Saving Seafood

US East Coast states select firms to run offshore wind development compensation fund for fishers

November 12, 2024 — A coalition of U.S. East Coast states have selected two firms to manage the Offshore Wind Fisheries Compensation Fund, a mitigation program built to compensate commercial and recreation for-hire fishers for revenue lost due to offshore wind developments.

The fund is a collaboration between the governments of 11 East Coast states – Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina – to provide financial compensation for economic loss caused by offshore wind projects along the Atlantic Coast. The states launched a competition earlier this year to select an administrator to run the new fund.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Coast Guard Seeks Public Comment Until Nov. 21 On Empire Wind 1

November 12, 2024 — The U.S. Coast Guard is currently seeking public comment regarding their installation of “temporary safety zones” for a wind farm off New York and New Jersey.

The proposed wind farm is Empire Wind 1, which would be located about 13 miles south of Long Island and 19.5 miles off Long Branch. It is highly unlikely that Empire Wind’s turbines will be seen from the shore; the proposed wind farm is located too far out.

The Coast Guard says they are required to set up temporary safety zones during construction. They propose establishing 55 temporary safety zones during the development of the Empire Wind 1 Wind Farm project area.

Read the full article at the Patch

Richmond firm to oversee fishermen compensation related to offshore wind farms

November 6, 2024 — Richmond claims resolution firm BrownGreer PLC and London’s The Carbon Trust have been tapped to design and roll out a regional fisheries mitigation program on the East Coast.

The program is aimed at providing financial compensation to the commercial and recreational for-hire fishing industries related to the impacts of new offshore wind farms.

BrownGreer and The Carbon Trust will work with 11 East Coast states and their respective fishing industry communities on the program. The groups have established a design oversight committee and a for-hire committee to provide advice and guidance from respective parties on the program.

The involved states include Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina.

Read the full article at Richmond Inno

Environmentalists sue New York, New Jersey and Delaware over endangered sturgeon

October 25, 2024 — New York, New Jersey and Delaware were accused in federal lawsuits Thursday of improperly allowing Atlantic sturgeon to be killed by commercial fishing operations even as the prehistoric fish is on the brink of disappearing.

The three parallel lawsuits filed by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and Hudson Riverkeeper accuse the states of violating the Endangered Species Act by not obtaining necessary permits that allow commercial fisheries to catch and kill Atlantic sturgeon while they fish for other species such as striped bass and summer flounder. The environmentalists say the once thriving fish’s recovery is threatened because they are unintentionally caught in commercial nets as “bycatch.”

Atlantic Sturgeon in the Delaware River and Hudson River were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 2012.

“The Atlantic sturgeon of our two rivers are at risk from being wiped from the face of this earth within our lifetime,” Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum said during an online news conference.

Read the full article at The Associated Press

NEW YORK: RWE and National Grid Propose New York’s Largest Offshore Wind Project

October 23, 2024 – German utility RWE and New York power company National Grid have announced a proposal to build a 2.8 GW wind park off Long Island, the largest offshore wind power plan yet submitted to New York state energy regulator NYSERDA. It is the second time that it has submitted its Community Offshore Wind project for NYSERDA’s approval: the previous bid was awarded, then canceled when the economic viability of first-generation U.S. offshore wind projects soured.

RWE and National Grid won a lease area in the New York Bight at auction in 2022, one of several awarded that year. The site has the potential for up to 3 GW of nameplate capacity, about a third of New York’s 2030 target of 9 GW.

The developers pitched a 1.3 GW phase 1 project to NYSERDA under the name of “Community Offshore Wind,” and in October 2023, they won a provisional offtake award greenlighting the project. The subsea power cable from the farm would land in Brooklyn, and Community Offshore Wind put heavy emphasis on a community benefits package totaling more than $500 million in wages and benefits for Brooklyn’s disadvantaged communities.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

Big offshore wind project proposed for New York as other sites are evaluated in 3 states

October 23, 2024 — Offshore wind energy projects in New York, New Jersey and Maryland are moving forward, as federal regulators examine the proposals and opponents escalate their legal challenges to the work.

A large offshore wind farm is being proposed in the waters off New York as federal agencies are pressing ahead with reviews of seven other ocean sites.

Community Offshore Wind, a partnership between Essen, Germany-based RWE and New York-based National Grid, on Friday proposed a wind farm that would generate 2.8 gigawatts of electricity, or enough to power 1 million homes.

The company also has an active proposal to build a separate project in New Jersey off the coast of Long Beach Island.

Read the full article at ABC News

BOEM Completes First Region Environmental Review for Offshore Wind

October 22, 2024 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) completed its first regional environmental assessment as part of its continuing effort to accelerate the development of offshore wind energy power generation. The Final Programmatic Environmental Impact States for the New York Bight will be released later this week as a key step to move forward with the six large lease areas from the record February 2022 auction.

“We believe our regional approach will provide a solid baseline for future environmental reviews for any proposed offshore wind projects in the New York Bight,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. It is the next key step in the Biden-Harris administration’s goal to have 30 GW offshore wind energy capacity by 2030. They note that the U.S. surpassed approval for 15 GW of offshore wind energy capacity earlier this year.

BOEM reports it received 1,568 unique comments from 560 submissions which informed this stage of the development project which was designed to set a structure for the environmental review of the six projects.  The six wind lease areas in the NY Bight cover over 488,000 acres offshore New York and New Jersey with BOEM estimating it has a capacity to generate up to 7 GW of offshore wind energy, enough to power up to two million homes.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

NEW YORK: Community Offshore Wind partners with fisheries to donate fresh seafood

October 11, 2024 — Community Offshore Wind is teaming up with local fisheries and hunger relief organizations to deliver thousands of fresh seafood meals to families in need across Long Island, including Long Beach, this fall.

“Commercial fishing is an important industry for New York’s long-term economic growth, and it is critical that offshore wind developers work closely with fishermen to ensure their projects share the waters off our coast effectively,” Steven Wong, owner of Aqua Best Seafood Market, said. “By working with us to purchase the fish for these donations directly from regional fishermen, Community Offshore Wind has shown that they are serious about supporting the industry and delivering clean energy in a way that will not negatively impact our marine ecosystem.”

Read the full article at the Long Island Herald

 

Lawmakers seek pause in offshore wind energy amid whale deaths

September 30, 2024 — House lawmakers are seeking a pause in offshore wind energy projects amid a string of whale deaths along the coasts of Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Maine. [FoxNews]

Last week, a deceased whale beached off Maryland’s coast, the second whale carcass discovered in the area in three weeks. In 2023, 37 humpback whales carcasses were discovered along the East Coast.

While a definite cause of death could not be determined, wind-energy proponents continue to argue the deaths have nothing to do with offshore wind farms.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) hosted a public hearing in August in which experts testified about the danger installing wind turbines poses marine wildlife. Harris called for an end to offshore wind energy in Maryland.

Read the full article at CalCoastNews.com

NEW YORK: NYSERDA head gets update on state’s largest offshore wind farm at Port of Coeymans

September 16, 2024 — Officials gathered Thursday at the Port of Coeymans to showcase the significant progress of construction work for New York’s largest offshore wind farm.

Groundbreaking took place in July for Sunrise Wind, a 924-megawatt MW offshore wind farm located roughly 30 miles off the coast of Long Island. The project, first announced in 2019, is piloted by Ørsted, the largest energy company in Denmark.

It’s expected to come online in 2026. Officials say once in operation, Sunrise Wind will represent the largest infusion of renewable offshore wind energy from a single project in U.S. history.

President and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority Doreen Harris says every resident will benefit from the wind farm project. She adds that 84 platforms comprising more than half of the so- called advanced foundation components for Sunrise Wind are being built at the Coeymans offshore wind hub.

Read the full article at WAMC