Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: State And Federal Regulators Address Vineyard Wind Turbine Blade Failure At Nantucket Select Board Meeting

August 9, 2024 — It is “very unlikely” that any chemicals released from the Vineyard Wind blade collapse pose a significant risk to humans or animals, according to Wendy Heiger-Bernays, the chief researcher at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Research and Standards, who attended Wednesday’s Nantucket Select Board meeting along with other state and federal regulators.

That assertion was made as even more debris from Vineyard Wind’s damaged Haliade-X turbine blade may be headed toward the island soon as a result of tropical storm Debby rolling through the region.

Many of the potential risks of the debris are difficult to quantify, officials said, because of dilution in the water column and the emerging status of the relevant science.

“[The science] is in the very early stages so we don’t have a very good understanding of what those human health impacts could be,” Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries Assistant Director and Shellfish Program Leader Chrissy Petitpas said. “Pretty much all of your shellfish has microplastics in it…so the challenge is going to be discerning what this additional risk may be.”

There are currently no public health standards or tolerance levels for many of the contaminants that have caused concern on the island, such as microplastics, and long-term monitoring of the fishery will be key, as fish and shellfish will continue to ingest more plastic as the fiberglass and styrofoam debris breaks down further.

Read the full article at the Nantucket Current

MASSACHUSETTS: Nantucket gets update on turbine debris cleanup

August 9, 2024 — Nantucket’s Select Board got an update Wednesday night, Aug. 7, on the efforts to clean up debris from the failed Vineyard Wind turbine blade south of the island.

Roger Martella, the Chief Sustainability Officer for blade manufacturer GE Vernova, outlined the ongoing response to the mid-July incident that sent debris into the ocean about 15 miles south of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. That debris continues to wash up on local beaches.

“We’re going to be focusing on shellfish, we’re going to be focusing on marine life, long-term degradation of anything that might remain. The impact from physical contact, from chemicals, from micro particulates,” Martella said.

Martella said a small portion of the broken blade remains on the turbine, but the expected high winds over the next few days should not cause more of it to break off.

“The storm is not a risk for the turbines or blades or anything like that. Of that seven-to-eight-percent of the hanging part that is still there, there is a possibility that the 22 meters per second projected winds could impact that and then we would execute the recovery plans that we’ve been doing.”

Read the full article at CAI

MASSACHUSETTS: Crews try to take down rest of broken blade from wind turbine incident on Nantucket

August 9, 2024 — The company responsible for a broken wind turbine blade that sent six to seven truckloads of debris into the water off of Nantucket hopes to remove the rest of the broken blade Thursday.

GE Vernova, the company that manufactured the blade said it’s worried high winds from Tropical Storm Debby could send the remaining pieces of the broken blade into the ocean.

Wednesday night Federal and State officials met with the Nantucket Select Board to discuss the incident. The broken turbine is part of the Vineyard Wind Project, which began to break apart in early July, shortly after that residents of Cape Cod and the Islands started finding heaps of fiberglass washed up on the shorelines.

Read the full article at Boston 25

The fallout from Vineyard Wind’s broken turbine blade

August 2, 2023 — When Nantucket residents began posting photos of the fiberglass and foam littering their beaches on the morning of July 16, everyone in the offshore wind world — proponents and opponents, alike — knew the industry was about to face a very public test in confidence.

The debris had fallen from a damaged turbine blade at the nearby Vineyard Wind project. The part, made and installed by GE Vernova, had broken three days earlier, and no one really knew why.

The project’s developer, also called Vineyard Wind, scrambled to clean up the mess and assure the public that the material all over their pristine beaches was “non-toxic.” But more and more photos of the bright green debris washed up on social media, many carrying captions like “It’s everywhere” and “STOP #Bigwind!”

Soon, a picture of the broken turbine itself surfaced. The 351-foot blade had snapped about 65 feet from the base and what remained of it hung slackly, dangling over the ocean.

It was not a good look for an industry already struggling against economic headwinds and public concern about its impacts on the ocean environment. Plus, as the first large-scale offshore wind farm to earn federal approval, Vineyard Wind has always been under intense public scrutiny.

Read the full story at WBUR

MASSACHUSETTS: ‘Deeply troubled.’ Keating, Aquinnah tribe want faster notice after wind turbine collapse

July 31, 2024 — After the July 13 collapse of a Vineyard Wind turbine blade in the project area south of Martha’s Vineyard, 48 hours passed before Nantucket officials got word. For the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), the lag was even longer.

It’s a wait that U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Massachusetts, echoing the criticism of leaders on the islands, says was unacceptable.

In a letter last week to the head of the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Keating called foul on a process that failed to alert leaders on Nantucket about the football field-sized blade breaking off in the nearby lease area until two days later.

Keating is now calling on the agency to create protocols that would require local municipal and tribal leaders to be immediately notified of hazardous situations in the wind lease areas south of Martha’s Vineyard and southwest of Nantucket.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Nantucket warns more turbine debris could be headed ashore

July 30, 2024 — Are you heading to Nantucket? You’ll want to exercise caution in the water, and we’re not talking about sharks.

Town officials have warned beachgoers that more pieces of the broken Vineyard Wind turbine are washing up.

The company that manufactures and services the turbines, GE Vernova, informed town leaders recently that several sections of the fiberglass turbine blade broke off from the hub. The company says while this was not unexpected, it has been several days since any debris was observed after the first chunk broke off nearly two weeks ago.

The United States Coastguard continues to enforce a 500-meter safety exclusion zone around the turbine.

Read the full article at Boston 25 News

Fishermen Join Lawsuit Against Vineyard Wind After Blade Failure

July 25, 2024 — The New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA) has called for the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider the dismissal of a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior regarding the safety of Vineyard Wind’s turbines. The case, RODA v. Department of the Interior, is scheduled for oral arguments on Thursday.

Jerry Leeman, CEO of NEFSA, highlighted recent issues related to the Vineyard Wind project, particularly a blade malfunction that resulted in debris being scattered across important fishing areas. “The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) put the government on notice over two years ago that Vineyard Wind’s turbines aren’t safe. The recent blade disaster has scattered debris over a huge swath of historic fishing grounds, creating serious hazards for mariners and marine life,” Leeman stated.

Leeman raised concerns over the safety testing of the Haliade-X turbines used in the project. “As RODA’s lawsuit explains, there is no evidence Vineyard Wind’s Haliade-X turbines were ever safety tested. Fishermen are gravely concerned that they cannot withstand the volatile marine conditions of the north Atlantic. Now New England fishermen are paying a steep price for this criminal lack of oversight.”

Read the full article at Shore News Network

MASSACHUSETTS: As more turbine trash washes up on Nantucket, town considers suing

July 24, 2024 — As additional debris from a damaged offshore wind turbine washes ashore on Nantucket, the town is considering other methods of dealing with the aftermath, including litigation.

Last weekend, a damaged Vineyard Wind turbine sent floating debris and sharp fiberglass across the south shore of Nantucket, angering residents.

In response to the ongoing crisis on the island, the Nantucket Select Board will meet in executive session on Tuesday to discuss “potential litigation in connection with Vineyard Wind” regarding recovery costs associated with the blade failure, according to an online meeting notice.

Representatives from GE and Vineyard Wind will give an update at Wednesday’s regularly scheduled Select Board meeting. The engineering firm Aracadis is also expected to complete an environmental assessment soon, which they will present at the Wednesday meeting.

Read the full article at Boston.com

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