Saving Seafood

BOEM’s Atlantic Shores public sessions dilute, but don’t deter criticisms

June 24, 2023 — Local groups opposing New Jersey offshore wind projects hoped this week’s public meetings on the Atlantic Shores development would be a platform for voicing their strenuous objections.

But the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held the first session Wednesday evening in a highway Holiday Inn hotel in Manahawkin, N.J., in the style of an informal informational session, rather than a formal public hearing on its draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) on Atlantic Shores.

Dozens of visitors, many of them seaside residents from nearby Long Beach Island, made a circuit of poster presentations. Presentations on how turbines will be visible from the beach – and the project’s impact on marine mammals – attracted the most attention.

Some visitors went toe-to-toe debating with BOEM staffers and agency contractors about the DEIS findings. Others, who had hoped for publicly making their cases before an audience, were dismissive of the proceedings.

“Typically BOEM. Totally tone-deaf,” said Greg DiDomenico, a fisheries management specialist with Lund’s Fisheries in Cape May, N.J.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NEW JERSEY: How dead whales became the symbol of a political battle in NJ and elsewhere

June 22, 2023 — Cindy Zipf wears a whale pendant around her neck each day to work at her office at Clean Ocean Action in Long Branch, touching the necklace and worrying that at any moment, another whale will wash onto a beach somewhere in New Jersey.

It was Zipf who first sounded the alarm on Jan. 9, two days after a second humpback whale washed ashore dead in Atlantic City, making it at the time the sixth dead whale in New York and New Jersey since Dec. 1. Zipf held a press conference in Atlantic City calling for President Joe Biden to step in and do an immediate federal investigation and halt offshore wind farm activities. Biden did not answer.

The press event thrusted whales into the crossfires of a contentious, often partisan political debate over the wind farms that re-ignites every time a marine mammal strands. And during this past winter and early spring, an abnormal amount of cetaceans have washed up to roil public opinion one way or the other.

Read the full article at app.

NEW JERSEY: Cape May County to Host Forum in Battle Against Wind Farm

June 22, 2023 — Opponents of a proposed offshore wind energy farm are intensifying their legal, political and public relations campaign against a project they say will create a “superhighway of windmills” in the ocean.

In the latest salvo against the Ocean Wind 1 project, Cape May County will hold an online forum on Saturday to present more arguments against the wind farm planned 15 miles off the South Jersey coast.

Cape May County Commission Director Leonard Desiderio, who is also the Sea Isle City mayor, said in a statement Wednesday that the wind farm forum will be a “factual presentation of our many concerns about the Orsted windmill projects.”

“We believe that the plan to create a superhighway of windmills should be subject to more specific and serious studies to answer the questions about the whale and dolphin deaths and other serious negative environmental and economic impacts that are likely to occur,” he said. “And if those studies show that our losses will be severe, then these windmills should not be built.”

The online forum closely follows the county’s hiring of more law firms to oppose the project in court and also to challenge state and federal regulatory permits needed for the wind farm.

The public is invited to join the livestreamed forum on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon. The attendees will learn more about the potential negative impacts of Orsted’s Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2 offshore wind projects. The link Capewindinfo.com will go live at 10 a.m.

Read the full article at OCNJDaily

NEW JERSEY: Offshore wind foes in New Jersey gathering force legally and politically

June 21, 2023 — Opponents of offshore wind energy projects in New Jersey are gathering force legally and politically as they seek to snuff out the nascent industry.

Within the last week, three residents groups sued New Jersey over a key approval of its first planned wind farm; the research arm of Congress agreed to investigate the impact of offshore wind on the environment and other areas; and lawmakers in two counties most heavily impacted by wind farms stepped up their efforts to block the projects.

Save Long Beach Island, Defend Brigantine Beach, and Protect Our Coast NJ filed an appeal Friday in state Superior Court of New Jersey’s determination that the Ocean Wind I project is consistent with state coastal management rules.

The project is New Jersey’s first, and a U.S. subsidiary of Danish wind developer Orsted could begin construction this year if remaining approvals are obtained.

Read the full article at WHYY

NEW JERSEY: Atlantic County commissioners seek offshore wind delay, not moratorium

June 21, 2023 — The Atlantic County Board of Commissioners passed an amended resolution on offshore wind Tuesday, eliminating a request for a moratorium on the new technology and instead supporting a new federal investigation and more public comment time on the Atlantic Shores South project.

“In light of recent events — the announcement of a federal investigation into the impact of offshore wind development … I’d like to offer a few amendments so we don’t muddy the waters,” said Republican Commissioner Richard Dase, one of two sponsors of the resolution.

The board then amended the resolution to remove requests for a moratorium and to instead support a federal investigation by the U.S. Government Accountability Office into “matters relating to the potential impacts of offshore wind energy development” in the northern Atlantic between Maine and New Jersey

Read the full article at The Press of Atlantic City

NEW JERSEY: N.J. fisheries reeled in $7M in COVID money that may need to be paid back, watchdog says

June 20, 2023 — In the rush to get COVID aid out as fast as possible, about half of the money paid to New Jersey fisheries from CARES Act funding may have been improper and should be recovered, a state watchdog group said Tuesday.

The funds, about $7 million, may have been wrongly paid out by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which administered the program, according to the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC).

The agency said its reviews, and the reviews of an independent integrity monitor, found payments to 37 marine fisheries did not appear to meet program guidelines, OSC in a letter to DEP.

Read the full article at NJ.com

Critics sue to challenge New Jersey Ørsted Ocean Wind 1 project

June 20, 2023 — Three groups in coastal New Jersey communities filed a new lawsuit against state environmental regulators and offshore wind developer Ørsted seeking to overturn state approvals for the Ocean Wind 1 project.

Community organizers in Ocean City, Brigantine and Long Beach Island, N.J., filed the action in New Jersey state appeals court, they said in an announcement June 16.  

Ørsted’s planned layout of 98 wind turbines, each about 900 feet tall within nine to 15 miles of the beach,  “will be fully visible from New Jersey’s beaches and will crush and destroy the seabed, each tower weighing up to five million pounds,” according to the groups Save LBI, Defend Brigantine Beach and Protect Our Coast NJ.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NEW JERSEY: NJ offshore wind industry impacts to be scrutinized by feds: Rep. Chris Smith

June 16, 2023 — The federal Government Accountability Office, a Congressional watchdog, agreed this week to investigate impacts from New Jersey’s offshore wind farm industry, according to New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ).

In particular, the agency will look at the industry’s impacts on the environment, commercial fishing industry, military operations and marine vessel safety, Smith said.

Smith called for the agency to investigate the industry earlier this year while raising concerns about a rash of whale deaths off New Jersey’s coast. So far, no wind turbine construction has started, but offshore wind companies have mapped the ocean floor and tested soils in their lease areas.

Read the full article at app.

Congressional watchdog agency to probe offshore wind impacts

June 16, 2023 — The independent watchdog agency of Congress agreed Thursday to look into the impacts that offshore wind development could have on the environment, fishing industry and other areas.

In a letter to U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), the U.S. Government Accountability Office said it would “review matters relating to the potential impacts of offshore wind energy development” in the northern Atlantic area between Maine and New Jersey. It said the review would include impacts on “infrastructure and vessel traffic.”

It fulfilled a major demand of citizen groups and elected officials opposed to offshore wind energy.

They cite the deaths of 50 whales off the U.S. East Coast since December, although three federal scientific agencies say there is no evidence linking offshore wind preparations to the whale deaths.

Further details of the inquiry are not available, said Chuck Young, a spokesman for the GAO, a nonpartisan research agency for Congress on government operations.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

NEW JERSEY: Whale Deaths Aside, Here’s Why New Jersey’s Offshore Wind Farm Is Still Controverial

June 16, 2023 — While New Jersey politicians fight over whether or not sonar mapping of the ocean floor off the coast of New Jersey is impacting marine mammals, the ongoing project remains controversial even without taking that matter into consideration.

As the world strives to transition to clean and sustainable energy sources, offshore wind energy has emerged as a promising solution. With its vast coastline and proximity to major population centers, New Jersey has become a focal point for the development of offshore wind projects.

However, like any ambitious undertaking, the journey towards harnessing this renewable resource has been accompanied by controversy and challenges. In this blog post, we will explore the offshore wind energy controversy in New Jersey, examining the key stakeholders, concerns raised, and the potential benefits it holds for the state.

Offshore wind energy has gained significant traction as a viable renewable energy source due to several advantages, according to supporters.

Read the full article at Shore News Network