Saving Seafood

Blade collapse, New York launch and New Jersey research show uneven progress of offshore wind

July 18, 2024 — Three events Wednesday highlighted the uneven progress of the offshore wind industry in the Northeast, including the start of a major project in New York, research aimed at preventing environmental damage in New Jersey, and a temporary shutdown of a wind farm in Massachusetts after a broken turbine blade washed ashore on a famous beach.

The federal government ordered a wind farm operator off the coast of Nantucket in Massachusetts to suspend operations while cleanup continues after a wind turbine blade fell into the water, broke apart, and washed up on beaches at the popular vacation spot.

Vineyard Wind said Wednesday that it has removed 17 cubic yards of debris, enough to fill more than six truckloads, along with several larger pieces that washed ashore. The debris was mostly non-toxic fiberglass fragments ranging in size from small pieces to larger sections, typically green or white.

Read the full article at the Associated Press 

NEW YORK: Ground Broken on Long Island’s Sunrise Wind, the largest offshore wind farm in the nation

July 18, 2024 — There was a historic groundbreaking Wednesday for New York’s next offshore wind farm, which will be seven times bigger than the first one.

Years in the making, winds of change are coming to the state’s energy grid. Months after South Fork Wind went live, the far bigger Sunrise Wind will have 84 turbines to generate 924 megawatts, making it the largest wind farm in the nation.

Ocean winds will be supplying the project’s clean energy by 2026.

“Six hundred thousand homes. That is the metric and that is a true game changer for Long Island,” said Doreen Harris, president of the New York State Research and Development Authority.

Read the full article at CBS

Montauk Fisherman Who Took Too Much Fluke Gets a 30-Month Sentence

July 15, 2024 — A Montauk, N.Y., fisherman was sentenced to 30 months in prison on Thursday for his role in a conspiracy to harvest and sell thousands of pounds more fluke and black sea bass than limits allowed.

The man, Chris Winkler, 64, who helms a 45-foot trawler called the New Age, was convicted by a Long Island jury in October on federal charges of hauling too many fish from the sea. The jury also found him guilty of falsifying records and selling his illegal catch to partners at Gosman’s Dock, a waterfront mall and restaurant complex in Montauk, and to dealers at the Fulton Fish Market in the Bronx.

Mr. Winkler was unanimously convicted on the five counts he faced, which included criminal conspiracy, mail fraud and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced on Thursday by Judge Joan M. Azrack of the Eastern District of New York and will surrender in December.

“I consider this a serious crime,” said Judge Azrack, who called the trial “illuminating, educational and disturbing.” Mr. Winkler, she said, “undermined the integrity of the whole fisheries management program.”

Read the full article at The New York Times

NEW YORK: Fishing Industry Remains Concerned with Offshore Wind Power

July 10, 2024 — East End residents will soon be another step closer to wind power and away from fossil fuel; but local commercial fishermen are raising objections. And, East Enders are waiting to hear how much this wind power project will mean for new utility rates.

The federal government earlier this spring approved what it calls a “record of decision” for a Denmark-based company, Orsted, to build one of the largest offshore wind farms planned for Nassau and Suffolk counties. The decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior is among the last steps to build the windfarm, known as Sunrise Wind, an 84-turbine plant, before actual construction can begin.

Orsted said in a news release that the final permit, a construction and operating plan, is expected this summer from the federal government. Orsted recently completed a 12-turbine wind farm called South Fork Wind. Orsted said Sunrise Wind is expected to be completed in 2026.

Both Sunrise Wind and South Fork Wind are in the waters off Massachusetts and Rhode Island. South Fork Wind’s cable comes ashore in Wainscott. Sunrise Wind has a power cable running more than 100 miles to Smith Point County Park, before beginning a 17 mile trip through Brookhaven Town to a substation in Holtsville.

Read the full article at Dan’s Papers

Environmentalists threaten to sue New Jersey and Delaware if they don’t take action to protect Atlantic sturgeon from bycatch

July 9, 2024 — Atlantic sturgeon have been around for 70 million years — predating the dinosaurs. These monumental fish with shark-like fins even survived the Chicxulub asteroid, which caused the great extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous Period.

But the species that once thrived in the Philadelphia region’s waterways has become endangered, threatened by habitat loss, dams, poor water quality and vessel strikes. In the Delaware River, only about 250 estimated sturgeon remain, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Sturgeon are also caught in fishing nets and injured by boats during the commercial fishing of other types of fish such as striped bass and summer flounder.

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network argues the region isn’t doing enough to protect the Atlantic sturgeon. The nonprofit is threatening to sue Delaware, New Jersey and New York under the Endangered Species Act for allegedly allowing the commercial fishing industry to kill the Atlantic sturgeon as bycatch.

Read the full article at WHYY

NEW YORK: Fishing Industry Remains Concerned with Offshore Wind Power

July 9, 2024 — East End residents will soon be another step closer to wind power and away from fossil fuel; but local commercial fishermen are raising objections. And, East Enders are waiting to hear how much this wind power project will mean for new utility rates.

The federal government earlier this spring approved what it calls a “record of decision” for a Denmark-based company, Orsted, to build one of the largest offshore wind farms planned for Nassau and Suffolk counties. The decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior is among the last steps to build the windfarm, known as Sunrise Wind, an 84-turbine plant, before actual construction can begin.

Orsted said in a news release that the final permit, a construction and operating plan, is expected this summer from the federal government. Orsted recently completed a 12-turbine wind farm called South Fork Wind. Orsted said Sunrise Wind is expected to be completed in 2026.

Both Sunrise Wind and South Fork Wind are in the waters off Massachusetts and Rhode Island. South Fork Wind’s cable comes ashore in Wainscott. Sunrise Wind has a power cable running more than 100 miles to Smith Point County Park, before beginning a 17 mile trip through Brookhaven Town to a substation in Holtsville.

Read the full article at Dan’s Papers

 

NEW YORK: Offshore construction on Sunrise Wind set to begin this year

June 24, 2024 — Giving the green light for offshore construction of New York’s largest offshore wind farm to begin, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today announced its approval of Sunrise Wind’s plan for construction and operations. This is the project’s final approval from BOEM, following the Department of the Interior’s March 2024 Record of Decision on the project.

“BOEM’s approval of the Sunrise Wind project represents another step in building a thriving offshore wind energy industry,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. “The Biden-Harris administration continues to demonstrate its commitment to advancing responsible projects like Sunrise Wind as part of our strategy to foster good paying jobs for local communities, ignite economic development, and fight the harmful effects of climate change.”

The Sunrise Wind project—to be located south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and east of Block Island, Rhode Island—will have a total capacity of 924 MW of energy that could power more than 320,000 homes per year. The project will support more than 800 direct jobs each year during the construction phase and about 300 jobs annually during the operations phase.

Sunrise Wind will help New York achieve its mandate of 70% renewable electricity by 2030, while accelerating the state’s growing offshore wind workforce and supply chain. Sunrise Wind will create 800 direct New York jobs, thousands of indirect jobs, and economic benefits from the Capital Region to Long Island – including a $700 million investment in Suffolk County alone.

“With the final approval of Sunrise Wind and the recent completion of South Fork Wind, it is clear that New York is leading the nation in building the offshore wind industry,” said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. “We’re grateful for the Biden Administration’s commitment to advancing clean energy projects, and New York will continue to build a green economy, create good-paying jobs, and combat the climate crisis.”

Read the full article at the Marine Log

NEW YORK: New York Finalizes New Power Agreements for Two Large Offshore Wind Farms

June 6, 2024 — New York State finalized new power contracts for two offshore wind farms, Empire Wind 1 and Sunrise Wind, which had previously been placed in jeopardy when their developers said that rising costs had made the projects uneconomical for development. The signing of the new contracts puts the two mature projects back on track and helps to jumpstart New York State’s offshore wind sector.

Empire Wind 1 is a planned 810-megawatt project to be developed by Equinor 15 miles south of New York, while Sunrise Wind is a planned 924-megawatt project to be 30 miles to the east in a joint venture between Ørsted and Eversource. Eversource however has agreed to sell its interests to Ørsted. Both projects were originally awarded by NYSERDA in 2019 as part of the state’s first offshore wind solicitation. The original contracts set the strike price at approximately $118 per megawatt-hour for Empire Wind 1 and $110 for Sunrise Wind.

The projects had sought to renegotiate their contracts in 2023 but the regulator New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) refused. In a hastily arranged fourth solicitation, New York reopened the wind for the projects on the condition cancel their existing contracts and rebid, but they were ultimately selected. New York Governor Kathy Hochul reports the weighted average all-in development cost of the contracted offshore wind projects over the life of the contracts is now $150.15 per megawatt-hour, which she asserts is on par with the latest market prices. It is however still below the $160 that the developers had asked for last year in the negotiations for Empire Wind 1.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

Gusts of activity underway by friends and foes of offshore wind energy projects

April 28, 2024 — Government supporters of offshore wind energy projects in New Jersey and New York are trading blows with opponents in some shore towns who say many vacationers and local residents don’t want to see turbines filling the ocean horizon.

Eight Jersey Shore beach towns wrote to state utility regulators Wednesday, saying one wind farm proposal will be vastly more expensive than projected, and it will cost tourism-driven jobs and economic activity.

Their move came on the same day that federal energy regulators approved new rules to streamline the application and approval processes for offshore wind farms, and also the day that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued supply chain and logistics proposals to help her state’s offshore wind industry. Hochul’s move came days after three New York projects were scrapped because the companies and state regulators couldn’t agree on the financial terms

Read the full article at the Associated Press