Saving Seafood

Maine compromise prohibits new offshore wind development in state waters

July 13, 2021 — Maine Gov. Janet Mills on July 7 signed into law a new measure that prohibits new offshore wind projects in state waters, in a compromise aimed at protecting Maine’s commercial lobster and recreational fisheries, while potentially allowing future wind power development in federal waters farther offshore.

Mills in June had signed a bill to plan for what would be the first U.S. research area for floating offshore wind in Gulf of Maine federal waters. But the state’s politically and culturally influential fishing industry has been deeply opposed to allowing any wind turbines off Maine, since Mills in November 2020 announced state government’s intention to seek a federal lease for 16 square miles for an array of up to a dozen floating turbines.

The ensuing debate led in June to a compromise in the Maine Legislature, where Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, a Winter Harbor lobsterman, introduced a measure that would ban wind development in state waters and prohibit issuing state permits for cables and other supporting infrastructure to connect projects in federal waters to Maine.

Lawmakers were also considering a bill setting up Mills’ proposal to impose a 10-year ban in state waters but allow the Aqua Ventus demonstration project near Monhegan to proceed with other research projects and issue permits for federal waters projects.

Final amendments reached a bipartisan compromise that sets up a new Offshore Wind Research Consortium that includes representation from Maine fishermen.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Maine narrows location for proposed offshore wind turbines

July 13, 2021 — After reviewing potential impact to fisheries, marine wildlife and navigation within 770 square miles of ocean off southern Maine, the Governor’s Energy Office is now focusing on a 16-square-mile area to site up to 12 floating wind-power turbines.

The preferred site for the research array is an L-shaped swath of the Gulf of Maine, about 25 miles south of Muscongus Bay, according to a report issued Monday.

The office is inviting comments on the site through July 30 to inform its final siting decision, which will be included in a federal lease application to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior that’s responsible for managing development in some offshore waters.

The application will be the first step in a subsequent multiyear permitting process by the bureau, which includes further impact studies and opportunities for public input, according to a news release.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Empire Wind plans power delivery to New York in 2025

July 13, 2021 — Electricity from the Equinor and BP Empire Wind project should start coming into New York’s power grid in 2025, according to updated plans the joint venture has filed with the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

The first offshore wind energy project laid out for the New York Bight is a 79,350-acre tract, shaped like a slice of pizza wedged between two of the ship traffic separation lanes in the New York Harbor approaches.

With the enormous volume of vessel traffic in the region – container vessels at the port of New York and New Jersey, coastwise tug and barge tows, plus commercial and recreational fishing fleets – navigation has been the foremost issue since New York state energy planners first began looking to ocean wind as a power source.

“There is certainly a concern about setback” from the shipping traffic lanes, said Lucas Feinberg, a project manager with BOEM, during a July 8 online virtual public scoping session hosted by the agency.

Early on, planners agreed to a 1-nautical mile setback along the Empire Wind frontage along the shipping lanes. Formally known on charts as traffic separation schemes, the lanes fan out from the New York Harbor entrance at Ambrose Light.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NEFMC Receives Updates on Offshore Wind, Atlantic Herring, EBFM; Approves 2021-2025 Research Priorities

July 9, 2021 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council met June 22-24, 2021 by webinar. In addition to the actions the Council took on scallops, groundfish, and skates, here are other important highlights.

Habitat/Offshore Wind – The Council received offshore wind presentations from three different agencies.

  • The Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) covered how NOAA Fisheries cooperates and coordinates with other agencies on wind issues, develops checklists to help guide analyses of socio-economic impacts on fishing communities, as well as Endangered Species Act biological assessments and other analyses, conducts essential fish habitat (EFH) consultations and EFH mapping, and more;
  • The Northeast Fisheries Science Center focused on offshore wind impacts on federal scientific surveys and the associated implications; and
  • The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) provided a broad overview of offshore wind energy projects throughout the Atlantic region.

Read the full release here

Wind power expansion in Maryland would power more than 250,000 Delmarva homes, per Ørsted

July 8, 2021 — The developer of a wind farm near Ocean City says it has submitted a bid to the Maryland Public Service Commission for a new Round 2 offshore wind project.

Ørsted said in a release that its Skipjack Wind 2 project for up to 760 megawatts will power more than  250,000 Delmarva homes.

It said the bid is in response to the Maryland commission’s call for proposals for Round 2 offshore wind projects, through which the commission can award at least 1,200 megawatts of Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Credits.

Ørsted is currently developing Skipjack Wind 1, a 120-megawatt offshore wind farm off the coast of Ocean City.

Read the full story at the Salisbury Daily Times

Orsted submits bid to develop offshore windfarm in Maryland

July 8, 2021 — Denmark’s wind farm developer Orsted (ORSTED.CO) on Wednesday said it had submitted a bid to develop the Skipjack Wind 2 offshore wind farm in the state of Maryland in the United States.

The world’s largest offshore wind farm developer, which is already developing the 120-MW Skipjack Wind Farm 1 off the Maryland-Delaware coast, said the project could be up to 760 megawatts in size.

In the bidding round, at least 1,200-MW of offshore wind energy certificates can be awarded, Orsted said.

Read the full story at Reuters

MAINE: Mills signs bill that prohibits new offshore wind projects in state waters

July 8, 2021 — Gov. Janet Mills has signed a bill that prohibits new offshore wind projects in state waters, preserving waters closest to shore for recreation and fishing.

The bill, LD 1619, was sponsored by State Sen. Mark Lawrence, D-Kittery, was passed in the House and Senate on June 30 as an emergency measure and sent to the governor’s desk.

The new law comes after another bill, LD 336, she recently signed that created a first-of-its-kind research area for floating offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine. Mills said in a release she applauds the Legislature for their “strong bipartisan support” to grow a global offshore wind industry in Maine, “which will create good-paying jobs for Maine people, support Maine’s transition to 100 percent renewable energy, and help fight climate change.”

Read the full story at News Center Maine

Maine prohibiting offshore wind projects in state waters

July 8, 2021 — New offshore wind projects will be prohibited from Maine state waters reserved for recreation and fishing under a new measure signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Janet Mills (D).

The bill was prompted by concerns from members of the commercial fishing industry on how they will be impacted by the state’s investment in research and construction of offshore wind farms.

According to the governor’s office, up to 75 percent of Maine’s commercial lobster harvesting occurs in state waters.

The protection of state waters comes after Mills signed into law last month legislation advancing the creation of the country’s first research area for offshore wind, which is set to be constructed in federal waters of the Gulf of Maine.

Read the full story at The Hill

Is offshore wind for the birds?

July 7, 2021 — The northbound spring migration of shorebirds through the New Jersey coast raises an obvious question: What happens if there are 850-foot-tall wind turbines spinning in their flyway between South America and Canada?

The prospect of dozens, perhaps hundreds of wind turbines on the East Coast outer continental shelf raises questions of how those structures may affect the red knot, considered a threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Developers Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind LLC engaged one of the world’s top experts to find out.

“The birds jump off from Cape Cod, Brigantine, Stone Harbor,” said Larry Niles, ticking off coastal Massachusetts and New Jersey feeding grounds for the red knots. “We know the birds are going through the wind (power) areas.”

I met Niles years ago when he was chief of New Jersey’s Endangered and Non-Game Species Program and started the Delaware Bay Shorebird Project, now in its 25th year of monitoring the migration. Today he has a consulting firm, Wildlife Restoration Partners, with years of experience assessing the health of red knots with other shorebirds and working on wind power studies.

Read the full story at WorkBoat

Fishing Industry Feels Stranded As Offshore Wind Gathers Momentum

July 6, 2021 — On a clear morning in early June, cotton sacks filled with shucked scallops hit the scale at Gambardella’s dockside warehouse in Stonington, Connecticut. They’re being offloaded from the Furious, a scallop boat just back from a 12-day trip.

Owner and longtime fisherman Joe Gilbert runs four scallop boats out of this dock. Up in the wheelhouse of the Furious, he indicated on a chart where in the future, this same trip might be a lot more difficult to navigate.

“This entire area here is slated to be a wind farm,” he said. “It’s an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.”

In its pursuit of green energy, the Biden administration has given strong backing to the nascent offshore wind industry in the U.S. While Europe has 20 years of experience developing offshore wind, it’s relatively new in North America.

Last month saw the final approval for the very first commercial-scale project, Vineyard Wind, off the coast of Massachusetts — just one of 14 projects being considered off the Atlantic coast.

But these aren’t empty seas. Plenty of other ocean users have concerns about the massive steel turbines being erected offshore, not least commercial fishing, which is a multimillion-dollar industry in New England.

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance has taken the lead in advocating for the fishing industry. Its major concern is that fishing vessels could strike one of the massive wind farm turbines in bad weather. In addition, the spinning blades interfere with the radar vessels use to find their catch. And fishermen like Gilbert worry that the structures will alter the ocean ecosystem as they change current patterns and cause formerly distinct layers of water to mix.

“We’re racing forward without the proper science to evaluate if this is good or if this is bad,” said Gilbert.

Read the full story at WNPR