Saving Seafood

Group calls on Maine’s federal reps to oppose offshore drilling along entire Atlantic coast

November 19, 2018 — A small group of environmental activists gathered in Bangor Saturday to call on Maine’s congressional delegates to express more opposition to offshore drilling.

Senator Susan Collins, Senator Angus King, and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree all previously voiced their stances opposing offshore drilling in New England, but the group called on them to prevent the practice along the entire Atlantic Coast.

“What we want is for them to increase their opposition and oppose offshore drilling in the entire Atlantic ocean, not just in New England,” said Sarah Starman, a field organizer with Oceana. “We believe that drilling anywhere will affect everyone because oil spills don’t respect state boundaries.”

Senator Collins and King sent a joint letter to Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke back in January — expressing their stances against drilling in New England.

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree also voiced her opposition directly to the Secretary during an Appropriations Committee meeting in June.

“Countless Maine jobs depend on the health of the ocean. The Maine lobster, aquaculture, and tourism industries are among the many critical industries dependent on Maine’s pristine waters, and even a minor spill could irreparably damage the ecosystem in the Gulf of Maine,” Senator Collins said in a written statement. “That’s why I oppose any effort to open waters off the coast of Maine to offshore drilling, which could negatively affect the health of Maine’s fisheries and other coastal resources, threatening to harm not only the environment but the state’s economy as well.”

Senator King also said during a floor speech in February:

“In Maine…we depend upon the coast,” Senator King said. “Tourism and visitation to our beaches and coastal communities are a billion dollar industry, the largest single employer in our state. So that is an enormous economic engine that is currently working, and running, and powering at least a portion of the economy in our state. And of course, on my tie, I have lobsters. A $1.7 billion a year industry in Maine and it promises to be even stronger as processing is developed. We also have an offshore fishing industry, shrimp, shellfish. It is enormously important. It is part of who we are in the state of Maine.”

Read the full story at News Center Maine

America’s Wind Farms Are Ready to Go It Alone

November 15, 2018 — A coming-of-age moment is bearing down on the U.S. wind power industry, and proponents say it’s ready—well, mostly ready.

For a quarter-century, the industry has been supported by federal tax credits that helped it attract $250 billion in investments and create 100,000 jobs, according to the American Wind Energy Association. That support ends next year, but analysts and executives say the credits have done what they were supposed to do: make the industry competitive.

Established supply chains, taller towers, bigger rotor blades, and the use of artificial intelligence to boost efficiency have made wind power cheaper than coal and on a par with natural gas. And soon enough, offshore wind farms could expand the renewable energy source’s influence beyond rural states such as Texas and Kansas to the high-population corridors along the East and West coasts. “Wind has matured now,” says Chuck Grassley, the Republican senator from Iowa who first championed the tax credits in 1992. “It’s ready to compete.”

Since North America’s first offshore wind farm opened off Rhode Island in late 2016, the industry has secured a dozen offshore leases from the federal government to build similar operations elsewhere. Dominion Energy Inc. got in under the federal tax credit deadline with its plan to build a pilot wind farm off the coast of Virginia Beach by late 2020. On Nov. 2, state regulators approved the plan for a two-turbine farm expected to cost $300 million and generate 12 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 3,000 homes.

Success could help Dominion in its quest to build turbines that would generate 2 gigawatts of power on an adjacent site. “Utilities make 20- and 30-year decisions, and they’ve kind of voted with their pocketbook,” says Chris Brown, president of turbine maker Vestas North America. “We’re ready to compete in a subsidy-free world.”

In 2007 wind was the prevalent renewable energy source in just seven states. By last year that had grown to 16 states, according to a September report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In Kansas, wind generated 36 percent of state power in 2017, putting it just behind coal, at 38 percent. In the first six months of 2018, though, wind jumped ahead, 42 percent to 35 percent, the EIA report showed.

Development of new plants will likely slow without the benefit of the credits, analysts say, but the industry has momentum on its side. “The fact is, there will be a slowdown,” says Declan Flanagan, chief executive officer of renewable power developer Lincoln Clean Energy LLC. “Obviously it’s a value stream that goes away. We’ve got to make it up by competitiveness.”

It won’t be easy. While developers have spent $1.1 trillion globally on new wind farms over the past dozen years, more money is going into solar energy systems these days. And the massive turbines needed to generate gigawatts of power, which can rise 600 feet in the air, have spurred protests both on- and offshore, slowing development. The complaints: The turbines are unsightly, and there are concerns the offshore plants will hurt fishing, a key East Coast industry.

Read the full story at Bloomberg Business Week

BOEM Releases Draft Wind Energy Areas in New York Bight

November 15, 2018 — The following was released by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM):

Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force Meeting on the New York Bight

November 28, 2018
Hotel Pennsylvania
401 Seventh Avenue at 33rd Street
New York, NY 10001

Draft Wind Energy Areas

After reviewing the comments received in response to the Call for Information and Nominations, comments received during stakeholder meetings and general feedback, BOEM has delineated draft Wind Energy Areas in the New York Bight.

What is a Wind Energy Area?

As a reminder, a Wind Energy Area is a portion of the Outer Continental Shelf identified by BOEM for an Environmental Assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Traditionally, BOEM has identified a Wind Energy Area and then offered that entire area for sale as a Lease Area. However, the fact that an area is designated as a Wind Energy Area does not mean that it will necessarily be offered for sale. The proposed area for sale, or Lease Area, will be determined at the Proposed Sale Notice stage.

What do the different colors mean?

The Draft Wind Energy Areas are depicted in two colors, dark green and light green.  The dark green areas are BOEM’s primary recommendations, areas that relative to others with in the Call Areas present the least amount of conflict with a potential offshore wind facility.  Areas in light green are secondary recommendations, which are slightly more conflicted than the dark green areas, and are where BOEM welcomes additional stakeholder perspectives.

Task Force Agenda

Please see a draft task force agenda below.  Note that it is subject to change prior to the meeting date.

New York Bight Task Force Roster (as of November 14, 2018)

If you would like to provide updated contact information to BOEM, please reach out to luke.feinberg@boem.gov.

Read the announcement here

Fishermen divided on plans for more offshore wind

November 13, 2018 — Commercial fishermen and sport fishermen are split over the benefits of offshore wind facilities.

Commercial fishermen say the wind-energy projects planned for southern New England, such as the South Fork Wind Farm, are the latest threats to their income after decades of quotas and regulations.

“I don’t like the idea of the ocean being taken away from me after I’ve thrown so many big-dollar fish back in the water for the last 30 years, praying I’d get it back in the end,” said Dave Aripotch, owner of a 75-foot trawl-fishing boat based in Montauk, N.Y.

In the summer, Aripotch patrols for squid and weakfish in the area where the 15 South Fork wind turbines and others wind projects are planned. He expects the wind facilities and undersea cables will shrink fishing grounds along the Eastern Seaboard.

“If you put 2,000 wind turbines from the Nantucket Shoals to New York City, I’m losing 50 to 60 percent of my fishing grounds,” Aripotch said during a Nov. 8 public hearing at the Narragansett Community Center.

Dave Monti of the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association said the submerged turbine foundations at the Block Island Wind Farm created artificial reefs, boosting fish populations and attracting charter boats like his.

“It’s a very positive thing for recreational fishing,” Monti said. “The Block Island Wind Farm has acted like a fish magnet.”

Offshore wind development also has the support of environmental groups such as the National Wildlife Federation and the Conservation Law Foundation, which view renewable energy as an answer to climate change.

“Offshore wind power really is the kind of game-changing large-scale solution that we need to see move forward, particularly along along the East Coast,” said Amber Hewett, manager of the Atlantic offshore wind energy campaign for the National Wildlife Federation.

Read the full story at National Wind Watch

It’s Official, Orsted Acquires Deepwater Wind

November 12, 2018 — Orsted, Denmark’s largest energy company and the world’s largest offshore wind developer, has completed the acquisition of Deepwater Wind from the D.E. Shaw Group. The $510 million transaction was announced last month.

As a combined organization, Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind becomes the leading American offshore wind platform, with a goal of delivering renewable energy to the eight states on the East Coast from Massachusetts to Virginia that have committed to a combined 10 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030.

The acquisition comes as Deepwater Wind’s proposed South Fork Wind Farm, to be constructed approximately 35 miles from Montauk, is undergoing review by federal and state agencies, and the East Hampton Town Board and trustees ponder whether to grant easements or leases allowing the 15-turbine wind farm’s transmission cable to make landfall at the ocean beach at the end of Beach Lane in Wainscott, the company’s preferred site. From there it would be buried along a route to the Long Island Power Authority substation near Cove Hollow Road in East Hampton.

Read the full story at the East Hampton Star

DON CUDDY: An industry still fishing for answers on offshore wind

November 12, 2018 — Attending the day-long symposium on offshore wind held at the Whaling Museum on October 30 was time well spent. As our region is poised on the brink of this new era there are more questions than answers and the symposium afforded participants a broad overview of its potential development and impact.

There was considerable expertise present. Of particular interest was the experience and counsel shared by a delegation from the UK that included fishermen, regulators and businessmen. The takeaway, for me, was the enormous scale of this enterprise, if fully developed as envisioned, along with the sheer immensity of its component parts. The numbers involved, in financial, engineering and logistical terms, are truly galactic.

Mark O’Reilly, CEO and chairman of Team Humber Marine Alliance hails from Grimsby, which found itself in a position similar to that facing New Bedford now when offshore wind was proposed in that region. The city, an old whaling and fishing port, had fallen on hard times but was favorably located, geographically, to become a hub for offshore wind. Without any experience, the city had to grapple with this new and unknown industry to discover how it might benefit from the opportunity. In Grimsby it has become a success story but some hard lessons were learned and O’Reilly cautioned New Bedford, and everyone else involved, on the dangers of parochialism. With the U.S. government currently offering leases for wind farms off the Atlantic coast from here to Delaware there is burgeoning competition among coastal states to attract developers. But the majority of ports in the sector are simply not large enough, or do not have sufficient land mass available, to accommodate all of the needs of this giant industry. Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut must learn to collaborate, he said. Ports such as Davisville, New London, Brayton Point and New Bedford will all be involved and should present a unified front. O’Reilly suggested that New Bedford’s role in the industry would be in ‘O and M,’ operation and maintenance. However, one surprise that emerged from his account of the Humber experience was the amount of fabrication completed elsewhere. The nacelles came from Cuxhaven in Germany while the towers came from Spain and Vietnam.

From Northern Ireland came a tale of offshore wind and fishing brought by Davey Hill from Kilkeel, a small port suffering because of low fishing quotas. When fishermen viewed the areas mapped out for a wind farm in prime fishing grounds they were aghast but soon realized protest was futile. So Hill and other fishermen looked to take advantage of the situation and formed a successful company, Sea Source Offshore, that provides “guard vessels” to patrol turbine sites. They then used the income to start their own fishing cooperative and acquire a larger offshore fishing vessel.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Governor Cuomo Issues New York’s Large-Scale Offshore Wind Solicitation

November 12, 2018 — Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today issued a comprehensive solicitation seeking 800 megawatts or more of new offshore wind projects for New York. This highly anticipated first offering, issued by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority kicks-off competition for New York State’s first large-scale offshore wind development contracts, an initial step toward its goal of 2,400 megawatts of offshore wind by 2030 to combat climate change. The solicitation accelerates New York’s progress towards Governor Cuomo’s mandate for 50 percent of the state’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2030 and significantly jump starts the emerging offshore wind industry in New York.

“This action is a watershed moment in New York’s renewable energy development efforts as we work to establish a secure, reliable and cost-effective clean energy future,” Governor Cuomo said. “New York will continue to combat climate change, investing in robust offshore wind development and clean energy that provides a path toward a greener and more sustainable future in our state and around the world.”

“This solicitation for offshore wind projects advances our commitment to reach our aggressive clean energy goals,” said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. “We are continuing to advance renewable energy developments across the state to ensure a cleaner and greener environment for future generations. New York is leading the way in our efforts to grow the industry and combat climate change.”

This historic offering marks an important new chapter in New York’s nation-leading offshore wind planning efforts, which have been conducted over three years and have included extensive stakeholder, agency, and public consultation along with detailed technical and financial analysis. These planning efforts provided the basis for New York’s Offshore Wind Master Plan, released in January of 2018, and the Public Service Commission’s July 2018 Order Establishing the State’s Offshore Wind Standard, which established the foundation for this important step forward.

Richard Kauffman, Chairman of Energy and Finance, said, “With this solicitation, New York takes a momentous step toward a clean, renewable energy future. Under Governor Cuomo’s leadership, New York is creating a nation-leading offshore wind industry, bringing high quality jobs and greater economic opportunities for New Yorker’s with a lower costing, cleaner, and a more efficient energy system. New York is ideally positioned to capture this growing technology and demonstrates that investments in clean energy can benefit New Yorkers both economically and environmentally.”

Read the full story at LongIsland.com

Fishermen ask for more time to study wind impact

November 12, 2018 — Fishermen, fish processors and others warned on Thursday that fishing grounds will be lost with the construction of Vineyard Wind, and some expressed doubt that planned UMass Dartmouth research can happen fast enough to document the loss.

“We have this huge area we’re going to develop, and obviously we’ve got a pretty close timeline,” said Ed Barrett, a commercial fisherman from the South Shore. “How are you ever going to even come close to figuring out an impact? … I have zero faith in that.”

UMD’s School for Marine Science and Technology held the meeting to collect fishing industry comments as researchers begin to design monitoring studies that would occur before, during and after construction. Vineyard Wind has hired SMAST to help write a monitoring plan to submit to federal regulators, Professor Steve Cadrin said in an interview prior to the meeting.

Three similar meetings are planned for Rhode Island, Chatham and Martha’s Vineyard.

Katie Almeida, fishery policy analyst for The Town Dock, a squid dealer and processor in Rhode Island, said that for two years, her company has been asking for at least five years of pre-construction fishery monitoring, and the conversation has not gone any further.

“And now we’re down to what, a year?” she said. “How can we get any meaningful science and study done that’s going to actually hold up to any kind of scrutiny for baseline studies?”

People have been asking for a delay, she said.

Cadrin and Professor Kevin Stokesbury hosted the meeting. One of the problems they will face in designing a study, Stokesbury said, is that whatever survey methods they use before construction, they have to be able to use during and after construction, to eliminate variables.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Massachusetts governor urges authorities to reconsider future wind farm locations

November 7, 2018 — Charlie Baker, governor of Massachusetts, US, has urged the federal government to avoid high-priority fishing areas when assigning leases for future wind farms, according to an article originally reported in the New Bedford Standard-Times and sent to Undercurrent News by NGO Saving Seafood.

According to the article, governor Baker wrote to Ryan Zinke, secretary of the interior on Nov. 1, requesting that areas such as the New York Bight, south of Long Island, be exempted from future wind farm leases on the grounds that development could disrupt a multi-million dollar fishery.

“Some of the areas under consideration for leasing represent very productive and high-value grounds for fishermen from Massachusetts and other states,” Baker wrote in the letter.

The areas being evaluated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for a future wind farm are believed to have generated $344 million for the region’s fishing sector from 2012 to 2016, according to statistics from the National Marine Fisheries Service.

According to the article, fishermen and officials from New Bedford, MA, met with BOEM in September, when they expressed their concerns at the new developments. According to one, 40-50% of the scalloping grounds fished by local scallopers would be within the proposed developmental areas.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology Seeks Fisheries Input Via Public Workshops

November 6, 2018 — The following was released by Vineyard Wind:

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) will host four workshops with the region’s fishing industry to identify priorities for assessments of impacts on fisheries and ecological conditions that are associated with offshore wind development. These priorities, which focus on effects before, during and after construction, will be used to aid the design of studies of the Vineyard Wind project, which will be the nation’s first utility-scale offshore wind project.

The SMAST studies, which are part of a collaborative agreement between the school and Vineyard Wind, seek to further public understanding about the effects of offshore wind development and inform future permitting and public policy decisions regarding wind energy facility siting. The fishing industry has raised important questions about the impacts of offshore wind development on the marine environment and on sea life. The comprehensive research effort by SMAST will help establish a robust body of knowledge to benefit the American offshore wind industry and the fishing community long after the first Vineyard Wind project is completed.

Information that is collected by SMAST will be publicly available to help inform future offshore wind permitting and public policy decisions.

SMAST’s scoping workshops for the fishing sector are scheduled as follows:

New Bedford, MA; Thursday, November 8th, 6-8 p.m.
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST)
836 South Rodney French Boulevard

Kingston, RI; Thursday, November 15th, 6-8 p.m.
Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island
East Farm Campus Building 61B URI

Chatham, MA; Monday, November 19th, 6-8 p.m.
Chatham Community Center
792 Main Street

West Tisbury, MA; Monday, December 3rd, 6-8 p.m.
West Tisbury Library
1042 State Road

Vineyard Wind was selected in May 2018 to negotiate long-term contracts with Massachusetts’ electric distribution companies (EDCs) for construction of an 800-megawatt (MW) wind farm 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard; these contracts have now been signed and are pending before the Department of Public Utilities for approval. Vineyard Wind remains on scheduleto begin on-shore construction in 2019 and become operational by 2021.

The Vineyard Wind project continues to move ahead with public and regulatory review through more than 25 federal, state, and local approval processes. These include Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (federal Environmental Impact Statement), the Army Corps of Engineers, the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, Massachusetts DEP and CZM, the Cape Cod Commission and local conservation commissions.