Saving Seafood

Offshore wind’s first ‘spill’

August 22, 2024 — Renewable energy advocates used to joke that unlike offshore oil production, the worst that could happen with turbine arrays would be a “wind spill.”

No more. The July 13 turbine blade failure on Vineyard Wind’s machine AW38 dropped parts of 57 tons of fiberglass, balsa wood and resin coatings into the sea, with fragments washing up on beaches – first from Nantucket, then onward to from Cape Cod to Montauk, at the height of summer tourism.

One month after the fracture, the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) issued an “updated suspension order” to allow some work to resume on the planned 62-turbine, 806-megawatt rated array. The order continued to block new blade installation or power production at the 24 GE Vernova turbines installed before the break.

Reports of broken blade pieces drifting across southern New England waters were cited by opponents off the Atlantic Shores project off New Jersey as proof of their fears that building turbine arrays starting 8.7 miles off their beaches will endanger their own tourism industry.

Read the full article at Workboat

NEW JERSEY: NJBPU terminates Ocean Wind offshore wind farms

August 22, 2024 — Last week, Cape May County announced that the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities formally vacated all of its orders that approved the Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2 offshore wind projects that were under development by Danish offshore wind corporation Ørsted.

The BPU’s actions follow the filing of lawsuits by Cape May County in the New Jersey Appellate Division as well as in the Federal District Court.

The county challenged the BPU’s orders, all of which have now been vacated and deemed of no force or effect, according to a news release it issued Aug. 14.

The state of New Jersey agreed to let Ørsted keep $175 million in escrow funds in exchange for vacating the BPU orders, according to the release. Cape May County’s actions before the Appellate Division and the Federal District Court remain active.

“Today is a very important day in our ongoing opposition to these environmentally destructive offshore wind projects,” Cape May County Board of Commissioners Director Len Desiderio stated in the release. “The vacation of these orders by the BPU means that it will be much more difficult for Ørsted or any other Big Wind company to utilize these lease areas just a few miles off Cape May County beaches.”

Read the full article at the Ocean City Sentinal

NEW JERSEY: Opponents call ocean wind plan ‘ill thought out’

August 22, 2024 — On Monday, Aug. 19 Stop The High-Risk Power Cables, a citizen group concerned about plans to run what they call “high risk” power cables through Sea Girt, Manasquan and Wall Township, held a community meeting before a large, online Zoom audience.

After gaining traction in the local community since the group’s formation, the group held the meeting before a virtual audience of over 1,000 attendees about a proposed turbine plan off the East Coast. The meeting was attended by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, Assemblyman Paul Kanitra and six other panel members, including an environmentalist, local mayors and citizen advocates who shared their opinions and called for project transparency.

Read the full article at Star News Group

NEW JERSEY: Former BPU Commissioner says Offshore Wind Reliability Not There Yet

August 22, 2024 — Saying New Jersey should have a diverse energy portfolio, a former New Jersey Board of Public Utilities commissioner cautioned against making offshore wind the focus because of its intermittent capabilities.

“Technology frequently provides new ways to both generate and store energy,” said Dianne Solomon, who served as the only South Jersey BPU commissioner from 2013 to May 2023. “Storage, in particular, may, in the future, make intermittent renewable sources reliable and cost effective to be competitive with traditional energy generation, but until then we need to proceed cautiously so that ratepayers are not burdened for the foreseeable future by the costly choices made today.”

Read the full article at The Sand Paper

NEW JERSEY: Middle Thorofare Bridge in New Jersey reopens ahead of schedule after mechanical issue

August 22, 2024 — The Middle Thorofare Bridge/Two Mile Bridge in Lower Township is back in use on Wednesday, just three days after officials warned it would be stuck and inaccessible to traffic for several days or weeks.

The bridge connecting Wildwood Crest to Cape May got stuck in the fully upright position after a major mechanical failure on the motor that raises and lowers the movable deck to make room for boat traffic, officials said.

With drive-shaft motors not readily available, the county warned it could be several days or weeks before cars, bicycles and pedestrians could cross the bridge again.

Read the full article at CBS News

Local seafood company praises Cape May County officials for keeping Middle Thorofare Bridge up

August 20, 2024 —  A local seafood company is praising the Cape May County Bridge Commission for leaving the Middle Thorofare Bridge up following a mechanical failure to allow fishing vessels to continue to use the Port of Wildwood/Cape May.

The port is the largest in the state and would have lost millions of dollars if vessels were forced to go elsewhere, according to a news release from Lund’s Fisheries. The port brings in species such as squid, scallops and several types of finfish.

“Losing access to the Port through this waterway would have been devastating for Cape May’s fishermen and the economy of the whole County,” the company’s president, Wayne Reichle, said in a statement. “We are grateful to the Bridge Commission and all Cape May County officials who made the decision to prioritize keeping the waterway accessible for vessels, ensuring that the port remains open and active while the bridge undergoes the needed repairs.”

Read the full article at The Press of Atlantic City

NEW JERSEY: Cape May keeps drawbridge open for fishing traffic

August 20, 2024 — A“total failure” of a drive shaft motor led Cape May N.J. officials to leave the Middle Thorofare drawbridge locked open, ensuring continued vessel access to the nation’s 6th-most valuable fishing port.

The bridge in Lower Township carries a two-lane road between Cape May and Wildwood Crest over the Intracoastal Waterway. At 10 a.m. Saturday Aug. 18 the motor used to open the bridge failed, according to a summary from the Cape May Bridge Commission.

 “The bridge electrical engineers performed many tests, concluding that the motor was inoperable and irreparable,” according to the agency. “The Bridge Commission is currently reviewing all options available both nationally and globally to source this highly specialized motor with the goal of replacement as soon as possible, with the best-case scenario is it taking many weeks.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NEW JERSEY: Temporary repair planned for damaged bridge between Wildwood Crest and Cape May

August 20, 2024 — The Cape May County Bridge Commission is working on a temporary solution to reopen the Middle Thorofare Bridge that connects Cape May to Wildwood Crest and Diamond Beach, possibly enabling traffic to return in the coming weeks. A motor failure on Saturday caused the drawbridge to be stuck in an upright position, resulting in an indefinite closure with significant disruptions.

The county’s interim plan will be to install an auxiliary motor to make the bridge operational in the short term while a specialized replacement for the primary motor is custom built.

The bridge commission’s executive director, Kevin Lare, said Tuesday the auxiliary motor could be installed within a week, at the soonest, but could take as long as a month.

Read the full article at PhillyVoice

NEW JERSEY: Bridge between Wildwood Crest and Cape May closed due to motor failure, could take weeks to repair

August 19, 2024 — The Middle Thorofare Bridge/Two Mile Bridge, which connects Wildwood Crest and Diamond Beach to Cape May, New Jersey, will be closed for the foreseeable future.

Wildwood Crest Mayor Don Cabrera posted on Facebook around 6:15 a.m. Sunday the bridge was closed to vehicles, bikes and pedestrians due to a “motor failure that could not be repaired.”

In a statement released Sunday afternoon, the Cape May Bridge Commission said the bridge experienced a “total failure of the drive shaft motor that was used to open the bridge on demand” at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 17. Tests determined “the motor was inoperable and irreparable,” the commission said.

The mayor said Sunday that there’s no timeline for when the bridge will reopen and that it could be closed for “an extended period of time.” On social media, the Cape May County Sheriff’s Office said “major mechanical repairs” were needed to fix the issue.

The Cape May Bridge Commission echoed the severity of the issue, saying the goal of replacing the motor could take “many weeks.”

Because the motor is a customized part made specifically for the bridge, they can’t easily replace it. They have to build a whole new one, which will take months.

Read the full article at CBS News

NEW JERSEY: Van Drew blasts NJ offshore wind at Brigantine hearing: ‘They’re not dependable’

August 15, 2024 — Two congressmen gathered with experts critical of offshore wind development Tuesday in Brigantine, where they blasted a plan to build power turbines miles off the Jersey Shore.

Inside the auditorium at the Brigantine Community School, Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who represents southern New Jersey in Congress, and Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District, held a hearing targeting offshore wind before a crowd of roughly 100 attendees.

“It’s not just people who live at the Shore (who will be affected), it’s wherever you live,” Van Drew said during the hearing. “These things cost a fortune, and they’re not dependable, and they break down a lot.”

Critics of offshore wind have noted the recent failure of a turbine at Vineyard Wind off Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. The turbine’s broken blade resulted in fiberglass debris spread across beaches there in July.

“For years, the offshore wind companies … have told us that offshore wind is safe, clean, great for fighting global warming, no threat to the environment, and will cut our electric bills,” said Amy DiSibio, who sits on the board of directors for ACK for Whales, an anti-offshore wind organization based in Nantucket. “None of this is true, as we have painfully seen over the past month in Nantucket.”

Read the full article at Yahoo News!