Saving Seafood

NEW JERSEY: Feds pull environmental permit from New Jersey offshore wind project

March 17, 2025 — Federal officials pulled a permit from Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind on Friday in a move that could spell more delays and setbacks for New Jersey’s first offshore wind energy facility.

Environmental Appeals Court Judge Mary Kay Lynch ruled Friday to remand a Clean Air Act permit issued last September to Atlantic Shores back to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

EPA officials filed a motion in February to have the court remand the permit to the agency, in order to review the wind energy project’s environmental impacts. The action came in response to President Donald Trump’s January memorandum to withdraw all of the outer continental shelf from offshore wind leases for further review.

Read the full article at Asbury Park Press

EDF books $940 million loss on Atlantic Shores wind project

February 25, 2025 — French energy giant EDF announced it has written down $940 million in the value of its stake in the Atlantic Shores wind energy project off New Jersey, after its erstwhile partner Shell pulled out of its $1 billion investment in January.

With the new Trump administration’s hostility to offshore wind projects, Shell’s continuing pivot away from renewable projects to its legacy oil business, was a major blow to the planned 1,510-megawatt turbine array off Long Beach Island and Brigantine, N.J.

Soon after Shell’s decision, the New Jersey state Board of Public Utilities decided not to proceed with a new wind power solicitation that would have allowed Atlantic Shores to submit an updated bid.

“There have been significant evolutions in US offshore policy and that led us to reexamine our activities… and take a position that preserves the company and its future development,” EDF chief executive Luc Remont said in a Friday conference call with journalists, Agence France-Presse reported.

Read the full article at WorkBoat

NEW JERSEY: Is NOAA’s Sandy Hook lab at risk from funding freeze? ‘Bad news for fishermen’

February 14, 2025 — NOAA’s James J. Howard Marine Sciences Lab in Sandy Hook is in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s freeze on federal funding, Rep. Frank Pallone said this week.

Pallone, a Democrat and ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said $5 million in Inflation Reduction Act funding is unavailable which is putting jobs, research and critical infrastructure at the lab at risk.

The lab’s seawater intake supply infrastructure, essential for the lab’s core function, was set to be rehabilitated using IRA funds. Pallone said the freeze means the system is in jeopardy of total failure by April when contracts for critical maintenance staff expire. He said the system must now be manually shut down each night when maintenance staff leaves.

Read the full article at Asbury Park Press

North Atlantic Right Whale, Calf Spotted Off NJ as Rutgers Debuts AI Tool to Protect Endangered Species

February 13, 2025 — If recent reports of a North Atlantic right whale calf and its mother spotted in a busy shipping lane between New Jersey and New York are any indication that more are to come, an artificial intelligence tool developed by Rutgers University scientists to protect them, among other marine mammals, could quiet the offshore wind debate over how to keep the endangered species safe from harm’s way.

On Feb. 3, an aerial team from the NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center spotted the right whale, identified as Accordion, named for the propeller scars on her back that resemble the instrument, and her calf, according to NOAA.

Read the full article at The Sand Paper

NEW JERSEY: Should recreational fisheries be split into two management sectors? Public input sought

February 7, 2025 — Should party boats have different regulations for fluke than, say, surf fishermen?

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council are floating an idea to split several recreational fisheries into two separate management sectors, a strategy that fishermen have raised before at fishery meetings but never really got any air under it.

The federal regulatory bodies are currently scoping the idea and has opened the question to comment, giving the public until March 20 to submit their opinions. The separate management would just be for the summer flounder, porgy, sea bass and bluefish fisheries.

Read the full article at Asbury Park Press

Whales recorded in large numbers off New Jersey coast

February 6, 2025 — Whales are gathering in large numbers off New Jersey in a portion of the Atlantic Ocean called the New York Bight, according to several sources.

Viking Yacht Company of New Gretna, Burlington County, posted to Facebook that a large group of North Atlantic right whales, an endangered species with only about 360 individuals left, was congregating in the New York Bight between the Hudson Canyon off Sandy Hook and Block Canyon off Montauk, New York.

The New York Bight is a triangular area of ocean that stretches between the Jersey Shore and Long Island.

“NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has used planes to identify the whales — present due to large amounts of food,” Viking Yacht staff wrote on Facebook. “We’re advising boaters to be vigilant. If whale(s) are seen, provide a wide berth.”

Read the full article at the Asbury Park Press

Trump Didn’t Kill New Jersey’s Wind Farms. Economics Did

February 6, 2025 — Donald Trump’s supporters and opponents alike are giving the president credit for “killing” an offshore wind farm project along the coast of New Jersey.

An executive order pausing permitting for offshore wind projects cast doubt on that project’s viability, New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities indicated in a statement this week. It is indisputable that creating uncertainty in this market threw a wrench in the works. But as Politico confessed, the “challenges” that Governor Phil Murphy’s project encountered “include economic conditions beyond Murphy’s control and Trump.”

Read the full article at National Review

NEW JERSEY: NJ’s 4th offshore wind solicitation awards no bids (updated)

February 5, 2025 — In the latest sign of industry headwinds, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) announced Feb. 3 it was not making any awards in the state’s fourth offshore wind solicitation.

“The Board will not proceed with an award in New Jersey’s fourth offshore wind solicitation,” said NJBPU President Christine Guhl-Sadovy. “There were three initial bids in the fourth solicitation. However, two bidders withdrew and only Atlantic Shores submitted a best and final offer.”

As NJBIZ reported in July, Atlantic Shores rebid Project 1 – which already has Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Certificates (OREC) – bundled with Project 2. The effort has been slated as New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm. Officials said that the proposal aimed at providing a more resilient, competitive and sustainable path through the advanced permitting program.

Read the full article at NJ Biz

NEW JERSEY: Another blow to NJ’s offshore wind industry

February 3, 2025 — Oil giant Shell announced Thursday it’s pausing its involvement in what is set to be the state’s first offshore wind farm, Atlantic Shores.

“Hopefully the project is dead and gone, as almost all unsightly and environmentally unsound Windmill project should be,” President Donald Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

“First Ørsted pulled out of these projects, and now Shell is following suit,” said U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-2nd). “They are beginning to realize what we have been saying all along: these projects are not a practical or viable solution for our energy needs. The promises made by the offshore wind industry were always too good to be true…”

Read the full article at the NJ Spotlight News

NEW JERSEY: Shell pulls out of N.J.’s 1st offshore wind farm. Is project now at risk?

January 31, 2025 — Shell has effectively withdrawn from New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm, Atlantic Shores — marking the latest major setback to the state’s clean energy ambitions.

Spokespeople told NJ Advance Media on Thursday that the developer remained committed to the project.

At the end of last year, Atlantic Shores (made up of both Shell New Energies US and EDF Renewables North America) noted that its plans for nearly 200 wind turbines were on schedule.

The CEO of the developer also said construction on the wind farm — set to be built roughly 8 to 20 miles off the coast of New Jersey between Atlantic City and Barnegat Light — could begin some time in 2025.

Read the full article at NJ.com