Saving Seafood

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

 

Federal Court Rejects Nantucket Group’s Appeal Of Vineyard Wind Project

April 28, 2024 — A federal court has rejected the appeal filed by a group of Nantucket residents aimed at stopping the Vineyard Wind offshore wind energy project southwest of the island.

The group ACK For Whales – formerly known as Nantucket Residents Against Turbines – filed the appeal last September with the First Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals, seeking to overturn the May 2023 decision of U.S. District Court judge Indira Talwani, who dismissed the group’s original complaint. ACK For Whales had alleged that the federal agencies that permitted the Vineyard Wind project violated the Endangered Species Act by concluding that the project’s construction likely would not jeopardize the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. The group also asserted that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had violated the National Environmental Policy Act by relying on a “flawed analysis” from the National Marine Fisheries Service.

But on Wednesday, three U.S. Court of Appeals judges rejected those allegations and affirmed the ruling of the U.S. District Court which had previously dismissed ACK For Whale’s complaint.

“NMFS and BOEM followed the law in analyzing the right whale’s current status and environmental baseline, the likely effects of the Vineyard Wind project on the right whale, and the efficacy of measures to mitigate those effects,” wrote judges William Kayatta, Sandra Lynch, and Gustavo Gelpí wrote in their decision. “Moreover, the agencies’ analyses rationally support their conclusion that Vineyard Wind will not likely jeopardize the continued existence of the right whale. We therefore affirm the judgment of the district court.”

Read the full article at Nantucket Current

Nantucket Residents Appeal Vineyard Wind Decision

September 27, 2023 — A group of Nantucketers is challenging key environmental approvals for Vineyard Wind, the offshore wind energy farm under construction south of Martha’s Vineyard.

Nantucket Residents Against Turbines filed an appeal with the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Saturday, calling on the court to overrule a district court’s decision to dismiss the group’s prior lawsuit. The residents previously alleged the federal agencies involved in permitting Vineyard Wind failed to consider the impacts of the project’s 62 turbines on the critically endangered right whale, which is known to swim through the Cape and Islands’ waters.

The lawsuit is one of several courtroom battles that have been waged in an attempt to stop Vineyard Wind. The project is expected to be the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the country and could start producing energy this fall. Construction started earlier this year, and the farm has come out victorious in other legal cases.

The Nantucket residents initially sued the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Marine Fisheries Service in 2021. In May, a federal court judge in Boston dismissed the case.

But the group contends the case needs reconsideration.

“Absent an order from this Court reversing the District Court summary judgment denial, the project, which is now in the inchoate stages of construction, will be permitted to continue, sending the already highly endangered [North Atlantic right whale] careening further down the road toward extinction,” the group wrote in its appeal.

Read the full article at the Vineyard Gazette

“Road Toward Extinction” – Nantucket Group Appeals Vineyard Wind Decision

September 25, 2023 — A group of Nantucket residents has appealed the dismissal of a lawsuit aimed at stopping the Vineyard Wind offshore wind energy project, which is currently under construction in the waters southwest of the island.

The group ACK For Whales – formerly known as Nantucket Residents Against Turbines – filed the appeal Saturday with the First Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals and is seeking to overturn the May 2023 decision of U.S. District Court judge Indira Talwani, who dismissed the original complaint.

ACK For Whales believes that the federal agencies involved in permitting the Vineyard Wind project – including the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Marine Fisheries Service – failed to properly consider the impacts Vineyard Wind could have on endangered North Atlantic right whales.

Those agencies “failed to utilize the best scientific and commercial data available, and failed to adequately consider a number of important, significant risks to the North Atlantic Right Whales induced by the Project, and incorrectly found that the suite of mitigation measures would adequately obviate North Atlantic Right Whale injury and death,” the group said in its appellant brief.

The failure, ACK For Whales asserted, constitutes a violation of the federal Endangered Species Act.

Vineyard Wind did not immediately return a request for comment on Sunday. The company, owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Renewables (a subsidiary of the Spanish energy giant Iberdrola), stated earlier this year when the original complaint was dismissed that the review by the federal agencies had been “rigorous and thorough.”

Read the full article at the Nantucket Current

These whales are on the brink. Now comes climate change — and wind power.

April 22, 2022 — About 17 nautical miles south of Nantucket, a half-dozen New England Aquarium researchers scrambled across this vessel’s icy deck. Clutching binoculars, clipboards and cameras, they strained to catch a glimpse and scribble notes about a pair of creatures they fear are disappearing from this world.

After nine hours on the water, Amy Warren’s team had found two animals it knew by name. As the pair arched their heads above the water, the research scientist urged her colleagues with cameras to capture them.

“Get it, get it, get it, get it!”

With only about 300 left, the North Atlantic right whale ranks as one of the world’s most endangered marine mammals. Nearly annihilated centuries ago by whalers, the slow-swimming species is said to have earned its name because it was the “right” whale to hunt.

Old-fashioned harpoons have yielded to other threats. Humans are still killing right whales at startlingly high numbers — but by accident. Waters free from whalers now brim with ships that strike them, and ropes that entangle them.

The latest challenges come in a changing climate. Rising temperatures are driving them to new seas. And soon, dozens of offshore wind turbines — part of President Biden’s clean energy agenda — will encroach their habitat as the administration tries to balance tackling global warming with protecting wildlife.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

North Atlantic right whale researchers spot 21 right whales south of Nantucket during winter field work

March 10, 2022 — North Atlantic right whale researchers recently spotted more than 20 right whales while exploring southern New England waters during winter field work.

For the very first time, the New England Aquarium scientists are surveying this region by boat as they try to better understand climate change impacts on this critically endangered species.

The researchers went out on the water for four days from mid-January to early March, looking for right whales about 70 miles south of Nantucket. The scientists spotted 17 individual right whales by boat, or about 5% of the population, which is estimated to be less than 350.

Aquarium scientists worked in tandem with the New England Aquarium aerial survey team, as well as with teams from the Center for Coastal Studies and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, which helped navigate the boat to whale sightings. In total, the aquarium teams identified 21 unique right whales from either the air or the water.

Read the full story at the Boston Herald