June 18, 2024 — 2023 was a record year for oysters in the state of Maryland.
According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, it saw the most bushels ever harvested by the state’s aquaculture operations, at over 94,000.
Conservative groups cleared to continue legal fight to protect whales from Biden-backed offshore wind farm
June 17, 2024 — A coalition of conservative organizations has standing to continue fighting a Biden administration wind project in Virginia, a federal judge determined.
However, U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan of the District of Columbia, a Biden appointee, denied the plaintiff’s petition for a preliminary injunction to halt construction of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project from going forward.
On Thursday, the plaintiffs withdrew a petition for an expedited appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court for a narrow decision on the injunction but will continue the case to stop the construction, one attorney said.
The plaintiffs sued the Biden administration and Dominion Energy to protect the North Atlantic right whale under the Endangered Species Act.
Launch of US wind installation vessel masks critical shortage
June 17, 2024 — The launch of the first U.S.-built wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) in April marked an important milestone for the offshore wind sector. Commissioned by U.S. utility Dominion Energy, the 472-foot ‘Charybdis’ will be fully operational by early 2025 and will first be used to install Dominion’s 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.
The Charybdis is a positive step for the burgeoning U.S. offshore wind industry but several other vessels are needed to fill a widening supply gap that is holding back developers. Slow buildout of U.S. supply chain and port infrastructure and a lack of clarity over leasing and permitting schedules has hampered developers and deterred some investors.
The U.S. needs four-to-six turbine installation vessels to meet the 30 GW offshore wind target set by President Biden for 2030, according to the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
DC Circuit to hear battle over Virginia offshore wind
June 8, 2024 — Critics of an offshore wind farm in Virginia are taking their fight against the project to a powerful federal appeals court.
In a Wednesday filing, the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, Heartland Institute, and National Legal and Policy Center said they are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reverse a May ruling that denied their bid to block a 176-turbine Dominion Energy wind project off the coast of Virginia Beach.
A lower court found that the challengers had failed to show that they would face irreparable harm if the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind commercial project moved forward.
DELEWARE: DNREC inches closer in deciding whether to lease land to US Wind
June 8, 2024 — Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources (DNREC) and Environmental Control hosts another public engagement event on the state’s involvement in a developing offshore wind project.
While offshore wind development company US Wind is working with Maryland to develop a physical offshore wind farm, Delaware’s 3 Rs Beach is the proposed access point to transmit the power into the Delmarva regional grid.
US Wind’s Senior Director of External Affairs Nancy Sopko says the project would decommission the coal-fired Indian River Power Plant and upgrade the transmission system to handle the wind-generated energy.
“To coincide with the decommissioning of that power plant to put massive amounts of clean energy on the grid at that point, we think is a really positive story for Delawareans and Marylanders,” Sopko said.
NEW JERSEY: Offshore Wind Proponents, Opponents Disconnected on Plans
June 6, 2024 — State officials announced they are ramping up the fifth offshore wind solicitation schedule by 15 months, even as a local grassroots organization continues to battle the industrialization of the Atlantic Ocean off Long Beach Island.
Save LBI issued its latest call to action June 2, saying, “Our federal and state agencies are on the brink of approving the first phase of the Atlantic Shores project, the closest, most visible and intrusive offshore wind project in the world, and in the migration path of critically endangered whales.”
For its part, the group said it expects to file a petition to designate the project and adjacent area as a critical migration habit for whales; take on multiple litigation fronts to protect marine mammals, preserve the Jersey Shore experience, prevent electric bill increases and sidestep property value losses, which they estimate at a $1.3 billion loss; and build a coalition with other groups, including municipal officials, to block misrepresentation of the project’s benefits and costs.
“If those entities have their way, this will be your last chance to experience a magnificent pristine seashore, save your shore house and business, protect marine life and keep your electric bills from soaring,” the group said earlier this week. “Once these turbines are placed, they are not coming out. It is not feasible to do so. We will be leaving this blight for generations, a legacy we cannot accept.”
The Mayday Call: How One Death at Sea Transformed a Fishing Fleet
June 4, 2024 — The call from the Atlantic Ocean sounded over VHF radio on a midsummer afternoon. » “Mayday, mayday, mayday,” the transmission began, then addressed the nearest U.S. Coast Guard command center. “Sector Delaware Bay, this is the vessel Jersey Pride. Come in.”
About 40 miles east-southeast of Barnegat Light, N.J., the Jersey Pride, a 116-foot fishing vessel with a distinctive royal blue hull, was towing a harvesting dredge through clam beds 20 fathoms down when its crew found a deckhand unresponsive in a bunk. The captain suspected an overdose. After trying to revive the man, he rushed to the radio. • “Yes, Coast Guard, uh, I just tried to wake a guy up and he’s got black blood in his nose, he said, sounding short of breath on Channel 16, the international hailing and distress frequency for vessels at sea. “I got guys working on him. Come in.”
The seas were gentle, the air hot. In cramped crew quarters in the forepeak, the deckhand, Brian Murphy, was warm but not breathing in a black tee and jeans. He had no discernible pulse.
Dark fluid stained his nostrils. A marine welder and father of four, Murphy, 40, had been mostly unemployed for months, spending time caring for his children while his wife worked nights. A few days earlier, while he was on a brief welding gig to repair the Jersey Pride at its dock, the captain groused about being short-handed. Murphy agreed to fill in. Now it was July 20, 2021, the third day of the first commercial fishing trip of his life. Another somber sequence in the opioid epidemic was nearing its end.
Read the full article at the New York Times
Horseshoe Crabs, Bled For Vaccines, At Center Of MD Lawsuit
June 5, 2024 – June is a peak month for the horseshoe crab’s migration along the East Coast, following the high tides of each new and full moon. The annual movement of these “living fossils” dates back about 350 million years, so it’s believed to be the world’s oldest and largest wildlife migration.
But in a new lawsuit, an endangered species watchdog group says these crabs are in big trouble and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) isn’t being transparent about how many are killed each year.
The horseshoe crab is a “valuable commodity to humans,” according to DNR, because its copper-based blood is used for biomedical research. Their blood is used to detect toxins in drugs and medical devices. In 2021, Chesapeake Bay Magazine reported on their key role in developing COVID-19 vaccines, among others.
As DNR explains, the animals are fished for medical use by specially permitted fishing operations. Their blood is drawn in a biomedical facility and they are released back into the water. But environmental groups raise questions about how many of those released horseshoe crabs can survive and thrive.
NEW JERSEY: Danish firm pays New Jersey $125M over wind farm withdrawal
June 3, 2024 — New Jersey will receive $125 million as part of a settlement over Ørsted’s withdrawal from two offshore wind farms last year, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Tuesday, an amount that is less than half of what Murphy once said the company was required to pay the state.
The settlement funds paid by the Danish wind giant over its pullout from Ocean Wind 1 and 2, two 1,100 megawatt wind farms off New Jersey’s Coast, will be used to fund wind development and other renewable energy programs, the governor’s office said. But at least one Democratic lawmaker said the money should be sent back to New Jersey ratepayers as a matter of policy.
“The [Board of Public Utilities] ought to be looking for New Jersey ratepayers first, and these moneys should be reserved to reduce ratepayers’ bills when these projects come on board, and it should be a BPU policy,” said Sen. Joe Cryan (D-Union)
Last July, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill that would have allowed Ørsted to retain federal tax credits that would otherwise go to offset consumers’ power bills by roughly $2.40 per ratepayer per year. In return for those subsidies, the wind firm was required to post a $100 million performance security and place $200 million for wind project investments into an escrow account.
MARYLAND: Lawsuit alleges Maryland wildlife authorities withheld data on horseshoe crabs
June 3, 2024 — Maryland wildlife managers are accused in a new lawsuit of keeping data secret from environmental groups seeking to protect a unique coastal crab species that is harvested for critical biomedical products.
The species is the horseshoe crab. High-value blood taken from the crabs is used to create products that protect medicines, vaccines and medical devices from contamination.
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