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MASSACHUSETTS: Feds hear SouthCoast voices at Vineyard Wind hearing

February 19, 2019 — So many people turned out for Thursday’s hearing on Vineyard Wind — about 140 — that some had to stand where they could not see the presentation.

But no one came for the presentation on the proposed 800-megawatt wind farm south of Martha’s Vineyard; they came to officially register their comments with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and to hear others’ remarks.

The hearing at the Waypoint Event Center was one of five around the region to collect public comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, a required step before the wind farm can win approval.

An emcee from BOEM invited each commenter to sit across from a panel of three BOEM employees at the front of the room. Commenters’ backs faced the audience. A court reporter recorded the entire session.

Vineyard Wind intends to build 84 turbines, but the federal document would allow up to 100, depending on the turbines’ capacity.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Vineyard Wind: Massachusetts Certifies Environmental Impact Report

February 13, 2019 — Vineyard Wind announced on 5 February 2019 that Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Matthew A. Beaton has certified the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for the United States’ first utility-scale offshore wind farm.

The decision finalizes the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) review process for the proposed 800 megawatt (MW) offshore wind generation and transmission project, allowing the project to proceed with state, regional and local permitting.

“The MEPA environmental review process provided a significant benefit to the project, allowing numerous stakeholders, advocacy groups, and interested citizens to help identify and address impacts so they can be effectively managed or mitigated,” said Erich Stephens, Chief Development Officer for Vineyard Wind. “Our team will continue to work collaboratively with state, regional and local regulatory agencies – as well as all stakeholders- as the project moves forward.”

With MEPA’s certification, the project will now seek permit review from the Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard Commissions, and the Barnstable Conservation Commission, among others.

Read the full story at Ocean News & Technology

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Striped Bass Rule Changes Aim to Conserve Stocks, Regulators Say

February 11, 2019 — State regulators are considering a series of rule changes for the striped bass fishery that could affect fishermen along the East Coast, including on the Vineyard.

The changes would open the commercial striped bass fishery two weeks earlier, require circle hooks for fishermen who use live bait and ban the use of gaffing to land fish.

Proposed by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), the changes are intended to help reduce striped bass mortality, especially among fish that are caught and released.

“We’re in a little bit of a down period,” said Mike Armstrong, assistant director for DMF, speaking to the Gazette by phone this week. “The only way to rebuild the stock is to lower fishing mortality. A good portion of fishing mortality is catch and release, mostly recreational.”

Read the full story at The Vineyard Gazette

MASSACHUSETTS: Vineyard Wind can seek local permits for cable

February 7, 2019 — Vineyard Wind can now move forward with regional and local permitting for its planned offshore wind farm after receiving a critical certificate from state environmental officials, and regulators on the Cape and Islands say they are ready.

“We’ve looked at cables before,” said Paul Foley, the development of regional impact coordinator with the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

The commission will hold its first public hearing Feb. 21 on Vineyard Wind’s cable-laying plans after receiving a referral from the Edgartown Conservation Commission. The hearing is only on the cables but Foley said he expects community members to be curious about the entire project, which could be the first industrial scale offshore wind farm in the country.

As planned, the two undersea cables would start at an 84-turbine wind farm 15 miles south of the Vineyard and then run north between the Vineyard and Nantucket, in Muskeget Channel, to William H. Covell Memorial Beach in Barnstable, which is the company’s first choice for landfall. The cables would then run underground for about five miles to a new substation off Independence Drive, where they will connect to an existing substation that leads to the regional electricity grid.

Read the full story from the Cape Cod Times at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Vineyard Wind hearing rescheduled for Valentine’s Day

February 5, 2019 — After more than a month’s delay due to the government shutdown, a public hearing on the environmental effects of Vineyard Wind has been rescheduled for Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14.

The hearing in New Bedford is one of five across the region that will address environmental issues in Vineyard Wind’s construction and operations plan. The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is collecting public comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement before the draft is finalized.

As the winner of Massachusetts’ first commercial contract for offshore wind energy, Vineyard Wind intends to build 84 turbines in federal waters south of Martha’s Vineyard. The hearings are a required part of the federal permitting for the 800-megawatt project.

On Friday, Vineyard Wind Chief Development Officer Erich Stephens spoke at a meeting of local business leaders, who have been looking for details about how the money the company has committed for worker training and business development will be put to use.

The New Bedford hearing will take place at the Waypoint Event Center, with an open house from 5 to 8 p.m. and presentation and question-and-answer session at 6 p.m.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Government shutdown delays meetings between fishermen, Vineyard Wind

January 29, 2019 — Despite the partial federal government shutdown ending, public comment meetings led by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management regarding Vineyard Wind’s plan to construct an offshore wind-turbine farm have been indefinitely postponed, according to David Bernhardt, acting secretary of the interior.

Meetings were scheduled Jan. 8, 9, 15, 16 and 17 but were continually pushed back as the government shutdown extended and BOEM workers were forced to stay home. Bernhardt tweeted Jan. 24 that BOEM would “reschedule public meetings for the Vineyard Wind offshore renewable project very soon,” but gave no timeline on the issue.

Despite the delay in public comment meetings, “construction activities on the site will begin by the end of this year” if all permits are secured, Vineyard Wind spokesman Scott Farmelant said. “Every single permit is expected to be getting in by the end of the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter,” he added. Vineyard Wind has a tax credit from the federal government should they begin building in 2019, so the timeline for construction is crucial. “They’re eligible for 12 percent tax credit if they begin construction this year,” Farmelant said. “That program is expiring as of right now.”

Vineyard Wind is confident the project will remain on schedule despite the effects of the shutdown, Farmelant said.

Read the full story at The Brown Daily Herald

Massachusetts wind-power project to move forward despite shutdown

January 25, 2019 — The U.S. Interior Department will press forward with a wind power project during the partial government shutdown using money already granted by Congress, its acting head announced Thursday.

The move could assuage Democrats’ concerns about the Trump administration pushing for oil drilling in the Arctic during the shutdown, which has lasted 34 days.

Avangrid Renewables wants to build an 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts near Martha’s Vineyard. Public meetings on the project were canceled during the shutdown and will be rescheduled, according to acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.

Wind is generally viewed as an alternative to fossil fuels that is better for the environment because it is renewable, readily available and does not create air emissions.

Read the full story at Reuters

No word on extension for input on wind farm south of Martha’s Vineyard

January 23, 2019 — As deadlines near for public comment on state and federal environmental reviews of Vineyard Wind’s proposed offshore wind energy project, the federal cutoff of Tuesday remains up in the air due to the ongoing partial government shutdown.

“The project team hasn’t heard anything from (the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) as the agency remains shuttered,” Vineyard Wind spokesman Scott Farmelant said.

An email to a spokeswoman for the bureau generated an automatic response that she is out of the office and not authorized to work at this time because of the shutdown.

Read the full story at Cape Cod Times

US Government Shutdown Slows Progress on Offshore Wind Projects

January 14, 2019 — Vineyard Wind has emerged as the first U.S. offshore wind project to face delays caused by the ongoing federal shutdown.

Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners were due to start building the 800-megawatt wind farm off of Massachusetts this year, but they have already seen postponements to two public meetings relating to the project’s draft environmental impact statement.

The meetings were scheduled for Jan. 8 and 9 with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, an agency within the Department of the Interior. Further public meetings with BOEM on Jan. 15 and 16 seem likely to be pushed back as the partial shutdown continues.

“As far as I’m aware, there’s no clarity on when they will be held,” said Richard Heap, editor-in-chief at the wind industry information service A Word About Wind.

BOEM’s press team was not available to comment because of the shutdown. An out-of-office message confirmed staff are not allowed to work until the federal budget issue had been resolved.

On Jan. 7, Vineyard Wind issued a statement encouraging members of the public to submit comments online to BOEM. “BOEM continues to accept online comments during the shutdown,” Vineyard Wind said.

Read the full story at Green Tech Media

MASSACHUSETTS: Wind turbine company picks Boston for US HQ

January 14, 2019 — This country’s nascent offshore wind industry doesn’t yet have its own capital city. But Boston could be in the best position of any place to earn that title.

Boston’s reputation gets a significant boost on Friday when executives at MHI Vestas Offshore Wind meet with Governor Charlie Baker to announce plans for the Danish turbine manufacturer to put its US headquarters here.

The new office will be small at first, just a handful of staffers. Employment will grow over time, along with the sector. But its opening is important symbolically, the kind of move that can build momentum by encouraging others to take a look.

The precipitating event: a 2016 state law that requires utilities to buy up to 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power. Vineyard Wind was picked in May to develop an 800-megawatt wind farm south of Martha’s Vineyard. In November, the developer said it chose MHI Vestas as its preferred turbine supplier; the project would consist of 84 turbines made by MHI Vestas, with blades reaching as high as 600 feet in the sky.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe