offshore energy Archives - Page 49 of 103

Feds release Vineyard Wind environmental assessment

June 10, 2020 — Federal regulators on Tuesday released a detailed, 420-page environmental assessment of the proposed Vineyard Wind project that includes predictions about the future of wind energy along the East Coast and suggests the impact on commercial fishing of six possible wind farm configurations would be roughly the same.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management put Vineyard Wind on hold last year to take a look at the project through the broader lens of what’s going on in offshore wind overall along the East Coast. The resulting assessment, called a supplementl to the company’s draft environmental impact statement, forecasts 22 gigawatts of offshore wind development along the East Coast over the next 10 years, the equivalent of about 2 percent of current electricity production. The analysis estimates as many as 2,000 wind turbines will be installed over the 10-year period.

Vineyard Wind would be located off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and consist of between 57 and 100 turbines producing 800 megawatts of power. The project is jointly owned by Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.

Read the full story at Commonwealth Magazine

First major U.S. offshore wind farm reaches permitting milestone

June 10, 2020 — The first major U.S. offshore wind farm, planned for the Massachusetts coast, reached a key permitting milestone on Tuesday with the release of a long-awaited federal environmental study that considers the project’s impacts on fisheries and navigation.

Publication of the document marks a step forward for the Vineyard Wind project, which has experienced delays over concerns that its wind turbines will hurt commercial fishing. The supplemental review by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, announced last year, also considered the impacts of many such projects due to the growing number of offshore wind farms planned for the East Coast.

The Trump administration has sought to fire up development of the nascent offshore wind industry as part of its policy to boost domestic energy production.

The 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind is expected to generate enough power for more than 400,000 homes in Massachusetts. The lease area is located 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.

Read the full story at Reuters

Interior: Offshore wind to have major ‘adverse’ effects

June 10, 2020 — Offshore wind farms could have a major “adverse” impact on commercial fisheries, according to a long-awaited analysis from the Interior Department released yesterday.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s draft supplemental environmental review for Vineyard Wind — the first anticipated large-scale wind project in the United States — arrives nearly a year after a final decision on the project was expected.

BOEM delayed a final environmental analysis at the eleventh hour last summer and announced the launch of the supplemental review, arguing that the rapid expansion of offshore wind proposals and coastal state wind procurement policies necessitated a broader examination of wind’s foreseeable impacts (E&E News PM, Aug. 9, 2019).

The supplemental study, which is to be published in the Federal Register at an unspecified time, looks beyond Vineyard Wind — which is planned off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. — and outlines a host of effects that the burgeoning offshore wind sector in the Northeast could have on other industries, the environment and marine life.

It notes, for example, major cumulative impacts to commercial and recreational fishing, scientific research, and in some cases environmental justice across a suite of development scenarios. Additionally, moderate cumulative impacts are expected to marine mammals and minor cumulative impacts to air quality.

Read the full story at E&E News

Fishermen say Massachusetts, Oregon fail in offshore wind planning

June 9, 2020 — Massachusetts commercial fishing groups objected to a proposed $19 million fund to compensate them for impacts on the industry from the planned Vineyard Wind 804-megawatt offshore wind energy project, saying the plan emerged without adequate input from the fishing community.

“As far as we can tell, this plan was developed by Vineyard Wind through private meetings and consultations with officials from Massachusetts government,” the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership wrote in a May 29 to the state Office of Coastal Zone Management, following an email from state officials announcing the compensation plan. “Massachusetts officials may have had the best intentions for the fishing community, but they are not the fishing community and should not have developed a plan on behalf of the fishing community.”

“The plan dramatically undervalues the fishing industry and dismisses legitimate concerns raised by the fishing community and the National Marine Fisheries Service,” the group added.

According to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, “the Fisheries Mitigation Plan will provide funds to offset economic impacts to Massachusetts fisheries across two separate funds:” $19.18 million to provide compensation for claims by Massachusetts fishing businesses for economic losses during any phase of the Vineyard Wind project, and a $1.75 million “Fisheries Innovation Fund to support programs and projects that support innovative solutions and technology development to ensure safe and profitable fishing continues off the coast of Massachusetts.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

ROSA is Seeking Applications for Advisory Council Members

June 9, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Responsible Offshore Science Alliance (ROSA) is seeking applications from recreational and commercial fishermen to join its Advisory Council, which provides substantive direction and strategic guidance to the alliance.

ROSA is a nonprofit organization that seeks to advance regional research and monitoring of fisheries and offshore wind interactions through collaboration and cooperation. ROSA’s work currently concentrates on the waters from Maine to North Carolina.

The background information and applications are listed below and can be found online. The deadline for applications is July 15, 2020.

Read the full release here

Science Center for Marine Fisheries Funds Over $173,000 in New Research

June 8, 2020 — The following was released by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries:

At its spring meeting, the Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCEMFIS) approved 6 new research projects and awarded $173,547 in funding. Coming as the fishing industry continues to deal with the fallout of the COVID-19 crisis, the projects funded by the Center deal with some of the most economically important issues for the future of the industry.

These projects include efforts to study how offshore windfarms impact marine life; how to improve stock assessments for one of the largest fisheries in the country; and how to better use shellfish byproducts as commercial products. All projects were approved by the SCEMFIS Industry Advisory Board (IAB), which is composed of Center members in the finfish and shellfish industries. The SCEMFIS IAB encourages companies with an interest in promoting sustainability in the industry to consider joining.

SCEMFIS is a member of the National Science Foundation’s Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRC) program, a federal initiative to bring together academic researchers and industry members to fund projects improving our understanding of economically important issues.

The following projects were approved at the spring meeting:

Wind energy development team supporting fisheries – As offshore wind farms continue to expand, they will increasingly interact with critical fish species and ocean habitats. Understanding these interactions and assessing their impacts is essential to future coexistence between offshore wind and fisheries. The project, by Dr. Eric Powell (University of Southern Mississippi), will assemble a wind energy team with diverse areas of expertise to advise SCEMFIS members on potential environmental impacts for offshore development. ($20,200 in funding)
Could federal wind farms influence continental shelf oceanography and alter shellfish larval dispersal? A literature review – With over 1.7 million acres of federal waters under lease for wind energy development, new wind energy structures have a significant potential to interfere with ocean conditions, including in critical areas such as how shellfish larvae are dispersed. The project, by Dr. Daphne Munroe of Rutgers University, will review existing literature to determine how wind energy development has affected different oceanographic conditions, and prepare a report on these findings for the public. ($17,791 in funding)
Developing process and procedures for the refinement of surfclam and ocean quahog shells into calcium carbonate – Calcium carbonate is an important shellfish byproduct, used in animal feed, biomedical products, and other applications. Because of their chemical composition, quahog and surfclam shells are an especially good source of calcium carbonate compared to other shellfish, such as oysters. The project, by Dr. Alireza Abbaspourrad (Cornell University), will develop a process to tailor the carbonate byproduct to its other uses. ($50,000 in funding)
Evaluation the impact of plus group definition on the Atlantic and Gulf Menhaden stock assessments –Atlantic and Gulf menhaden are, by volume, two of the largest fisheries in the U.S. But one major source of uncertainty in its stock assessments are the number of older fish in the population. These fish are inadequately assessed by current surveys. The project, from Drs. Genevieve Nesslage (University of Maryland), Robert Leaf (University of Southern Mississippi), and Amy Schuler (National Marine Fisheries Service), will create a new model to simulate how different levels of these older fish would impact the results and accuracy of the menhaden stock assessments. ($53,414 in funding)
Atlantic menhaden stock review – The project, by Dr. Steve Cadrin (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth), will provide a technical review of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s stock assessment for Atlantic menhaden, as well as provide a new analysis of estimated rates of menhaden natural mortality, and the percentage of the population that is allocated for ecosystem needs. ($3,520 in funding)
Retention of Expertise in SS-III and evaluation of past and predictive modeling of future stock status – Stock assessments for ocean quahog and surfclams rely on a specific modeling tool, the Stock Synthesis V3. The project, from Drs. Eric Powell (University of Southern Mississippi) and Roger Mann (Virginia Institute of Marine Science) will recruit a Ph.D. student to train to use the model, with the goal of maintaining scientific expertise in using and understanding it. ($28,622 in funding)

Responsible Offshore Science Alliance (ROSA) Seeking Advisory Council Applications

June 8, 2020 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The background information and applications are listed below and can be found at https://www.rosascience.org/. The deadline for applications is July 15, 2020.

Equinor Releases Details on New England Offshore Wind Project

June 4, 2020 — Equinor Wind has unveiled the official name of its wind project off the coast of New England, Beacon Wind.

“Beacon conveys a sense of hope and guidance, qualities that we value very highly at Equinor, especially now. Equinor is making substantial progress, even during these challenging times, in strengthening our ability to deliver renewable energy and further advancing our ambitions in the U.S.,” says Siri Espedal Kindem, president of Equinor Wind U.S.

“We are at a pivotal moment in the offshore wind industry and this project builds on the region’s momentum to bring renewable energy to Northeast households. I look forward to advancing Equinor’s position in the U.S. offshore wind industry through the development of Beacon Wind,” adds Kindem.

Equinor is pursuing the development of offshore wind projects on the east and west coasts of the U.S. and is at the forefront of the country’s growing offshore wind industry. Beacon Wind will be a key contributor to Equinor’s position in the U.S. alongside its 816 MW project in New York, Empire Wind.

Read the full story at North American Wind Power

Responsible Offshore Development Alliance Calls for Changes to ‘Broken and Ineffective’ Wind Development Outreach

June 3, 2020 — The following was released by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance:

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) is calling on state and federal regulators to extensively revise their approach to planning offshore wind development off of Oregon, calling the current system “broken and ineffective” for preserving sustainable seafood production. The comments come in a public comment letter submitted by RODA on the engagement plan for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) Oregon Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force.

In the letter, RODA calls for BOEM to develop a new planning and engagement model that brings fisheries stakeholders into the process early, with greater participation from fisheries members on task forces and greater opportunities for public input.

Task forces need to work with the industry identify potential impacts on fishing before any offshore leases are issued. Often input from the fishing industry is sought too late in the process, after leases have been awarded and sites selected.

“Fisheries participants and experts must be wholly integrated into every step of the planning process through true collaboration,” the letter states.

Collaboration with the fishing industry is vital because of the many documented conflicts between fishing and wind energy development. These include potential environmental impacts on marine species and habitats; limiting fishing access; disruptions of scientific surveys; and interactions with protected species such as whales.

RODA is a membership-based coalition of fishing-related companies and associations committed to improving the compatibility of new offshore development with their businesses. RODA’s approximately 170 members represent every Atlantic coastal state from North Carolina to Maine, and Pacific coast members in California, Oregon and Washington.

Read the letter here

Equinor names New England offshore Beacon Wind

June 2, 2020 — Norwegian energy company Equinor has given the name Beacon Wind to a planned offshore wind farm off the US New England coast.

Beacon Wind will be located about 32km south of Massachusetts and 112km east of New York.

Wildlife surveys for the project kicked off last year and this summer more surveys will be undertaken to characterise conditions of the lease area, the company said.

These include looking at the geologic conditions, benthic habitat and checking for the presence of obstructions and sensitive resources.

Equinor Wind said its Boston-based team is actively engaged with commercial fishermen and their representatives to ensure that the development of Beacon Wind coexists successfully with traditional northeast maritime industries.

“Insights and feedback from the fishing industry are critical to the collaborative development of Beacon Wind,” the company said.

Read the full story at ReNews