Saving Seafood

Rhode Island Fishermen Also Peeved With South Fork Wind

May 27, 2021 — In a virtual meeting of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council on Tuesday night, members of its fisheries advisory board strongly objected to the council’s conclusion that the South Fork Wind Farm’s new “minimization alternative” — 12 wind turbine generators instead of 15, reducing its footprint — and a $12 million fisheries compensation package, are consistent with the state’s Ocean Special Area Management Plan.

The advisory board also took exception to the state council’s inclination to issue “conditional concurrence” pursuant to federal regulations. The project needs the council’s approval, along with that of a host of other state, federal, and local authorities.

The wind farm as first proposed called for a 15-turbine, 90-megawatt setup. Advances in technology have allowed instead for a 130-megawatt installation, using no more than 15 turbines. The South Fork Wind Farm will now have 12 wind turbine generators, its developers having entered into a contractual obligation with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy for 11-megawatt turbines.

The developers, Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind and Eversource Energy, have also modified the layout, to a one-by-one nautical-mile grid.

Read the full story at The East Hampton Star

Fishermen provide scouting, monitoring for offshore wind

May 20, 2021 — Fishermen from Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York are providing vessels to help offshore wind developers Ørsted and Eversource in what the joint venture partners are calling the first substantial contract with “a commercial fishing consortium in the history of U.S. offshore wind.”

Sea Services North America, based in Waterford, Conn., and its fishermen partners will work in and around the companies’ Northeast offshore wind developments, including the 704-megawatt Revolution Wind project, the 132 MW South Fork Wind, and the 924 MW Sunrise Wind.

The company’s work “ensures enhanced safety and protection of the ocean environment, but also will support the region’s economy by creating new jobs and providing an economic opportunity for our fishermen,” according to Sea Services CEO and co-founder Gordon Videll.

Starting in 2020 Sea Services fishermen helped Revolution Wind survey vessels to locate, identify and avoid gill nets and other fixed gear. During that pilot project, its fishermen worked 150 days over 6,000 miles to assist the vessels “without any gear conflict,” Videll said in an interview Thursday with NF.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Ørsted and Eversource announce partnership with local fishermen

May 20, 2021 — Joint-venture partners Ørsted and Eversource, the companies working with the state on a $235 million overhaul of State Pier in New London, have announced a collaboration with Waterford-based marine services provider Sea Services North America and its partner fishermen in Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York.

Ørsted says the agreement marks the first time an offshore wind developer and a commercial fishing consortium have signed a substantial commercial contract in the history of U.S. offshore wind.

The partnership, Ørsted and Eversource said in a statement, supports scouting and safety work — safe navigation in and around the companies’ planned Northeast offshore wind farms projects, including the 704-megawatt Revolution Wind project serving Rhode Island and Connecticut, the 132-megawatt South Fork Wind serving Long Island and the 924-megawatt Sunrise Wind project serving New York.

“We believe strongly that offshore wind can coexist with all ocean users, including the region’s commercial and recreational fishing fleets,” David Hardy, chief executive officer of Ørsted Offshore North America, said in a statement. “Our expanded collaboration with Sea Services will help us as we strive to achieve that coexistence, with the valuable support from fishermen who know the area’s waters best.”

Sea Services North America was co-founded by Waterford attorney Gordon Videll and Gary Yerman, the founder and owner of New London Seafood Distributors in New London.

Read the full story at The Day

Ørsted, Eversource Hire Sea ServIces to Ensure Safety During Offshore Wind Farm Construction

May 19, 2021 — Ørsted and Eversource have announced they will collaborate with marine services provider Sea Services North America, and its partner fishermen in Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York, to support safe navigation in and around the companies’ Northeast offshore wind farm projects.

This includes the 704-megawatt Revolution Wind project serving Rhode Island and Connecticut, the 132-megawatt South Fork Wind serving Long Island and the 924-megawatt Sunrise Wind project serving New York.

“We believe strongly that offshore wind can coexist with all ocean users, including the region’s commercial and recreational fishing fleets,” said David Hardy, Chief Executive Officer of Ørsted Offshore North America. “Our expanded collaboration with Sea Services will help us as we strive to achieve that coexistence, with the valuable support from fishermen who know the area’s waters best.”

Read the full story at Go Local Prov

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Seacoast Chamber Alliance hosts Offshore Wind Forum

February 18, 2021 — The Seacoast Chamber Alliance will host an Offshore Wind Forum on Tuesday, Feb. 23.

The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. via the online platform Zoom. The forum will consist of a panel discussion featuring Sen. David Watters, D-Dover, and New Hampshire Offshore Wind Industry Development Director Michael Behrmann. The forum is sponsored by Eversource.

The forum is free and open to the public but pre-registration is required. The Zoom link will be sent the day before the event. Register at dovernh.org/wind.

Additional panelists include Susannah Hatch, of New England for Offshore Wind and Environmental League of Massachusetts; Curt Thalken, of Normandeau Associates; Joe Casey, of IBEW; Bob LaBelle, former BOEM deputy associate director; and Elizabeth Donohue, of Eversource.

Read the full story at The Portsmouth Herald

Traffic lane, habitat alternatives for South Fork offshore wind project

February 18, 2021 — A draft environmental impact statement for the South Fork Wind Farm project off southern New England includes alternatives for a fishing vessel traffic lane and protecting ocean bottom habitat for fisheries.

Both could potentially displace preferred locations for up to 15 wind turbines of 6 to 12 megawatt capacity planned by project partners Ørsted and Eversource. The federal Bureau of Offshore Energy Management is considering the companies’ construction and operations plan for the project 19 miles southeast of Block Island, R.I., and 35 miles east of Montauk, N.Y.

The developers propose to lay out the array with one nautical mile spacing between turbine towers, consistent with plans for adjacent wind power developments south of Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

A series of three virtual public hearings online followed BOEM’s January release of the draft environmental statement. The last proceeding Feb. 16 attracted project supporters from New York State labor, industry and environmental groups, and skeptics of its potential effects on the region’s fisheries, which the impact statement broadly summarizes as “negligible to moderate.”

A public comment period on the document is open until Feb. 22. Agency officials say they anticipate publishing a final version in August 2021, followed by a record of decision in October that could clear the way toward construction.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NEW YORK: Cable Landing Simmers While Federal Wind Farm Review Is Just Heating Up

February 11, 2021 — While the public debate over the South Fork Wind Farm cable landing in Wainscott has shifted to court filings and the village incorporation effort, the public stage of the federal application for the wind farm itself is just getting started — and advocates for local fishermen say that the most important aspects of the project have yet to be settled.

Whether turbine foundations will be hammered into the heart of one of the most fabled fishing regions off Montauk and whether commercial fishermen will be compensated for lost fishing time or damaged fishing gear are both still up in the air as the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and a dozen other federal agencies continue their examination of the project as proposed by Danish wind farm developer Ørsted and it’s American domestic partner, Eversource.

The federal regulators on Tuesday held the first of three public comment sessions on the project’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement, the 800-plus-page main outline of the project and the various considerations for its design. The will be additional comment sessions on February 11 and 16. The meetings are being held via Zoom and registration and the full details of the project are available at www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/south-fork-wind-farm-virtual-meetings.

Read the full story at the Sag Harbor Express

RHODE ISLAND: Fishermen, developers reach impasse over offshore wind farm

February 3, 2021 — Members of the state Fishermen’s Advisory Board say they’ve hit an impasse in negotiations with Orsted and Eversource over compensation for the impact of the proposed South Fork Wind Farm.

The 130-megawatt project would be built in Rhode Island Sound and supply power to Long Island, the Providence Journal reported.

Lanny Dellinger, chairman of the board, declined to go into detail on the offer from Ørsted and Eversource. The board advises the Coastal Resources Management Council on offshore wind development.

Read the full story at the Caledonian Record

MASSACHUSETTS: Bay State Wind to host open house

November 19, 2018 — Bay State Wind will host an open house on Wednesday, Dec. 5, to hear from the public about the development of an offshore wind project off the southern Massachusetts coast, according to a press release. The open house will run from 4 to 6 pm at the Loft Restaurant, with a brief presentation about the project at 4:30 pm. Guests will hear about the status of the project and offshore wind in the region from Orsted staff and have a chance to discuss the environmental, economic, and technical issues, and to visit an offshore wind farm through a virtual reality experience, as well as to voice their opinion about Bay State Wind’s project.

Read the full story at The MV Times

Massachusetts: Fishing industry reps express offshore wind resistance

April 11, 2018 — Fishing industry representatives from all along the East Coast sent an urgent missive to Governor Charlie Baker on Monday, asking him to delay this month’s selection of the company that will construct the nation’s first industrial-scale offshore wind project off the coast of Massachusetts.

The National Coalition of Fishing Communities (NCFC) cites three key concerns: the project size, the lack of study on potential impacts, and a lack of communication with the fishing industry from potential developers.

Three companies have bid to construct wind farms in the ocean south of Martha’s Vineyard, as part of a roughly 1,600-megawatt procurement mandated by a 2016 energy diversification law.

One of the companies, Vineyard Wind, has proposed projects capable of generating 400 megawatts or 800 megawatts. Vineyard Wind is a partnership between Vineyard Power, Denmark-based Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Renewables.

There are two other companies in the running: Deepwater Wind, which built America’s first offshore wind farm near Block Island, R.I., and Bay State Wind, a partnership between Denmark-based Ørsted and Eversource.

Read the full story at the Martha’s Vineyard Times