Saving Seafood

Kennedy orders CDC study of potential offshore wind hazards

November 3, 2025 — Voters are choosing new governors Tuesday in Virginia and New Jersey, states where ambitious plans for offshore wind projects run against the Trump administration’s political and legal war on renewable energy projects.

Days before, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directed the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate potential health and safety hazards from offshore wind turbines, a new front in the Trump administration’s offensive to squelch wind power development.

The administration and its executive departments like HHS have effectively derailed many of the wind industry’s earlier project approvals granted under the Biden administration. But some ongoing construction projects survive, notably Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project (CVOW), as power demands and costs escalate in the Mid-Atlantic states. Kennedy’s new review could revisit longstanding health and safety claims by offshore wind opponents, including electromagnetic effects of turbine array cables and transmission lines.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

First US offshore wind ship arrives for work amid Trump attacks

September 22, 2025 — The first American-made offshore wind installation vessel is ready to work, just as the Trump administration is making moves to shut the industry down.

The Charybdis, a turbine installation ship named for the sea monster from Greek mythology, arrived at Portsmouth Marine Terminal in Virginia last week. The $715 million vessel is set to begin erecting turbines next month at the country’s largest marine wind farm, named the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.

The Charybdis’ arrival marks a significant logistical and symbolic milestone for the U.S. offshore wind sector at a moment when the industry is under siege from President Donald Trump.

Read the full article at E&E News

VIRGINIA: The Lone G.O.P. Governor Opposing Trump’s War on Offshore Wind

September 10, 2025 — President Trump has sought to halt the construction of five giant wind farms off the coasts of Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island — all states run by Democrats.

But there is one East Coast wind farm that has so far escaped the administration’s ire: a $10.8 billion project under construction off the shores of Virginia, where Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, has been its champion.

Mr. Youngkin has quietly pushed back against Mr. Trump’s war on wind energy. A supporter of the president, the governor has privately urged the Trump administration not to target the project known as Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, according to four people briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

Mr. Youngkin called Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, last month to voice support for the project, according to two of the people briefed on the matter. His office also called the White House in January to express concern about Mr. Trump’s executive order that paused permits for new wind farms on federal lands and waters, two of the individuals said.

Read the full article at The New York Times

Tariffs could add $500M to cost of Virginia Beach offshore wind farm, Dominion tells investors

May 7, 2025 — Dominion Energy expects to pay more to complete the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project because of the Trump administration’s new taxes on imported goods including monopile foundations and turbine towers.

The $10.8 billion offshore wind farm about 30 miles off the Virginia Beach coast will be the nation’s largest, consisting of 176 turbines that generate about 2.6 gigawatts of electricity, or enough to power up to 660,000 homes.

Dominion CEO Bob Blue told investors last week that if current tariffs continue through construction of the project late next year, the utility would expect about $500 million in added costs.

“Of course, changes to future tariff policy could affect these estimates,” he said. “It’s difficult to fully assess the impact tariffs may have to the project’s final cost, as actual costs incurred are dependent upon the tariff requirements and rates, if any, at the time of delivery of the specific component.”

Read the full story at the Virginia Mercury

Interior defends Virginia offshore wind farm in court

May 7, 2024 — The Biden administration and the developer of a $9.8 billion wind farm off of Virginia Beach, Virginia, assured a federal court Friday that the project has all necessary approvals, amid claims that construction would harm the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

The joint court filing from the Interior Department and Dominion Energy comes in response to a request to halt work on the massive Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, which is slated to include 176 turbines and is the largest project of its kind currently under development in the United States.

Dominion and Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management filed their response following an order from Judge Loren AliKhan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking clarity on whether NOAA Fisheries — which handles Endangered Species Act consultations for marine life — had approved mitigation plans to protect the vulnerable right whale.

Read the full story at E&E News

How Do Offshore Wind Farms Impact Ocean Ecosystems?

March 12, 2021 — There’s no denying that renewable energy technology has become increasingly popular. It’s more common for households and businesses to choose solar, geothermal, and other options for power. These clean, never-ending resources hold real promise for a healthier planet.

However, we can’t ignore that some of these solutions come with implications. The world’s offshore wind farms are just one example. Take a look.

This specific renewable energy source has various financial and environmental advantages, such as job creation, reduced emissions, and industry growth. It’s more typical to see wind farms on land, where several wind turbines spin continuously to generate energy. But offshore wind farms have become an alternative.

If you install wind turbines at sea, you don’t have to sacrifice any land. This point helps negate complaints about how “unsightly” wind turbines can appear. Plus, you don’t have to disrupt neighborhoods. It’s true that winds blow stronger across the water, which means we can produce more power from offshore wind farms, too.

Read the full story at Energy Central

Offshore wind turbines headed to Virginia; New Jersey launches ‘WIND Institute’

April 24, 2020 — Components for the first two offshore wind energy turbines to be installed in U.S. federal waters departed from Denmark, bound for Nova Scotia and ultimately installation off Virginia, project backers said April 21.

The pair of 6-megawatt Siemens Gamesa will be assembled by Dominion Energy and wind developer Ørsted for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW), a pilot project 27 miles offshore for what is planned to become a much larger array on a federal lease east of Virginia Beach.

The foundations, consisting of the turbines’ monopiles, transition pieces and anode cages fabricated by metals manufacturer EEW SPC, were loaded at Rostock, Germany onto the Bigroll Beaufort, a 568-foot Netherlands-flagged flat deck cargo ship. Turbine components were loaded at Esbjerg, Denmark, before the vessel embarked in mid-April. Arrival is expected around April 25 in Halifax, according to commercial vessel tracking services.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Virginia starts construction of first offshore wind farm

July 8, 2019 — Virginia Governor Ralph Northam picked up a shovel July 1 to take part in a ceremonial ground breaking marking the start of construction of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) demonstration project, consisting of two six-megawatt wind turbines located approximately 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach.

This is the first offshore wind project to be installed in federal waters. Dominion Energy is partnering with Ørsted to build the project on 2,135 acres leased by the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME).

“The Virginia offshore wind demonstration project is another powerful example of the Commonwealth’s position as a leader in renewable energy,” said Governor Northam. “As the first deployment of commercial-scale offshore wind turbines in federal waters, I am thrilled that Virginia’s project will help determine best practices for future offshore wind construction along the East Coast.”

Read the full story at MarineLog

VIRGINIA: At long last, Dominion decides it’s game on for offshore wind

May 31, 2019 — When utility regulators gave Dominion Energy Virginia the go-ahead to build two offshore wind turbines last November, it was still unclear whether the pilot project might be the end as well as the beginning of offshore wind in Virginia.

Now, however, Dominion seems to have decided it’s game on. Although the company hasn’t issued any public statements about its intentions, its presentation to investors in March included $880 million in spending on offshore wind through 2023, over and above the cost of the pilot project.

This came as a surprise to everyone, including Virginia regulators at the State Corporation Commission. Commissioners were not pleased that Wall Street heard the utility’s plans before they did. Dominion’s 2018 Integrated Resource Plan did not propose building a full-sized offshore wind farm any time in the next 15 years.

Nor had the 2016 and 2017 IRPs, even though the company has been sitting on a lease for an area of ocean that could provide at least 2,000 megawatts of offshore wind power, enough for 500,000 homes.

At a hearing on the IRP this month, the company promised regulators it would submit detailed information in its future filings, and confirmed that it currently has its sights set on 2024 for the first commercial wind farm.

For now, however, Dominion remains focused on getting the two test turbines up and running in a state-held lease area 24 miles out to sea from Virginia Beach. If all goes according to plan, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project will be up and running by late summer 2020.

The two, 6-MW turbines will contribute only enough electricity to the grid for about 3,000 homes, but they will be the first turbines in federal waters anywhere in the U.S.  (The nation’s first wind farm, off Block Island in Rhode Island, is closer to shore in state waters.)

With that finish line in sight, state officials, developers, business people and offshore wind researchers were at Old Dominion University in Norfolk Tuesday night to share their vision of how Virginia will leverage its baby steps into a multi-billion-dollar industry that could “reinvent” Hampton Roads.

The town hall forum, organized by the Sierra Club, emphasized the workforce, supply chain and port opportunities if Virginia succeeds in becoming a commercial hub for offshore wind farms all along the East Coast. Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration hopes to find success with this plan even if Virginia lags other states in building wind farms.

Read the full story at the Virginia Mercury