Saving Seafood

RHODE ISLAND: Rhode Island Energy says it won’t move forward on offshore wind energy bid

July 20, 2023 — Rhode Island Energy says it won’t move forward on a power-purchase agreement for a joint Ørsted and Eversource proposal to build a major offshore wind project in the waters off Rhode Island, in part because it would be too expensive for customers.

The utility made the announcement Tuesday. It found that the proposal, called Revolution Wind 2, didn’t meet all the requirements under state law, including a requirement “to reduce energy costs.”

“We recognize some will be disappointed that we didn’t choose to move forward on negotiating this PPA, but that doesn’t mean we are abandoning our commitment to offshore wind in Rhode Island,” Dave Bonenberger, president of Rhode Island Energy, said in announcing the decision Tuesday. “In fact, we are already in discussions with state and regional leaders about new opportunities to bring more offshore wind to the state, which we hope to progress in the coming months.”

Read the full article at Boston Globe

RHODE ISLAND: Climate change and other offshore wind farms are already hurting R.I. fishermen

July 18, 2023 — Rhode Island fishermen warned for years that offshore wind farms will hurt their livelihoods. In the case of one project planned off Rhode Island’s coast, they might be right.

Indeed, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management concluded in a report published Monday that the Revolution Wind Farm will have a “major adverse impact” on some commercial and for-hire recreational fishing activities.

The caveat: The same consequences are likely even if the wind farm planned off Rhode Island Sound never gets built, thanks to climate change and other offshore wind projects that are already causing major disruptions to species’ survival, boat traffic and more.

Any major environmental impacts resulting from the Revolution Wind Farm would have happened anyway, according to the 2,800-page environmental assessment. For project partners and advocates, the assessment was cause for celebration, marking what many consider to be the clearance of a major hurdle in the long and complicated federal approval process for ocean development.

“Revolution Wind is now one huge step closer to delivering renewable energy and significant economic benefits to Rhode Island and Connecticut,” David Hardy, group executive vice president and CEO of Orsted Americas, said in a statement. “This major milestone keeps Revolution Wind on-track to complete environmental review and obtain approval by later this summer, with construction activities ramping up soon after. We’re ready to get to work to help Rhode Island and Connecticut expand their blue economies and meet their ambitious clean energy goals.”

Gov. Dan McKee also touted the significance of the report in the context of the state’s aggressive decarbonization mandates, which rely heavily on wind-powered energy to achieve.

Read the full article at Rhode Island Current

Environmental review puts Revolution Wind on the verge of federal approval

July 18, 2023 — A 4,928-page federal environmental review published Monday identifies the commercial fishing industry as a major stakeholder that would be affected by the construction of the proposed Revolution Wind offshore wind farm.

The report by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management states that, on average, about 290 commercial fishing boats visit the site of the proposed project each year, catching about $1 million worth of seafood there. By revenue, the area’s most lucrative species are lobsters, scallops, monkfish and squid. By poundage, the most prevalent species are skates and herring.

The proposed path of the undersea electric cable that would deliver power onshore could also impact fishermen on a smaller scale, according to the environmental review. The statement estimates about $360,000 of seafood is caught annually by commercial fishermen along the cable’s path.

In a press release announcing the release of the report, BOEM said it plans to issue a final decision on whether to approve Revolution Wind this summer.

Connecticut and Rhode Island have already inked power purchase agreements with the project’s developer, Orsted, a multinational energy company headquartered in Denmark. Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee called the completion of Revolution Wind’s environmental review a “major milestone” that brings the state closer to achieving its clean energy goals.

Read the full article at The Publics Radio

NEW JERSEY: Protesters Link Hands on Beach to Denounce Offshore Wind Farms

July 17, 2023 — Max Maher had no intention of going to an offshore wind farm protest in Ocean City on Saturday. But when the Johnstown, Pa., teenager read a pamphlet handed to her on the Boardwalk warning about what could happen if a wind farm is built off the South Jersey coast, she felt she had to go.

“I came for the weekend to see my friends. I’m not a huge beachgoer, but when I read that the wind farm could destroy the marine life and the environment, I was angry,” the 16-year-old said. “I wanted to do my part.”

Opponents of a proposed wind energy farm off the South Jersey coast joined hands and formed a human chain symbolizing their fight against a project they believe will cause harm to the shore’s economy and the environment. Dubbed “Hands Across The Beaches,” the protest, organized by Protect Our Coast NJ, a grassroots organization, brought out people of all ages to take a stand.

They stood together to send a message to the Danish energy company Orsted that they do not want the project, which would entail 98 towering turbines in the waters 15 miles off the coast from Atlantic City to Stone Harbor.

Read the full article at OCNJDaily

Budding U.S. offshore wind industry facing rough seas

July 17, 2023 — Just as the U.S. is plunging into the deep end of offshore wind energy development, the nascent domestic industry is facing major supply chain problems, surging costs, permitting delays, and other headwinds that could affect the aggressive installation timelines state and federal governments have targeted.

Those obstacles, chiefly triggered by the pandemic, inflation, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, should prompt states to more closely collaborate on workforce development, transmission planning, building a domestic supply chain, and other areas where they can work together to help keep costs down, said several panelists at an industry conference in Boston this week.

“It’s challenging,” said Tristan Grimbert, president and CEO of EDF Renewables, which is part of a joint venture with Shell New Energies to develop an offshore wind lease area off the coast of New Jersey. “It requires a lot of things to go right. It does create some costs because you have to build a supply chain from zero. … It’s a pretty ambitious thing that the U.S. is doing. Five years ago there was no offshore at all. Now you’re talking about dozens of projects that are ongoing.”

Read the full article at the New Hampshire Bulletin 

147-turbine offshore wind project suffers another setback

July 16, 2023 — A significant Massachusetts offshore energy project faces additional headwinds following a decision Thursday by a Rhode Island state agency to not issue an approval for power transmission lines to run from the turbine farm through Ocean State waters.

SouthCoast Wind Energy LLC, formerly known as Mayflower Wind Energy LLC, wants to develop an offshore lease area in federal waters about 30 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. The company intends to build 147 giant turbines that will generate more than 2,400 megawatts of power for Massachusetts. SouthCoast is a joint venture comprised of Shell Renewables and Energy Solutions and Engie and EDP Renewables.

SouthCoast had proposed two transmission cable corridors to run from the turbines off the Vineyard. One of the cable corridors runs through Rhode Island waters before making landfall in Massachusetts at Falmouth and Brayton Point, while the other corridor is Massachusetts waters.

SouthCoast needed approval from the R.I. Energy Facility Siting Board before it could proceed with construction of the transmission cable corridor that would snake through Rhode Island.

Read the full article at PBN

Lawsuits could delay the start of New Jersey’s first offshore wind power project

July 13, 2023 — A tangle of litigation could delay the start of New Jersey’s first offshore wind energy project, as developer Orsted is suing governments to stop delaying necessary permits, and citizens groups try to halt the project altogether.

The latest in a fast-growing thicket of litigation came July 3 when Danish wind power developer Orsted sued Cape May County, alleging the government is dragging its feet in issuing a road permit needed to do test work along the route a power cable would run.

The company is also suing the city of Ocean City over similar delays to the project, which the federal government has endorsed as a significant piece in the White House’s efforts to “jump-start the offshore wind industry across the country,” in order to tackle the catastrophic effects of climate change.

Read the full article at the Associated Press 

MASSACHUSETTS: Aquinnah negotiating offshore wind impact fees

July 13, 2023 — Aquinnah is in negotiations with the developers of several offshore wind farms to help mitigate the impacts that hundreds of turbines will have on the view from the Aquinnah Cliffs.

The town has already reached agreements with some developers, but others, like Ørsted, could compensate the town with significant impact fees.

Aquinnah climate and energy committee member Bill Lake told town officials this week that the Natural Historic Preservation Act requires federal and federally authorized developers of projects that impact places within the National Register of Historic Places to provide some form of mitigation.

In Aquinnah’s case, funding could go to landmarks like the Gay Head Lighthouse and the Aquinnah Cliffs, the shops, and the Vanderhoop Homestead. In particular, the lighthouse has been eyed to be a major beneficiary of monetary compensation for needed repairs.

Read the full article at MV Times

Warmer ocean temperatures increase risk of salmon bycatch in Pacific hake fishery

July 13, 2023 — Rates of Chinook salmon bycatch in the Pacific hake fishery rise during years when ocean temperatures are warmer, a signal that climate change and increased frequency of marine heatwaves could lead to higher bycatch rates, new research indicates.

During years when  were higher, including during a marine heatwave, Chinook  were more likely to overlap with the Pacific hake and raise the risk of bycatch as they sought refuge from higher temperatures.

The findings, based on 20 years of bycatch data and ocean temperature records, provide new insight into the ecological mechanisms that underlie bycatch, which is the incidental capture of a non-targeted species, said the study’s lead author, Megan Sabal.

“The impact of ocean warming on bycatch has potential cultural, economic and ecological consequences, as the hake and salmon fisheries are each worth millions of dollars and salmon are critical to both Indigenous tribes’ cultural heritage and healthy ecosystems,” said Sabal, who worked on the project as a postdoctoral scholar at Oregon State University.

Pacific hake, also known as Pacific whiting, is the largest commercial fishery by tonnage on the U.S. West Coast. The rate is low but bycatch remains a concern for the Chinook salmon population, said Michael Banks, a marine fisheries genomics, conservation and behavior professor at Oregon State University and a co-author of the study.

“The hake fishing industry is very sensitive to the impacts of bycatch on salmon and has been diligent in reducing it, but changing  might become an increasing issue,” he said.

The research was just published in the journal Fish and Fisheries.

Pacific hake school in midwater depths off the West Coast from southern Baja California to the Gulf of Alaska. Hake is commonly used in surimi, a type of minced fish used to make imitation crab.

Read the full article at PHYS.org

NEW JERSEY: LBI Towns Voice Offshore Wind Opposition

July 14, 2023 — The municipalities of Long Beach Island are voicing their opposition of offshore wind development and are preparing to take legal action if need be, according to a letter filed with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP).

In a joint statement with law firm Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, which filed the letter on behalf of all of LBI’s municipalities regarding the proposed Atlantic Shores application calling for a federal consistency certification that the offshore wind project is consistent with New Jersey’s coastal policies.

Frank Huttle, representing the municipalities along with Pashman Stein Chair and Managing Partner Michael S. Stein, said that the project does not comply with NJDEP’s coastal zone management regulations. The applicant should instead “seek approval of a project in a designated lease area further offshore that would have far fewer impacts on the state’s coastal resources and economy,” Huttle said.

Read the full article at the Patch