Saving Seafood

U.S. senators propose grant program to help restore Chesapeake Bay habitats

September 30, 2019 — Maryland’s U.S. senators and colleagues from across the Chesapeake Bay watershed introduced a bill Friday to create a federal grant program for projects focused on restoring the bay’s fish and wildlife habitats.

The Chesapeake WILD Act aims to replicate a similar program that provides $5 million annually for such projects in the Delaware River basin. The legislation would create a funding stream for work to restore wetlands, improve stream water quality, and plant trees and other vegetation.

If the grant program is approved, Congress would have to allocate money for it in the appropriations process for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is part of the Department of the Interior.

Read the full story at The Baltimore Sun

Fisheries Survival Fund Supports Department of Interior Commitment to Scientific Review of Wind Farm Projects

August 16, 2019 — The following was released by the Fisheries Survival Fund:

The Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF) supports recent efforts by the Department of the Interior to ensure that planned offshore wind developments receive a thorough environmental review, as required by law. We appreciate that President Trump and his Administration, and specifically Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, have chosen to require that major offshore renewable energy development is based on sound science and takes the needs and interests of existing, historic coastal communities into account. Recognizing that major offshore wind development projects — especially when so many are being planned all at once— fundamentally alter the ocean environment is sound policy and the right thing to do.

FSF has consistently stated that any offshore wind development needs to properly consider how new development affects exiting ocean users. This includes scallopers and all other fishermen, who rely on key fishing grounds that will be disrupted by new wind farms, as well as other ocean users who rely on these areas for transit.

Any prospective wind farm needs to properly account for the environmental impacts it would have on marine life and marine habitats, and the economic impacts it would have on fishermen and others relying on the areas. Only then can the benefits of any project be accurately assessed against the costs, and possible damages successfully mitigated.

Recent steps by the Department of the Interior closely follow our advice. In requiring a proper environmental review of existing wind farm proposals, the Department is holding the wind power industry to the same standards the fishing industry is whenever it implements a fishery management plan. To be clear, the Department is not imposing new or unique burdens. Rather, it is assuring that existing standards are met and proper procedures are followed. We are a nation governed by laws that apply to all, including renewable energy projects.

FSF still believes that it is possible for wind power and fisheries to coexist. But this coexistence can’t happen without an honest and complete understanding of how this new industry will change our environment. We thank Secretary Bernhardt for his active engagement and thoughtful deliberation on this issue.

Environmental Groups, Fishermen Divided On Trump Administration’s Delay Of Offshore Wind Project

August 14, 2019 — The Interior Department is ordering further analysis of the Vineyard Wind project’s impact on commercial fishing as well as a study of the industry’s cumulative impacts on the environment.

New England commercial fishermen have applauded the decision saying the project has been moving too fast and hasn’t addressed their concerns about fish displacement and navigational safety.

Scallop fisherman Eric Hansen in New Bedford, MA says the industry has been expressing its issues with the Vineyard Wind project for years. He’s pleased the federal government is finally listening.

Read the full story at The Public’s Radio

The future of offshore wind may depend on Bernhardt

August 7, 2019 — Could anything make greens pine for the return of Ryan Zinke?

The former Interior secretary’s penchant for fossil fuels, along with a healthy string of scandals, made him an opponent of Democrats and environmentalists. But Zinke had one redeeming quality among those inclined toward cutting carbon: He loved offshore wind.

Now the success of the embryonic industry — and the state climate goals pinned to it — is being newly questioned under Zinke’s successor, Secretary David Bernhardt.

Zinke touted offshore wind at an industry conference and in newspaper op-eds. He wrote in The Boston Globe that offshore wind was part of the Trump administration’s strategy for “American energy dominance.” The collective sigh of relief in the Northeast, where a series of states have made offshore wind central to their climate plans, was nearly audible at the time.

Read the full story at E&E News

US fishing industry’s wind worries divide Trump camp, slow $2.8bn project

August 6, 2019 — The US Department of the Interior (DOI) had seemed poised to move forward with the environmental impact assessment (EIS) needed for Vineyard Wind to begin building the US’s first offshore wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean as soon as this year.

The New Bedford, Massachusetts-based company, a joint venture between Avangrid, a division of the Spanish wind giant Iberdrola, and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, a Denmark-based investment firm with €6.8 billion ($7.6bn) under management, wants to erect more than 80 wind turbines that are 600-to-700-foot-tall – at least twice the height of the Statue of Liberty — in an 118 square mile stretch of the ocean starting some 15 miles from the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. It would contribute to America’s goal of reducing its dependence on fossil fuels by providing at least 400,000 New England homes and businesses with a combined 800 megawatts of power, while reducing carbon emissions by over 1.6 million tons per year.

One problem: Citing concerns expressed by New England’s commercial fishing industry, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) — a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is part of the US Department of Commerce — is not yet willing to give its blessing on the $2.8bn project’s draft environmental impact statement (EIS).

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

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

Vineyard Wind wants federal review within 6 weeks

July 19, 2019 — Vineyard Wind has given the federal agency in charge of permits for its offshore wind farm up to six weeks to issue a key environmental review document, after the agency announced last week it would not meet a summer deadline.

“Through all of our communications with government officials, it has been made clear to us that there was no intention to prevent the Vineyard Wind 1 project from moving forward,” the New Bedford-based company said in a statement Thursday.

The company has told the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, though, that for a variety of reasons “it would be very challenging” to move ahead with the 84-turbine project south of the Islands in its current configuration if the final environmental impact statement is not issued within approximately four to six weeks.

The final impact statement is a review of the $2 billion construction of the offshore wind farm and its operation. The statement is a key document but one of a half-dozen federal reviews underway for the project.

In its statement, Vineyard Wind said the federal agency indicated that it understood the reasons for the company’s constraints and that it intended to communicate that to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt. Vineyard Wind said it has communicated directly with Bernhardt as well about its concerns regarding the delay.

“Vineyard Wind notes that it is not unusual for there to be ongoing review of an environmental impact statement as it makes its way through the internal approval process, especially for a project of this significance,” the company said in the statement. “The National Environmental Policy Act requires an environmental impact statement to consider all best available information, which we believe BOEM has done. We are therefore confident that any remaining reviews can be concluded and an FEIS released soon after.”

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Interior boss: No monument changes planned, but up to Trump

May 23, 2019 — U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said Wednesday he has no plans for additional changes to national monuments that were recommended by his predecessor, but that it’s ultimately up to President Donald Trump.

The comments at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee meeting are the latest indication that recommendations to shrink two monuments in Oregon and Nevada and change rules at six others remain relegated to backburner status as the White House deals with other issues.

Trump acted in December 2017 to shrink two sprawling Utah monuments on the recommendations of then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who was tasked with reviewing 27 national monuments around the country. Since then, he has done nothing else with Zinke’s recommendations.

The monument review was based on arguments from Trump and others that a law signed by President Theodore Roosevelt allowing presidents to declare monuments had been improperly used to protect wide expanses of lands instead of places with particular historical or archaeological value.

New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall, a Democrat, asked at Wednesday’s hearing if there were plans to move forward on the other eight monuments.

“I think the answer is no,” Bernhardt said.

He said he has not received any further instruction on Zinke’s report from Trump. “The president is ultimately the holder of the pen,” said Bernhardt, who was confirmed as Interior Secretary last month.

Bernhardt is a former lobbyist for the oil and gas industry and other corporate interests who became the acting secretary after Zinke resigned in December amid multiple ethics investigations.

Read the full story at Boston.com

Rep. Amata highlights American Samoa’s fishing needs with Sec. Bernhardt

May 22, 2019 — The following was released by The Office of Congresswomen Aumua Amata (R-American Samoa):

Last week, Congresswoman Aumua Amata and the Natural Resources Committee conducted a budget and policy hearing with Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, and she placed a focus on American Samoa’s fishing needs.

In her questioning of the Secretary of the Interior, Congresswoman Amata asked if there would be any changes to the recommendation by his predecessor, former Secretary Ryan Zinke, regarding reopening portions of the marine monuments to American Samoa’s fishing.

In his response, Secretary Bernhardt said the Department’s prior recommendation stands. That response is good news for this policy pursuit for American Samoa, as it means the recommendation to allow much-needed restoration of American Samoa’s fishing waters is not being withdrawn or changed under a new Secretary.

“It’s important to know that the Department of Interior has no plans to pull back the prior recommendation which would allow for restoration of American Samoa’s fishing waters,” said Aumua Amata. “During Secretary Bernhardt’s confirmation process, I repeatedly stressed that American Samoa benefits from a consistent vision in the leadership of the Department of Interior, and I’m pleased that the transition will not interrupt or reduce this policy priority. As it stands, there is a clear recommendation on the books that would allow for restoration of some of American Samoa’s waters.”

Read the full release at Samoa News

David Bernhardt confirmed as new Interior chief

April 12, 2019 — Congress confirmed David Bernhardt as Interior secretary on Thursday, adding his name to a list of Trump Cabinet officials with lobbying ties.

Bernhardt was confirmed Thursday afternoon in a 56-41 vote with three Democrats and one Independent breaking ranks to vote for him. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Angus King (I-Maine) voted in favor of his confirmation.

Manchin, the top Democrat of the Senate committee that oversees Interior, welcomed Bernhardt’s confirmation Thursday, saying he was more than qualified for the job

“I believe Mr. Bernhardt is clearly qualified to serve as secretary,” Manchin said during a floor speech. “He knows the Interior Department inside and out and he is well versed on all the issues that come before it. He clearly has the knowledge and experiences to serve as secretary.”

Republicans also cheered the confirmation, adding that Bernhardt’s policy chops would be very useful at the Interior Department.

“I think he’s got more experience than just about anybody who has been named to this position and he’s ready to go,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters, brushing off concerns that Bernhardt’s past lobbying would influence his future work. “There’s nothing new that is out there, there are new stories on old facts. We’ve heard the same comments from the same critics.”

Read the full story at The Hill