Saving Seafood

NEW YORK: Biden Administration Nixes Hamptons Offshore Wind Sites Near Beaches, Fishing Grounds

April 20, 2021 — The Biden administration announced that it will not lease two offshore wind areas off the Hamptons. The leasing areas were controversial to eastern Long Island residents and the commercial fishing industry.

The Fairways North and Fairways South sites were planned just 15 miles off the coast.

Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman says the 800-foot-tall turbines would be a visual eyesore for public and private Hamptons beachgoers — which the state of New York relies on for billions in tourism dollars.

“I believe in [offshore wind],” Schneiderman said, “just site it further out. There’s no reason why they can’t go deeper, into deeper waters, you know, manage the visual impact.”

And 1,700 members of the fishing industry sent a letter to the Biden administration to say the construction and the operation of the turbines would starve them of prime fishing grounds. Bonnie Brady with Long Island Commercial Fishing Association has sent these letters before.

“Let’s face it,” she said. “I’ve been fighting on this issue for fishermen to get a true seat at the table, not be served for lunch, for 20 years.”

Read the full story at WSHU

New York: Wind-energy meetings scheduled amid concerns about East End

May 7, 2018 — New York State will hold a public meeting Monday in Southampton to discuss its blueprint for wind energy and the recently released federal government call for wind-energy projects along the shore of practically all of Long Island, including the East End.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, which is hosting the meeting and wrote the blueprint, has released its own map of potential sites for wind energy in the state’s coastal waters, one of which notably excludes the East End. The authority’s chief executive Alicia Barton, said last month the agency “does not support” the proposed federal areas off the East End, which the federal government on its map refers to as Fairways North.

She is not alone.

“We definitely would have concerns” about the federal area mapped out for the East End, said Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman. “While offshore wind has extraordinary potential to power our homes and our lives in a more environmentally responsible way . . . I need to see that it’s far enough away that they are not visible from anywhere on the land mass.”

Schneiderman said he can see the five-turbine Block Island wind farm from Montauk beaches and “I can’t say I’m thrilled about seeing the blinking lights” at night.

Holding the symposium in Southampton is likely to draw forces on both sides of the issue. East End governments and green-energy advocates have been among the most progressive on Long Island in calling for more green energy to power the regional electric grid. Committees of local government representatives from East Hampton and Southampton met with PSEG Long Island to review proposals to power the South Fork and ultimately decided on a wind farm 30 miles from Montauk Point.

Read the full story at Newsday