Saving Seafood

Van Drew to Bring Hearing to Wildwood to Have Fishermen’s Voices Heard

September 11, 2019 — At the request of U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (D-2nd), the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will hold an oversight hearing titled, “Examining the Benefits and Potential Challenges for New Jersey’s Growing Offshore Wind Industry,” at Wildwoods Convention Center, 4501 Boardwalk, Wildwood, Sept. 16 at 10 a.m. 

According to a release, “Offshore wind is critical to meeting our clean energy goals to create good paying jobs and to reduce the threat of climate change. However, our fishermen who have long made their living off these waters need to be taken into account and brought to the table so that their livelihoods are not impaired. This exciting new industry can only succeed if it engages our fishermen in good faith and takes their views and concerns seriously,” Van Drew stated. 

Read the full story at the Cape May County Herald

BOEM Delays Vineyard Wind Until 2020

September 10, 2019 — Construction of the country’s first commercial scale offshore wind farm off Massachusetts’ coast will be delayed until at least next year while the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management determines the cumulative effect of construction of multiple wind farms in the region, the agency said in a recent update.

Vineyard Wind, a joint venture of Copenhagen Investment Partners and Avengrid Renewables, is developing the 800-MW, $2.8 billion project. Five other offshore wind projects are planned adjacent to the site.

The developers had expected to begin construction before the end of the year to take advantage of a significant federal tax credit for renewable energy that expires on Dec. 31.

BOEM’s original timeline was to release a final environmental impact statement in July, but that timeline was delayed when BOEM said stakeholders and cooperating federal agencies requested “a more robust cumulative analysis.” It anticipates completing the supplement to its draft EIS “late this year or early next year,” with a public comment period and public meetings to follow.

Read the full story at the Engineering News-Record

Wind turbines and fishing nets fight for offshore space

September 10, 2019 — If Block Island represents the promise of offshore wind, the industry faces a series of challenges lurking just beneath the surface of the waves. Opponents of offshore wind have raised concerns ranging from the turbines’ impact on military radar to worries they could clog shipping channels. Perhaps most dangerous to developers’ ambitions: the growing and increasingly coordinated opposition from the commercial fishing industry.

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt recently delayed Vineyard Wind, an 84-turbine project planned for the shallow waters 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, out of concern for its impact on fishing. The $2.8 billion project had been scheduled to begin construction this fall, putting it on course to become the first large-scale offshore wind development in the United States.

Now its future looks less certain. Bernhardt, a former oil and gas lobbyist who has made deregulation a hallmark of his tenure, has said he will not allow the project to proceed until a cumulative impact study of all the projects planned along the Eastern Seaboard can be completed (Climatewire, Aug. 12).

Read the full story at National Wind Watch

Vineyard Wind Delays Hold Up Other Offshore Projects

September 9, 2019 — The Vineyard Wind project is a major test of the offshore wind industry. The 84-turbine project is hailed as the first large utility-scale power source, after the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm went on-line in December 2016.

As a pilot project, Block Island showed that the United States can profitably produce and deliver offshore wind energy, and create jobs. More than a dozen other proposals have followed, and new federal wind-lease areas are expected along the East Coast.

Vineyard Wind, with 800 megawatts of electric capacity, is presumed to clear the way for more than 10 gigawatts of power coming from the waters off southern New England.

Read the full story at EcoRI

Field Hearing: Examining the Benefits and Potential Challenges for New Jersey’s Growing Offshore Wind Industry

September 9, 2019 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Alan Lowenthal (D-CA):

On Monday, September 16, 2019 at 10:00 A.M., the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources of the US House Committee on Natural Resources will hold an oversight hearing titled, “Examining the Benefits and Potential Challenges for New Jersey’s Growing Offshore Wind Industry.”

This hearing will be held at the Wildwoods Convention Center, 4501 Boardwalk, Wildwood, New Jersey 08260.

For more information, click here

Dems to push for offshore drilling ban when Congress reconvenes

September 6, 2019 — Democrats have listed putting an end to offshore drilling as a top priority once Congress returns next week.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said the chamber would consider blocking offshore drilling in almost all waters surrounding the U.S. when Congress reconvenes next week after the August recess.

“The House will take up three bills that will block oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, and in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. These bills will help protect our environment and the economies of coastal communities that rely on tourism, outdoor recreation, and fishing,” Hoyer wrote in a letter.

Read the full story at The Hill

Coast Guard Rescuers test skills on 5-turbine wind farm at Block Island

September 3, 2019 — Offshore rescuers are sharpening their skills at and near the Block Island Wind Farm, in what are early preparations for the Atlantic Coast’s nascent offshore wind industry.

But a Rhode Island commercial fishing group has said practicing on five turbines, all in a row, can’t be considered a real test for what is expected to be hundreds of wind turbines in grid patterns offshore south of Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the coming decade.

“It’s not really a farm,” said Richard Fuka of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance.

The U.S. Coast Guard has completed a case study on the Jan. 1 sinking of the F/V Mistress 3 or 4 miles from the Block Island wind farm to determine if the presence of the five turbines had any impact on the agency’s search and rescue operation. The results of the study are expected to be shared with the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the key federal permitting agency for the offshore wind industry. The study has not been released publicly yet.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Offshore wind farm stuck in limbo

September 3, 2019 — Plans for the country’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm remain on hold, and state leaders and environmental groups are calling on the Trump administration to speed it along.

Vineyard Wind, a $2.8 billion, 84-turbine wind farm planned 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, was delayed last month by federal regulators amid concerns about the impact on commercial fishermen. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said additional review is needed in light of the concerns raised by “stakeholders and cooperating agencies.”

Vineyard Wind would generate enough energy to power more than 400,000 homes, representing about 20% of electricity consumed in the state, according to its designers. A law signed by Gov. Charlie Baker in 2016 requires the state to have at least 3,200 megawatts of electricity provided by offshore wind by 2035 as part of a shift to renewable energy sources.

Baker, who recently met with Interior Secretary David Bernhardt in Washington, D.C., to push for the project’s movement, told reporters Wednesday that he remains confident about its future. The Republican said he believes the federal government is committed to a March 2020 deadline to wrap up its review.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

NEW JERSEY: Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Mobilizes for Ocean Survey Activities, Announces Kevin Wark as New Liaison to the Fishing Community

September 3, 2019 — The following was released by Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind:

Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, LLC (Atlantic Shores) ocean survey operations are planned to begin the month of September within the Atlantic Shores lease area to inform future turbine development.

Survey operations will encompass 183,000 acres located 8-20 miles off the New Jersey coast between Barnegat Light and Sea Isle City and are expected to conclude in the first half of October. The survey vessel Geosea will be utilized to characterize the seabed, collect samples and determine placement of data collection buoys, which will be deployed later this year to help measure wind, ocean and weather conditions.

Coinciding with the launch of survey operations, Atlantic Shores also announces Kevin Wark as its Fisheries Liaison Officer to help better communicate and collaborate with the recreational and commercial fishing industries as the project progresses.

“Kevin has hands-on knowledge of the maritime community in New Jersey, where he has been a resident his entire life and a fisherman for nearly 40 years,” said Doug Copeland Development Manager of Atlantic Shores. “The trust he has developed locally will be invaluable in fostering open communication and collaboration with these industries as we plan an Atlantic Shores offshore wind farm that works best for New Jersey.”

A third-generation resident of Long Beach Island, Wark began his career operating commercial boats at the age of 17 and has worked extensively in the ocean research field for institutions such as Delaware State University and Rutgers University, including nearly a decade of sturgeon sampling. Last winter he helped consult on the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) strategic plan for offshore wind.

Read the full release here

Ned Lamont, other East Coast governors push feds on wind power

August 30, 2019 — Gov. Ned Lamont and the governors of four other East Coast states are urging federal regulators not to put any additional roadblocks in the way of the country’s nascent offshore wind industry.

The governors of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Virginia joined Lamont in a letter Tuesday to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that said offshore wind power will help strengthen America’s energy independence while creating thousands of jobs.

The group, including Republican Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, said they’re disappointed by a recent decision to delay final permitting of the planned 84-turbine Vineyard Wind project.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Hartford Courant