Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: CLT Marine proposal of ‘Boat people doing boat stuff’ on New Bedford State Pier

July 22, 2024 — Ed Anthes-Washburn is very familiar with the Port of New Bedford.

His background includes 11 years with the New Bedford Port Authority, the last six as port director.

Today, he’s the managing director of Coast Line Transfers, or CLT Marine, which is one of the seven firms seeking to become part of the New Bedford State Pier’s redevelopment.

CLT is a commercial marine service provider to the expanding offshore wind industry, as well as the marine industry in the Northeast.

Their focus is on crew-transfer vessels, as well as offshore supply vessels, and they provide support to marine services in southern New England.

Proposing use of existing Buildings 1 and 2

In simple terms, Anthes-Washburn said during a presentation hosted by MassDevelopment in May, “We’re boat people who want to do boat stuff on the east face” of State Pier.

MassDevelopment, the state’s development finance agency and land bank, manages the state-owned, 8-acre pier.

A MassDevelopment review committee is evaluating the proposals.

The seven proposals before the committee could be approved together, separately or denied altogether. A decision deadline has not been announced.

Read the full article at South Coast Today

MASSACHUSETTS: In a packed room in Eastham, residents call for ‘reset’ on Outer Cape offshore wind

July 22, 2024 — Outer Cape residents filled a hotel ballroom to capacity in Eastham Wednesday for a meeting on offshore wind development areas off Cape Cod’s eastern shore.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management hosted the information session in response to complaints that the agency has not done enough on the Outer Cape to communicate its plans. The agency has proposed eight areas for lease to developers, totaling nearly 1 million acres.

Among the concerned residents to speak were fishers, a charter boat owner, and Select Board members from at least five towns. Recurring themes included protecting Stellwagen Bank, the location of cable landings, and the role of offshore wind in reducing climate change.

Federal plans show offshore wind areas in the Gulf of Maine starting about 25 miles off Cape Cod.

Luke Feinberg, a project coordinator with BOEM, told the audience the agency does not anticipate that electrical cables would make landfall on the Outer Cape because the area does not have the infrastructure or electrical demand to support it. The closest grid connections BOEM has analyzed are in Sandwich and Plymouth.

“Just want to be very clear, that as we predict today, cables would not be landing in the Outer Cape area or going through the Outer Cape area,” he said.

Read the full article at CAI

MASSACHUSETTS: Damaged Vineyard Wind turbine sheds more debris

July 19, 2024 — A broken turbine blade on one of the Vineyard Wind generators shed more fiberglass material into the water 15 miles off Nantucket, Mass., prompting project CEO Klaus Skoust Møller to abruptly leave a tense meeting with the island community Wednesday evening.

In the midst of the meeting with the Nantucket Select Board carried online via Zoom, Møller apologized that he had to leave to deal with “a development to the integrity of the blade” that had been hanging off turbine AW38 since its initial failure July 13.

“Folks this is the definition of crisis management,” said board chair Brooke Mohr, instructing Møller to report back to the board later. “Things change by the minute.”

Vineyard Wind officials issued a statement soon after.

“This evening there was an observed compromise to the integrity of the GE Vernova blade. While part of the blade remains attached to the turbine, we believe there is an increased possibility it could detach soon. There has been a 500-meter safety zone implemented around the turbine and GE Vernova blade since Saturday night, and it has been under constant surveillance.”

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Blade collapse, New York launch and New Jersey research show uneven progress of offshore wind

July 18, 2024 — Three events Wednesday highlighted the uneven progress of the offshore wind industry in the Northeast, including the start of a major project in New York, research aimed at preventing environmental damage in New Jersey, and a temporary shutdown of a wind farm in Massachusetts after a broken turbine blade washed ashore on a famous beach.

The federal government ordered a wind farm operator off the coast of Nantucket in Massachusetts to suspend operations while cleanup continues after a wind turbine blade fell into the water, broke apart, and washed up on beaches at the popular vacation spot.

Vineyard Wind said Wednesday that it has removed 17 cubic yards of debris, enough to fill more than six truckloads, along with several larger pieces that washed ashore. The debris was mostly non-toxic fiberglass fragments ranging in size from small pieces to larger sections, typically green or white.

Read the full article at the Associated Press 

MASSACHUSETTS: Nantucket Braces For More Debris As Damaged Vineyard Wind Turbine Blade Comes Down

July 18, 2024 — As Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Skoust Møller apologized to the Nantucket community Wednesday night for his company’s damaged offshore turbine blade that has scattered debris across the island’s south shore beaches, more trouble was brewing at the wind farm 15 miles southwest of Nantucket.

After getting grilled by island residents for more than an hour about the unfolding disaster, Møller abruptly left the building after being informed that “there was a development to the integrity of the blade.”

He departed the island aboard a Leonardo helicopter to attend to the situation while those in attendance waited in suspense for an update.

An hour later it came: the integrity of the blade – which was hanging parallel to the turbine after last Saturday’s incident – had become further compromised, and more debris had been observed falling into the water. By Thursday morning, the remaining portion of the blade had plummeted into the waves.

Read the full article at the Nantucket Current

MASSACHUSETTS: Broken Vineyard Wind Turbine Scatters Debris Along Nantucket’s South Shore; Wind Farm Operations Shut Down By Feds

July 17, 2024 — Debris from a broken Vineyard Wind turbine blade washed up all over Nantucket’s south shore Tuesday morning, prompting the offshore energy company to mount a cleanup effort and the federal government to shut down the wind farm “until further notice.”

Residents began reporting pieces of green and white foam, along with larger pieces of what appears to fiberglass, along southern Nantucket beaches at daybreak, stretching from Madaket out to Nobadeer.

The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement announced Tuesday afternoon that Vineyard Wind’s “operations are shut down until further notice.”

All south shore beaches were closed to swimming by the town just after 11 a.m. as a result of the debris. There is no estimate for when they will be reopened.

“The water is closed to swimming on all south shore beaches, due to large floating debris and sharp fiberglass shards,” Nantucket Harbormaster Sheila Lucey said. “You can walk on the beaches, however we strongly recommend you wear footwear due to sharp, fiberglass shards and debris on the beaches.”

Vineyard Wind disclosed Monday that one of its turbine blades suffered damage Saturday during an “offshore incident.” The exact nature of the incident is not yet known, but there were no injuries to any Vineyard Wind personnel or other mariners.

Read the full article at Nantucket Current

MASSACHUSETTS: A Giant Offshore Wind Turbine Blade Breaks, Prompting Beach Closures

July 17, 2024 — Debris from a damaged wind turbine blade has been washing up on the shores of Nantucket, Mass., prompting the closure of several beaches to swimmers and spurring an investigation into what caused the mishap.

The incident comes at a turbulent time for the nascent offshore wind industry. Several proposed wind farms off the coasts of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York have been canceled or postponed over the past few years as inflation and rising interest rates have upended the economics of the projects. While many Northeastern states are still trying to build offshore wind farms, seeing the technology as their best option for generating emissions-free power, the projects have sometimes faced intense opposition from fishing groups and local homeowners.
The industry could soon face another obstacle: Former President Donald J. Trump, who is now seeking a second term in the White House, has been sharply critical of offshore wind, vowing to halt new projects on “day one” of his presidency if he is re-elected.

Vineyard Wind shut down after turbine failure, “sharp fiberglass shards” wash ashore on Nantucket beaches

July 17, 2024 — The federal government has ordered the Vineyard Wind farm to shut down until further notice because of a turbine blade failure this weekend.

Several beaches were closed on Tuesday while crews worked to clean up “large floating debris and fiberglass shards” from the broken wind turbine blade off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. A total of six south shore Nantucket beaches were closed to swimming due to debris that washed ashore.

“You can walk on the beaches, however we strongly recommend you wear footwear due to sharp, fiberglass shards and debris on the beaches,” the Nantucket Harbormaster said.

Vineyard Wind operations shut down

Late Tuesday afternoon, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said all operations are shut down until further notice.

“A team of BSEE experts is onsite to work closely with Vineyard Wind on an analysis of the cause of the incident and next steps,” the agency said in a statement.

Read the full article at CBS News

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Vineyard Wind turbine blade sustains damage offshore

July 16, 2024 — A 350-foot blade partially broke off a turbine in the Vineyard Wind offshore wind project Saturday night. The company and federal officials as of Tuesday are investigating what caused it.

Anthony Seiger, a commercial clammer out of New Bedford, saw the damaged turbine while he was steaming out to his fishing grounds on Sunday. Photos he captured show one of the three turbine blades dangling against the tower and splintered near the base.

“On July 13, a single turbine at the Vineyard Wind offshore wind farm experienced an isolated blade event,” said a spokesperson for GE Vernova, the project’s turbine manufacturer. “No injuries occurred, and GE Vernova’s Wind Fleet Performance Management team have initiated our investigation protocols into the event in coordination with our customer.”

Vineyard Wind’s operations are shut down until further notice, a federal safety agency said Tuesday.

A notice to mariners from the U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday night stated the Coast Guard received a report of three pieces of floating debris “10 meters by 2 meters” in the vicinity of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, and that “all marines [sic] are requested to use extreme caution while transiting the area.”

At around 7 p.m., USCG was notified of the turbine damage, according to an agency spokesperson.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

Cape Cod scientists want to dump 60,000+ gallons of sodium hydroxide into ocean in climate change experiment

July 16, 2024 — Environmentalists and fishermen are pushing back against a plan from a group of scientists who want to dump more than 60,000 gallons of sodium hydroxide, more commonly known as lye, into the ocean off Cape Cod to gain an understanding of how to slow climate change.

Scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Falmouth are seeking a federal permit for their project, which would start sometime this summer with a field trial program that would disperse roughly 6,600 gallons 10 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.

Woods Hole says there are two central goals to its so-called LOC-NESS project, short for “Locking away Ocean Carbon in the Northeast Shelf and Slope.”

The first is to “understand potential environmental impacts of using ocean alkalinity enhancement to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.” The other is to “verify and report the amount of carbon dioxide this method might realistically remove if deployed at scale.”

“While emission reductions are key to minimizing human impact on Earth’s climate, it has become clear in recent years that drastic emission reductions must be supplemented by efforts to actively remove existing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,” Woods Hole scientists wrote in their application to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Environmentalists and fishermen are not taking kindly to the proposed experiment which would continue next summer at a more drastic scale of roughly 60,000 gallons in the waters northeast of Provincetown, in the Gulf of Maine.

Read the full article at the Boston Herald