Saving Seafood

NEW JERSEY: Save LBI Stays Course Despite Trump’s Promise to Kill Offshore Wind

November 14, 2024 — While President-elect Donald Trump is expected to make sweeping changes to national energy policy, including doing away with offshore wind on Day 1 of his new term, a local grassroots organization isn’t letting that news get in its way of fighting the construction of what is poised to be the country’s largest wind farm some 9 miles off the coast of Long Beach Island.

“We will be filing major lawsuits by the end of the month to invalidate at least some of those prior federal approvals,” Bob Stern, president and cofounder of Save LBI, said just days after voters returned Trump to office for a second term. “In addition, we will be seeking to have the lease area itself canceled so that new projects will not be resurrected in the future.”

Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind calls for 200 turbines in a lease zone that covers about 102,124 acres and is approximately 8.7 miles off LBI at its closest point. Projects 1 and 2 include roughly 10 offshore wind substations with subsea transmission cables that could make landfall in Atlantic City to the south and Sea Girt in the north.

“You’ll see these things all over the place. They destroy everything. They’re horrible and the most expensive energy there is. They ruin the environment,” Trump told supporters at his May rally in Wildwood, about an hour south of the Island. “They kill the birds. They kill the whales.”

Read the full article at The Sand Paper

Trump’s policy plans could shift seafood sourcing at US restaurants, retail

November 13 2024 — The recent election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency will have myriad effects on the U.S. restaurant and retail sectors, according to professionals in both industries.

According to Jennifer Bushman, co-founder and executive director of the San Francisco, California, U.S.A.-based nonprofit Fed by Blue, which supports the creation of responsible blue food systems, a Trump presidency will likely create a more volatile environment for seafood both at retail and on restaurant menus.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Trade experts predict Trump’s trade strategy will increase barriers for seafood importers

November 12, 2024 — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s stated plans to raise tariffs on a wide swath of imports has trade experts and seafood trade groups predicting a tumultuous four years for the seafood industry.

Trump has promised to institute a range of trade policies in his coming administration, including adding tariffs as high as 60 percent on goods from China and 20 percent on goods from other countries. Peter Quinter, a U.S. customs and international trade attorney at Florida-based law firm Gunster, told SeafoodSource that any additional import barriers will affect most of the seafood Americans eat.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Trump has vowed to kill US offshore wind projects. Will he succeed?

November 11, 2024 — Opponents of offshore wind energy projects expect President-elect Donald Trump to kill an industry he has vowed to end on the first day he returns to the White House.

But it might not be that easy.

Many of the largest offshore wind companies put a brave face on the election results, pledging to work with Trump and Congress to build power projects and ignoring the incoming president’s oft-stated hostility to them.

In campaign appearances, Trump railed against offshore wind and promised to sign an executive order to block such projects.

Read the full article at the Associated Press 

Wind industry pitching business benefits to Trump

November 8, 2024 — Representatives of the offshore wind industry in public remarks on Wednesday congratulated President-elect Donald Trump, appealing to the former president — who previously vowed to halt offshore development through executive power — with the economic opportunities the nascent industry can offer to the American economy.

At the same time, stocks for several renewable energy companies dropped, with reports companies worry about future tariffs under Trump that could significantly increase project costs.

The Light previously reported that a second Trump administration could slow progress for the industry, which gained momentum under the Biden administration with project installation and several lease sales on both coasts. This potential slowing down could be felt in the Port of New Bedford, which is slated to support several projects in the coming years (and decades) in both the construction of and long-term operations and maintenance of the wind farms.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

Fishermen celebrate Trump: ‘Government has crucified this industry’

November 8, 2024 — Fishermen on the New Bedford waterfront met the news of a second Trump term with vengeful enthusiasm on Wednesday morning. There was hope that the president-elect would scale back regulation, stop offshore wind development and open new fishing grounds — breaking the slump of declining revenues and ushering in a period of relative prosperity for the industry.

Donald Trump gained significant support throughout the South Coast in the 2024 election, narrowing the margin of his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden in the region. Trump didn’t win New Bedford, where Vice President Kamala Harris held a margin of 2,688 votes. But the city’s fishermen have dug in with their support for President-elect Trump.

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light

Trump reversal looms for offshore wind

November 6, 2024 — Former President Donald Trump’s impending 2025 return to the White House sent shock waves through the U.S. offshore wind industry and was hailed by its foes, who look forward to Trump’s campaign promise to shut down projects “on day one.”

“The incoming administration has a historic opportunity to save American workers from foreign developers, reinvigorate iconic coastal towns, and improve America’s food security,” said Jerry Leeman, CEO of the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association, on Wednesday morning.

 Trump’s victory could bring a sharp reversal of the wind industry’s fortunes, as happened immediately after President Joe Biden took office in January 2021.

“They destroy everything, they’re horrible, the most expensive energy there is,” Trump said at a May 11 rally in Wildwood, N.J., where he pledged to halt turbine projects. “They ruin the environment, they kill the birds, they kill the whales.”

Despite Trump’s campaign rhetoric against them, wind power advocates tried to make a case for continuation.

Read the full article at WorkBoat

MASSACHUSETTS: Fishermen, fleet owners hope Trump helps their industry

November 6, 2024 — New Bedford fishermen fly many flags. There is the American flag; the skull and crossbones flag. There are flags expressing resistance to offshore wind development. And there are many — many — flags for former President Donald Trump.

But one flag is rarely hoisted on the New Bedford waterfront.

“I have yet to see a Harris-Walz flag on a fishing vessel,” said Drew Minkiewicz, an attorney representing the industry’s Sustainable Scalloping Fund.

The South Coast already has the densest concentration of Trump supporters in an otherwise deep blue state. But if a pollster were to survey a specific two-mile stretch of paved riverbank — the Port of New Bedford — they would find an especially vivid shade of red. Among New Bedford fishermen and fleet owners interviewed by The Light, there are three types of voters: those who strongly favor Trump; those who are skeptical but reluctantly favor Trump; and those who didn’t want to share their opinion.

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light

Biden administration races to shell out billions for clean energy as election nears

October 21, 2024 — The Biden administration is shelling out billions of dollars for clean energy and approving major offshore wind projects as officials race to secure major climate initiatives before President Joe Biden’s term comes to an end.

Biden wants to establish a legacy for climate action that includes locking in a trajectory for reducing the nation’s planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. Former President Donald Trump has pledged to rescind unspent funds in Biden’s landmark climate and health care bill and stop offshore wind development if he returns to the White House in January.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told The Associated Press on Friday it would be “political malpractice” to undo clean energy incentives that are benefiting all pockets of America, with most of the investments going to counties with below-average weekly wages and college graduation rates.

Read the full article at the Associated Press