Saving Seafood

NEW JERSEY: Murphy faces blowback over wind power ‘giveaway’ to Danish firm

July 13, 2023 — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is being criticized for doling out generous tax breaks to a Danish-based energy firm seeking to develop offshore wind.

Murphy signed an agreement last Thursday with Ørsted Wind, a Danish firm, granting the company a tax break on one of two energy projects it is developing off the New Jersey coast.

Under the plan, Orsted will be allowed to keep federal tax credits that were supposed to be passed to New Jersey utility ratepayers to offset the potential for higher electricity rates.

Democrats who approved the legislation last week argued the tax relief was needed to help the company deal with inflation and the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full article at The Center Square

NEW JERSEY: Wind power company sues Cape May County over permitting delay

July 12, 2023 — The company building a controversial wind farm off New Jersey’s coast is suing Cape May County officials for not fulfilling permitting requests and following regulator orders it argues has delayed the project.

Ocean Wind 1, owned by Danish-based energy company Ørsted, contends the county, its clerk and its engineer are prolonging the paperwork needed for easements required by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

The officials also are not yet granting road opening permits for work in Ocean City, the suit alleges.

The lawsuit was filed July 3, in the same week the Biden administration approved the wind farm’s construction about 13 nautical miles southeast of Atlantic City.

The wind farm’s builder names the county’s clerk and engineer, Rita Rothberg and Robert Church, respectively. It also names Kevin Lare, the clerk for the Cape May County Board of Commissioners.

Read the full article at The Press of Atlantic City

NEW JERSEY: New Jersey fishermen on hook for $7 million in pandemic relief

July 10, 2023 — New Jersey fishermen could be on the hook for $7 million in COVID-19 funds that may have been improperly distributed, according to a report.

An audit conducted by Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh’s office found that more than half of the $14.4 million New Jersey distributed in federal funds to commercial fishermen through the pandemic-related program may need to be returned because the recipients might not have been eligible to receive the money.

The comptroller’s office determined that about 41% of the payments, or $5.9 million, are subject to possible recoupment because the applicants were made “more than whole” by the money or were ineligible for relief payments under the program guidelines.

Read the full article at The Center Square

NEW JERSEY: Murphy signs law to save wind farm, touting New Jersey as ‘foundation’ of U.S. wind industry

July 9, 2023 — Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill Thursday to save New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm from financial uncertainty.

The governor held an event in Paulsboro and signed the offshore wind legislation along with two other economic development bills, including one with tax credits for the film industry, to emphasize a narrative about the “21st Century economy” he’s had since taking office.

“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity right now to bring tens of thousands of overwhelmingly union jobs and billions of dollars of investment to our state with offshore wind,” Murphy said. The marine terminal in Paulsboro and the wind port in Salem County, Murphy added, are “literally building the foundation of our nation’s entire wind industry.”

The offshore wind law will allow energy company Ørsted to keep hundreds of millions of dollars in federal tax incentives that the company otherwise would be required to pass along to state utility customers. Without the deal, the company and Murphy administration officials said the wind farm would not be built. In exchange for the relief, Ørsted agreed — and now by law will be obligated — to spend $200 million at the Paulsboro port where Murphy signed the bill.

The bill cleared the Senate and Assembly on the same day as the state budget last week.

Read the full article at Politico

BOEM approves Ocean Wind 1 construction plan off New Jersey

July 6, 2023 — Ørsted’s 1,100-megawatt Ocean Wind 1 project off New Jersey won approval from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Wednesday, days after state legislators racing a budget clock approved channeling additional tax credits to the developer.

BOEM’s sign-off on the Ocean Wind 1 construction and operations plan marks the third approval of a commercial-scale, offshore wind energy project in the United States, following on the Vineyard Wind project off southern Massachusetts and the South Fork Wind project, south of Rhode Island and east of Montauk on the east end of New York’s Long Island.

Ørsted’s New Jersey project will be a first for that state and is a centerpiece for Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration plans for expanding renewable energy sources. Republican state lawmakers have been increasingly opposed amid stiff resistance from their constituents in coastal communities and critics’ warnings that offshore wind will increase consumers’ power costs.

The federal approval came days after the New Jersey state Legislature, under the gun to complete state budget votes by day’s end on June 30, approved bills that will allow Ørsted to use federal tax credits to bolster financing for the project.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NEW JERSEY: US gives go-ahead for Orsted’s New Jersey offshore wind farm to start construction

July 6, 2023 — The federal government gave the go-ahead Wednesday for New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm to begin construction, clearing the way for the first of at least three — and likely many more — such projects in a state trying to become the East Coast leader in wind energy.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved a construction and operations plan for Ocean Wind I, a wind farm to be built by Danish wind energy company Orsted between 13 and 15 miles off the coast of Atlantic City. The wind farm would power 500,000 homes.

Additional approvals from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency still must be obtained, which Orsted estimates will happen by the second quarter of 2024.

Read the full article at WSB-TV

NEW JERSEY: New Jersey Governor Signs Tax Break for Orsted’s Offshore Wind Farm

July 6, 2023 — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill Thursday giving a tax break to Danish offshore wind developer Orsted for the first of two energy projects it plans in the waters off New Jersey.

The governor, a Democrat, said the financial aid ensures that offshore wind projects and the jobs they create happen in New Jersey rather than in competing states.

Before the ink was dry on that bill, he faced pressure from another offshore wind company looking for similar assistance.

The bill allows Orsted to keep federal tax credits that it otherwise would have been required to pass along to New Jersey utility ratepayers. Lawmakers who narrowly approved the bill last week said the aid was needed to help Orsted deal with inflation and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If we don’t figure out a solution, this doesn’t get done in New Jersey,” Murphy said after the ceremony at the Paulsboro Marine Terminal, where the huge supporting structures for wind turbines, called monopiles, are manufactured. “We know war in Europe, inflation, supply chain — these projects have gotten a lot more expensive, and we’re not the only place that’s dealing with that. Either we get this bill done and the industry thrives here, and the jobs that are associated with it, or it goes somewhere else.”

Read the full article at US News

Wind Farm Off New Jersey Coast Wins Biden’s Approval as Locals Balk

July 5, 2023 — The Biden administration on Wednesday approved Orsted A/S’s Ocean Wind 1 project, setting the stage for installation of as many as 98 turbines in waters off New Jersey over the opposition of some local residents.

The approval represents the third commercial-scale project of its kind in federal waters to win the US government’s backing — all under President Joe Biden — and another step toward his goal of installing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by the end of the decade.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland called the authorization “another milestone in our efforts to create good-paying union jobs while combating climate change and powering our nation.”

Under the Interior Department’s approval, as many as 98 turbines and three offshore substations could be installed about 13 nautical miles (24 kilometers) southeast of Atlantic City, with power cables coming ashore in Ocean County and Cape May County. According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the project is estimated to have a generating capacity of 1.1 gigawatts, capable of powering more than 380,000 homes.

Read the full article at Bloomberg

NEW JERSEY: New Jersey’s other wind farm developer wants government breaks, too; says project ‘at risk’

July 5, 2023 — A company approved to build New Jersey’s third offshore wind farm says it, too, wants government financial incentives, saying its project and the jobs it would create are “at risk” without the additional help.

Atlantic Shores issued a statement Friday, shortly after New Jersey lawmakers approved a tax break for Danish wind developer Orsted, which has approval to build two wind farms off the state’s coast.

Elaborating on Monday, the Atlantic City-based Atlantic Shores said it has contacted the offices of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, and leaders of the state Senate and Assembly, saying it seeks a “solution that stabilizes all awarded projects.”

It remains to be seen how the request will be received by lawmakers. The tax bill passed by a single vote Friday.

Atlantic Shores did not say precisely what sort of assistance it wants, and refused to publicly clarify its request, or discuss the likelihood of being able to complete the project with its current financing.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

NEW JERSEY: Tax break for offshore wind energy developer Orsted narrowly approved in New Jersey Legislature

July 3, 2023 — A bill to let Danish offshore wind energy developer Orsted keep tax credits that it otherwise would have to return to New Jersey ratepayers was approved by the slimmest of margins in the state Legislature Friday afternoon and went to the desk of Gov. Phil Murphy, a strong supporter of offshore wind farms.

The measure initially failed to gather enough support in the Senate but won one additional vote in a subsequent try — just enough to pass it.

The bill to allow Orsted to keep federal tax credits was designed to help counter what lawmakers termed lingering economic effects on the developer from the COVID-19 pandemic and elevated inflation.

It applies to Orsted’s first project in New Jersey, Ocean Wind I, which aims to generate enough electricity to power 500,000 homes.

The New Jersey legislation highlighted a sharp partisan divide over offshore wind projects, with Republicans mostly opposing them as harmful to the environment, marine life and the fishing and tourism industries, and Democrats supporting them as crucial to moving away from the burning of fossil fuels that is contributing to a warming climate.

Read the full article at the Washington Post