Saving Seafood

NEW JERSEY: Orsted scraps 2 offshore wind power projects in New Jersey, citing supply chain issues

November 1, 2023 — Danish energy developer Orsted said Tuesday night it is scrapping two large offshore wind power projects off the coast of New Jersey, adding uncertainty to a nascent industry the Biden administration and many state governments are counting on to help transition away from the burning of planet-warming fossil fuels.

The company said it is canceling its Ocean Wind I and II projects in southern New Jersey, citing supply chain issues and rising interest rates.

Orsted CEO Mads Nipper said in a statement the company was disappointed to be halting the projects because it believes the United States needs wind power to reduce carbon emissions.

“However, the significant adverse developments from supply chain challenges, leading to delays in the project schedule, and rising interest rates have led us to this decision,” Nipper said.

Orsted stands to lose a $100 million guarantee it posted with New Jersey earlier this month that it would build Ocean Wind I by the end of 2025. That money could be returned to ratepayers.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

NEW JERSEY: ‘David defeats Goliath!’: South Jersey officials celebrate end of Ørsted offshore wind projects

November 1, 2023 — From anger in Trenton to disappointment in Atlantic City to celebration in Cape May County, Ørsted’s decision to end development of its Ocean Wind 1 and 2 projects off the Jersey Shore delivered a mix of emotions.

In announcing the move Tuesday evening, executives with the Danish energy company cited high inflation, rising interest rates and supply chain issues.

“We are extremely disappointed to have to take this decision, particularly because New Jersey is poised to be a U.S. and global hub for offshore wind energy,” said David Hardy, group executive vice president and CEO Americas for the Danish energy company.

During a news conference Wednesday morning, Cape May County officials called Ørsted’s announcement a win for local shore communities.

“Anyone thinks that they’re going to walk and put their footprints on our beach better beware that they’re not coming into Cape May County, no way, no how,” said county Commissioner Director Leonard Desiderio.

Read the full article at the Press of Atlantic City

Wind industry deals with blowback from Orsted scrapping 2 wind power projects in New Jersey

November 1, 2023 — Wind energy developer Orsted is writing off $4 billion, due largely to the cancellation of two large offshore wind projects in New Jersey whose financial challenges mirror those facing the nascent industry.

It added fresh uncertainty to an industry seen by supporters as a way to help end the burning of planet-warming fossil fuels, but derided by opponents as inherently unworkable without massive financial subsidies.

The Danish company said Tuesday night it is scrapping its Ocean Wind I and II projects off the coast of southern New Jersey due to problems with supply chains, higher interest rates, and a failure to obtain the amount of tax credits the company wanted.

“These are obviously some very tough decisions,” Mads Nipper, Orsted’s CEO, said on an earnings conference call Wednesday.

He said the company, the world’s largest offshore wind developer, decided “to de-risk the most painful part of our portfolio, and that is the U.S.”

That statement went straight to the heart about concerns over the financial viability of the offshore wind industry in the northeastern U.S., which is in its infancy but has extensive plans from New England to the Carolinas.

Some projects already have been canceled, and many offshore wind developers are seeking better terms from governments with whom they have already contracted. New York rejected such a request two weeks ago.

New Jersey approved a tax break for Orsted in July, letting it keep federal tax credits that otherwise would have gone to ratepayers.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

A Small Fish and an Uncollected Fee Add Up to Big-Government Challenge at the Supreme Court

November 1, 2023 — Conservatives who have spent decades asking the Supreme Court to rein in the US government’s regulation of businesses are now betting on a case involving fishermen challenging a $710 fee they’ve never had to pay.

The case could undercut the power of federal regulators on major issues including air pollution and securities fraud. It also exemplifies the way many of the high court’s biggest fights are born these days — driven less by the practical aims of the litigants than by the ideological vision of the interest groups behind the suits.

The fight concerns a federal requirement that some herring boats host government-approved observers aboard their vessels and cover an estimated $710 daily cost. The fisherman say that would be an onerous burden on their family-owned businesses — so onerous they are suing even though the fee is on hold and might never kick in.

“We have not had to pay. We’re just nervous about this hanging over our head,” said Bill Bright in an interview in Cape May, New Jersey, where he runs his two-vessel fishing business. “So we feel that we need to solve this problem now.”

The real stakes lie in the broader legal issue, one that anti-regulatory groups have eagerly sought to get before the Supreme Court and its conservative supermajority. The justices are considering overturning a 1984 ruling known as Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, under which judges typically defer to regulators on the meaning of ambiguous statutes – including those that set out how much power the agency has.

Democratic administrations have relied heavily on the so-called Chevron doctrine, using it to justify rules governing energy, the environment and the workplace. In the herring case, a federal appeals court invoked Chevron in upholding the National Marine Fisheries Service’s payment demand even though Congress didn’t explicitly authorize the rule.

Those pressing the lawsuits say they readily work with the Fisheries Service toward the common goal of a robust herring stock but draw the line at having to pay for monitors.

“We welcome observers on board our fishing vessels, but we shouldn’t have to pay for that,” said Wayne Reichle, president of Lund’s Fisheries Inc., which owns vessels as well as five processing facilities on the East and West Coasts. “That’s something that the government should have to pay for.”

Read the full article at at YahooNews!

NEW JERSEY: Former coal-fired power plant razed to make way for offshore wind electricity connection

October 26, 2023 —  For decades, tourists heading to the New Jersey beach resorts of Ocean City and Cape May saw the towering smokestack of the B.L. England Generating Station as they zipped past it on the Garden State Parkway.

The 463-foot-tall (141.1-meter) stack was a local landmark and even a weather forecaster for some residents who glanced outside to see which way emissions from its top were blowing, and how fast, as they decided what to wear for the day.

But the power plant, which burned coal and oil over the decades, closed in May 2019, a casualty of the global move away from burning fossil fuels.

And the smokestack, the last major remaining piece of the plant, was imploded Thursday morning, brought down by 350 pounds of explosives strategically placed by a demolition company known in the area for razing the former Trump Plaza casino in nearby Atlantic City in 2021.

Read the full article at the the Associated Press

Press of Atlantic City: NJ residents may overpay for offshore wind energy

October 23, 2023 — The adventures of the governments and private companies creating a new offshore wind energy industry in America are continuing and far from finishing. The favorable conditions before the pandemic have crumbled in the face of higher costs for financing, for sourcing components and for securing needed approvals. That is wrecking plans for projects.

Yet there is also a sign that the necessary adjustments to current market conditions will include fixing a major mistake made by East Coast states at the start. Unfortunately, so far New Jersey officials are sticking to their outdated plan to be the first to put wind turbines into the Atlantic, which could make residents overpay for this clean energy.

At the start of summer, the New Jersey Legislature and Gov. Phil Murphy sweetened the financing for the first wind farm, off Atlantic City, by allowing Ørsted to keep federal tax credits possibly worth $1 billion that were to be passed through to ratepayers.

Read the full article at the Press of Atlantic City

Atlantic City’s massive offshore wind farm project highlights the industry’s growing pains

October 22, 2023 — Back in 2015, the US Department of Energy estimated wind farms could supply over a third of the nation’s electricity by 2050. Since then, numerous wind turbine projects have been green-lit offshore and across the country. However, when it comes to building, it can get tricky, like in the case of a planned wind farm 15 miles off the southeast coast of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Danish wind farm company Ørsted recently promised to cut New Jersey a $100 million check if the company’s massive Ocean Wind 1 offshore turbines weren’t up and running by the end of 2025. Less than a week after the wager, however, officials in the state’s southernmost county have filed a US District Court lawsuit to nix the 1.1 gigawatt project involving nearly 100 turbines, alleging regulatory sidesteps and ecological concerns.

Read the full article at Yahoo!

NEW JERSEY: Fight Intensifies Against Offshore Wind Farm in South Jersey

October 22, 2023 — Cape May County’s legal and political battle against a proposed offshore wind energy farm is gaining public support across New Jersey, a state lawmaker told Ocean City business leaders during a forum Thursday that touched on a series of hot button issues.

“We’re fighting against the industrialization of our ocean,” Sen. Michael Testa said in remarks to the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce about the Ocean Wind 1 project planned 15 miles off the South Jersey coast.

Testa and his fellow Republican members of the First Legislative District team, Assemblyman Antwan McClellan and Assemblyman Erik Simonsen, appeared before the Chamber at the Ocean City Yacht Club to discuss the wind farm project, ongoing efforts to curb rowdy teenage behavior at the shore and New Jersey’s controversial health and sex standards in public schools.

Cape May County, Ocean City and other groups have filed multiple lawsuits against federal and state agencies in hopes of blocking the project proposed by the Danish energy giant Orsted. The latest suit was filed this week against the federal regulatory agencies that approved the environmental and construction permits for the wind farm.

The litigation alleges that the federal government violated laws that protect the environment and endangered species, while also failing to properly consider the possible negative impacts on Cape May County’s tourism industry.

Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian and Sea Isle City Mayor Leonard Desiderio, who also serves as director of the Cape May County Board of Commissioners, are among the most prominent opponents of the wind farm.

Orsted’s project would include 98 wind turbines stretching along the coast between Atlantic City and Stone Harbor. Scheduled to be completed by December 2025, the project would be the first in a series of wind energy farms built off the New Jersey coast.

“Cape May County is ground zero for this issue nationally,” Testa declared of the Orsted project. “All eyes are on us.”

Read the full article at OCNJDaily

NJ county, groups sue federal government over offshore wind

October 19, 2023 — Cape May County and several local groups have filed a lawsuit against the federal government, hoping to bury plans to erect a wind farm off of New Jersey’s southern coast.

At the same time, an ocean advocacy group is calling on leaders in New Jersey to quit green-lighting any offshore wind development for the future.

Plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday argue that federal regulators rushed approval of permits for Orsted’s Ocean Wind 1 project and are putting the environment and local marine life in harm’s way.

Read the full article at New Jersey 101.5

New Jersey faces lawsuit over offshore wind project

October 19, 2023 — A coalition of groups are suing to block New Jersey’s first offshore wind project, arguing that it will hurt marine life, the state’s fishing and tourism industries and the local economy.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, argues that the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management fast-tracked approval of the Ocean Wind 1 project without conducting a required federal review of the potential impact to the environment, historic properties along the coastline and the state’s commercial fishing industry.

In the 71-page complaint, lawyers for the plaintiffs claim that in the push to develop offshore wind, the Biden administration has “shortcut the statutory and regulatory requirements that were enacted to protect our nation’s environmental and natural resources, its industries, and its people.”

The coalition argues in the legal filing that developing offshore wind farms in New Jersey raises “significant concerns” about the impact on the fishing industry, whales and other marine life and tourism in coastal communities. They say it will negatively impact property values, tax revenues and the local economy.

Read the full article at the Center Square