vineyard Wind offshore energy project, amid the developer’s warnings it needs an approval by the end of August.

But advocates for the commercial fishing industry say the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has failed to address issues raised by the NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office in Gloucester, Mass.

Baker met Monday in Washington, D.C., with Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to urge progress on issuing a final environmental impact statement for the 84-turbine, 800-megawatt wind array planned on a federal lease about 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.

“I thought our meeting was a good one,” Baker told radio station WBUR Tuesday. “Our goal is to get as much clarity as possible and put together a plan because we really want this project to happen.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Gov. Charlie Baker is in Washington D. C. to push for the wind farm off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard

July 30, 2019 — Governor Charlie Baker is in Washington D. C. Monday for talks with key White House officials to discuss plans to install a long-anticipated wind farm proposed in Martha’s Vineyard.

“Our goal is going to be to get as much clarity as we can over the next several days and then work with Vineyard Wind to put together a cure plan because we really want this project to happen.”

His meeting will be with the Interior Secretary, David Bernhardt, who oversees the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Construction of the wind farm is scheduled to begin Dec. 19.

Read the full story at MassLive

MASSACHUSETTS: Baker eyeing ‘cure plan’ for Vineyard Wind

July 30, 2019 — After a “really productive and substantive” meeting with new U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Gov. Charlie Baker said his administration will be working with Vineyard Wind to address the federal government’s concerns with the project in line to be the nation’s first commercial-scale offshore wind development.

The federal government injected a level of uncertainty into Vineyard Wind, a $2.8 billion, 800-megawatt offshore wind project planned for the waters off Martha’s Vineyard, earlier this month when the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management notified project officials that the government was “not yet prepared” to issue a final environmental impact statement, which had been expected this month.

“What I was really seeking was some clarity so that we can work with Vineyard Wind and with our colleagues in the Congressional delegation and others to cure whatever the concerns are,” Baker said Monday afternoon after his meeting with Bernhardt and before returning to D.C. for more meetings. He added, “Our goal is going to be to get as much clarity as we can over the next several days and then work with Vineyard Wind to put together a cure plan, because we really want this project to happen.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Lobster bill survives budget deal Legislation to allow in-state sale, processing of unfrozen, shell-on, lobster parts

July 24, 2019 — It’s now up to Gov. Charlie Baker to decide whether Massachusetts will allow more in-state lobster processing to make the Bay State lobster industry more competitive with its contemporaries in Maine and Canada.

The legislation to allow the in-state sale, transport and processing of unfrozen, shell-on lobster parts — a persistent, years-long campaign by state Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr — has survived the Massachusetts Legislature’s conference committee and is contained in the $43.1 billion budget awaiting Baker’s approval or veto.

The governor has 10 days to review and act on the budget prepared by the conference committee, which is comprised of representatives of the Senate and House. Any items vetoed by Baker are subject to legislative override, which would have to be initiated in the House and carry by a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate.

“We have the second-largest lobster catch in the nation, yet without this change in law, our raw and frozen lobster parts are processed in Canada or Maine, only to be brought back to local consumers,” Tarr said in a statement. “By modernizing these lobster laws, we bolster the fishing industry, give consumers more choices and substantially support coastal fishing communities.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times