Saving Seafood

Offshore Wind’s Next Steps: 6 to Watch For

May 29, 2019 — Things certainly aren’t dull in the world of offshore wind these days. Between new legislation to kick-start offshore wind markets, new bids to meet states’ demand for projects, and new markets getting set to open up, momentum just keeps building. Here are six near-term things I’m watching for.

1. New York’s first 800 megawatts

The journey of 9,000 megawatts, it might be said, starts with the first 800. Thanks to Governor Andrew Cuomo, the Empire State has the most ambitious target in the nation, and is working to live into that goal. That included issuing a request for proposals (RFP) for the first 800 or so megawatts late last year, with bids due in February.

Developers responded in a big way, with four proposing a total of 18 projects. Any one of those developers would bring some serious overseas experience to bear on the US market.

Decisions about which project or projects to go forward with could come out as early as this week, so I’m definitely watching for those.

Read the full story at the Union of Concerned Scientists

The Military is Locked in a Power Struggle With Wind Farms

May 29, 2019 — When Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Goana takes off in his T-38 Talon training jet, he flies a loop north toward the Red River, which forms a meandering border between north Texas and southern Oklahoma. For decades, the remote farming area has been an ideal training ground for Air Force pilots like Goana. But in recent years, he says, there’s been a new obstacle: wind turbines that now generate a third of Oklahoma’s electricity and 17 percent of the power in Texas.

“We need the space above the ground unimpeded so we can fly low to the ground,” says Goana, commander of the 80th Training Wing at Sheppard Air Force Base. “Sort of like driver’s ed.”

A year ago, military leaders at Sheppard joined state officials to beat back a proposed wind farm in nearby Oklahoma. But base officials now worry about more proposed wind farms that keep cropping up. They say they have been forced to close three of 12 low-flying training routes in the past decade because of “wind farm encroachment.”

“One or two is OK, we will move over,” Goana says about shifting Sheppard’s training routes, which also have to avoid cell towers and radio masts. “But now it’s almost completely clogged.”

Similar disputes between some military officials and wind farm developers are underway in North Carolina, Tennessee, and upstate New York. In California, the Navy wants to declare the Pacific Ocean from Big Sur to the Mexican border off limits to proposed offshore wind farms, because they would conflict with “the requirements of Navy and Marine Corps missions conducted in the air, on the surface, and below the surface of these waters.”

Read the full story at Wired

ROBERT BRYCE: New York’s energy policy depends on an impossible fantasy

May 23, 2019 — Last Wednesday, the Cuomo administration blocked construction of the proposed Northeast Supply Enhancement project, a 24-mile gas pipeline that would run from New Jersey across New York Bay to near the Rockaways. The Department of Environmental Conservation claimed the pipeline could have a negative effect on water quality and marine life.

The move was cheered by environmental groups, which claim that New York doesn’t need more natural gas because it can rely on wind and solar energy instead. But that oft-repeated claim ignores the growing rebellion in upstate communities against Big Wind and Big Solar.

On May 9, six days before the Department of Environmental Conservation rejected the permit for the gas pipeline, the town board of Cambria (population: 6,000) unanimously rejected the proposed 100-megawatt Bear Ridge solar project. If built, that $210 million project would cover about 900 acres with solar panels.

“We don’t want it,” Cambria Town Supervisor Wright Ellis, who has held that position for 27 years, told me last week. “We are opposed to it.” The proposed project, he said, violates Cambria’s zoning laws. In addition, Ellis said it would result in a “permanent loss of agricultural land” and potentially reduce the value of some 350 nearby homes.

Wind-energy projects, too, are facing fierce opposition. In February, Apex Clean Energy, a wind-energy developer, withdrew its application to build 108 megawatts of wind capacity on Galloo Island, a small island off the eastern shore of Lake Ontario.

Read the full story at the New York Post

New York’s Prized Sea Scallop Faces Off Against Offshore Wind

May 23, 2019 — Developers pushing to install massive wind turbines in the waters off New York and New Jersey have run into a delicate yet mighty foe: the Atlantic sea scallop.

Prized for their sweet and tender meat, scallops are abundant off Long Island and the Jersey Shore. That happens to be where the Trump administration wants to auction leases for offshore wind farms for what’s envisioned to be a $70 billion U.S. industry.

Efforts by fishermen to block the projects could have sweeping implications for both seafood lovers and the push to bring clean energy to the most densely populated corner of America. The area in the Atlantic, which could fit enough windmills to power all of New York City, is home to some of the world’s richest scallop beds. And erecting turbines nearly as tall as the Chrysler Building could make mollusks much harder to harvest.

“It’s an insane amount of ocean to occupy, and it will leave a trail of destruction,” said Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

June 2019 MAFMC Meeting Agenda

May 10, 2019 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The public is invited to attend the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s meeting to be held June 4-6, 2019 in New York, NY. The meeting will be held at the Yotel New York, 570 Tenth Ave (at W 42nd), New York, NY 10036, Telephone 646-449-7700.

Meeting Materials: Briefing documents will be posted at http://ww.mafmc.org/briefing/june-2019 as they become available.

Public Comments: Written comments must be received by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, May 22, 2019 to be included in the briefing book. Comments received after this date but before 5:00 p.m. on May 30, 2019 will be posted as supplemental materials on the Council meeting web page. After that date, all comments must be submitted using an online comment form available at http://www.mafmc.org/public-comment.

Webinar: For online access to the meeting, enter as a guest at http://mafmc.adobeconnect.com/june2019.

Agenda: Click here for a detailed meeting agenda.

NEW YORK: Offshore Oil Drilling Is on Hold

May 3, 2019 — The Trump administration’s plan to allow oil and gas exploration and extraction off the Atlantic Coast is apparently on indefinite hold.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that a federal judge’s March declaration that President Trump’s order revoking a ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic is illegal may force the federal Department of the Interior to wait until that case is resolved before a final decision can be made about which offshore areas would be opened to the fossil-fuel industry.

Separately, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, with the musician Billy Joel by his side, signed legislation on Monday to ban offshore drilling in New York State waters. The legislation, according to a release from the governor’s office, will bar the state from granting permits for oil or gas exploration or drilling in offshore areas controlled by the state.

“This bill says no way are you going to drill off the coast of Long Island and New York,” the governor said in the statement, “because we must lead the way as an alternative to what this federal government is doing.”

The March decision by U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason once again rendered 3.8 million acres of the Atlantic Ocean, along with 125 million acres of the Arctic Ocean, off limits to exploration and drilling under a ban President Obama enacted in December 2016, shortly before leaving office.

“The recent announcement that the Trump administration is backing down on oil and gas exploration off the Atlantic Seaboard is good news,” East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said in an email on Tuesday, “as is Governor Cuomo’s signing yesterday of state legislation that would prohibit drilling for oil or gas exploration in state offshore waters.”

Read the full story at The East Hampton Star

ASMFC Presents Annual Awards of Excellence

May 2, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission presented its Annual Awards of Excellence to an esteemed group of fishery and data managers, scientists, law enforcement officers and environmental attorneys for their outstanding contributions to fisheries management, science and law enforcement along the Atlantic coast. Specifically, the award recipients are Robert Ballou for management and policy contributions; Geoffrey White, Coleby Wilt, Alex DiJohnson, Sarah Rains, Michael Celestino, and John Sweka for science and technical contributions; and Casey Oravetz, Sara Block, Banumathi Rangarajan, Lauren Steele, Shane Waller, Shennie Patel, and Joel La Bissonniere for law enforcement contributions.

“Every year a great many people contribute to the success of fisheries management along the Atlantic coast. The Commission’s Annual Awards of Excellence recognize outstanding efforts by professionals who have made a difference in the way we manage and conserve our fisheries,” said ASMFC Chair Jim Gilmore of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. “I am humbled by the breadth and extent of accomplishments of this year’s recipients and am grateful for their dedication to Atlantic coast fisheries.”

Read the full release here

Gov. Cuomo signs New York offshore drilling ban alongside Billy Joel

April 30, 2019 — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, joined by musician Billy Joel, a Long Island native, signed legislation Monday at Jones Beach banning offshore drilling in New York’s waters, a move that supporters believe will thwart the Trump administration’s hopes to open the Eastern Seaboard for oil and gas exploration.

The bill, sponsored by State Sen. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) and Assemb. Steven Englebright (D-Setauket) and approved by the State Legislature in February,  will prohibit state agencies from processing applications for pipelines or any other transportation and distribution services needed to facilitate offshore drilling.

“Today’s bill says no how, no way are you going to drill the coast off Long Island and New York,” Cuomo said at an event with elected officials from both counties at the Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh. “It’s not going to happen as long as we are in charge of this state.”

The Interior Department announced in January 2018 that it intended to hold 47 lease sales in more than two dozen planning areas, nine of them along the Eastern Seaboard, between 2019 and 2024. The other tracts are in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Alaska and off the West Coast. The department granted an exclusion prohibiting drilling off the shores of Florida, citing that state’s reliance on tourism.

Read the full story at Newsday

Seaweed matters: Eat your vegetables

April 26, 2019 — When I sat down at a Portland kombucha bar to attend a local Seaweed 101 session, I fully expected a love story about wild, vegan kelp and how we can change the world by eating more sea vegetables. What I didn’t expect was an in-depth exchange about federal fishery management and how it has decimated the industry’s communities in New England.

VitaminSea owner, and host of the session, Tom Roth was a commercial tilefish captain out of New Jersey a lifetime ago. He transitioned into New York Harbor tugboats as the industry declined, and started diving for kelp in his spare time from his home base in southern Maine about 15 years ago.

These days he goes out in a 40-foot boat that carries three other divers, two wooden skiffs and two Zodiacs. Each diver takes a small craft out on his own; they spread out, harvest, then meet back at the boat to help each other unload.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Omega Protein: New York menhaden law a ‘feel good’ for environmentalists

April 26, 2019 — Omega Protein says it won’t be hurt by a new law that blocks it from fishing for menhaden in New York state waters in order to preserve the forage fish for whales and other wildlife because it never goes there.

Rather, it’s “feel-good legislation for the environmental community, but it will have zero impact on the company’s operations”, commented Ben Landry, director of public affairs for the Houston, Texas-based division of Canada’s Cooke, when called by Undercurrent News Tuesday for a response.

The legislation passed unanimously, 61-0, by New York’s Senate in February (companion bills S. 2317 and A. 2571) went into effect immediately upon being signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday. The new law, which was sponsored by Democratic senator Todd Kaminsky and assembly member Steve Englebright, prohibits the taking of menhaden with the use of purse seine nets within three miles of the state’s coast.

Because menhaden are sensitive to oxygen levels in the water and can die off by the thousands when large schools become too confined in one area during hot weather, the law allows the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to issue a temporary order to allow purse seiners to reduce the population.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News