Saving Seafood

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

NEW JERSEY: Murphy faces blowback over wind power ‘giveaway’ to Danish firm

July 13, 2023 — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is being criticized for doling out generous tax breaks to a Danish-based energy firm seeking to develop offshore wind.

Murphy signed an agreement last Thursday with Ørsted Wind, a Danish firm, granting the company a tax break on one of two energy projects it is developing off the New Jersey coast.

Under the plan, Orsted will be allowed to keep federal tax credits that were supposed to be passed to New Jersey utility ratepayers to offset the potential for higher electricity rates.

Democrats who approved the legislation last week argued the tax relief was needed to help the company deal with inflation and the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full article at The Center Square

NEW JERSEY: Wind power company sues Cape May County over permitting delay

July 12, 2023 — The company building a controversial wind farm off New Jersey’s coast is suing Cape May County officials for not fulfilling permitting requests and following regulator orders it argues has delayed the project.

Ocean Wind 1, owned by Danish-based energy company Ørsted, contends the county, its clerk and its engineer are prolonging the paperwork needed for easements required by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

The officials also are not yet granting road opening permits for work in Ocean City, the suit alleges.

The lawsuit was filed July 3, in the same week the Biden administration approved the wind farm’s construction about 13 nautical miles southeast of Atlantic City.

The wind farm’s builder names the county’s clerk and engineer, Rita Rothberg and Robert Church, respectively. It also names Kevin Lare, the clerk for the Cape May County Board of Commissioners.

Read the full article at The Press of Atlantic City

MASSACHUSETTS: Wind energy impacts subject of upcoming webinar

July 12, 2023 — For those looking to learn more about offshore wind energy’s potential impacts on the waters and communities of Cape Ann, an informational webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, July 12, from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

The webinar, entitled “Gulf of Maine Offshore Wind Energy and Impacts on Ocean Habitat, Fisheries, and Coastal Communities,” is part of a program meant to bring together a range of professional and promote an exchange of information and dialogues with the audience on topics related to renewable energy, ocean ecosystems, and communities along the shore, according to the webinar’s flyer.

Read the full article at Gloucester Daily Times

NOAA scientists say offshore wind fishery surveys won’t fill data gaps

July 11, 2023 — Monitoring plans by federal agencies and offshore wind power developers will not be enough to make up for the disruption that building dozens to hundreds of wind turbines will bring to annual fisheries surveys on the Northeast U.S. continental shelf, according to a recent report by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists.

“We found that project-level monitoring studies as currently designed for the NES (Northeast continental shelf) ecosystem will not yield information that can mitigate impacts to NOAA Fisheries scientific survey time series from offshore wind development,” wrote authors Elizabeth T. Methratta, Andrew Lipsky and Jason M. Boucher of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

With three wind turbine projects now approved by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management – and more in various planning stages from southern New England to the Carolinas – BOEM and NOAA recognized early that constructing wind turbine arrays would force changes on how NOAA conducts its annual at-sea surveys to monitor U.S. fish stocks and other marine resources.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NEW JERSEY: Murphy signs law to save wind farm, touting New Jersey as ‘foundation’ of U.S. wind industry

July 9, 2023 — Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill Thursday to save New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm from financial uncertainty.

The governor held an event in Paulsboro and signed the offshore wind legislation along with two other economic development bills, including one with tax credits for the film industry, to emphasize a narrative about the “21st Century economy” he’s had since taking office.

“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity right now to bring tens of thousands of overwhelmingly union jobs and billions of dollars of investment to our state with offshore wind,” Murphy said. The marine terminal in Paulsboro and the wind port in Salem County, Murphy added, are “literally building the foundation of our nation’s entire wind industry.”

The offshore wind law will allow energy company Ørsted to keep hundreds of millions of dollars in federal tax incentives that the company otherwise would be required to pass along to state utility customers. Without the deal, the company and Murphy administration officials said the wind farm would not be built. In exchange for the relief, Ørsted agreed — and now by law will be obligated — to spend $200 million at the Paulsboro port where Murphy signed the bill.

The bill cleared the Senate and Assembly on the same day as the state budget last week.

Read the full article at Politico

BOEM approves Ocean Wind 1 construction plan off New Jersey

July 6, 2023 — Ørsted’s 1,100-megawatt Ocean Wind 1 project off New Jersey won approval from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Wednesday, days after state legislators racing a budget clock approved channeling additional tax credits to the developer.

BOEM’s sign-off on the Ocean Wind 1 construction and operations plan marks the third approval of a commercial-scale, offshore wind energy project in the United States, following on the Vineyard Wind project off southern Massachusetts and the South Fork Wind project, south of Rhode Island and east of Montauk on the east end of New York’s Long Island.

Ørsted’s New Jersey project will be a first for that state and is a centerpiece for Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration plans for expanding renewable energy sources. Republican state lawmakers have been increasingly opposed amid stiff resistance from their constituents in coastal communities and critics’ warnings that offshore wind will increase consumers’ power costs.

The federal approval came days after the New Jersey state Legislature, under the gun to complete state budget votes by day’s end on June 30, approved bills that will allow Ørsted to use federal tax credits to bolster financing for the project.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NEW JERSEY: US gives go-ahead for Orsted’s New Jersey offshore wind farm to start construction

July 6, 2023 — The federal government gave the go-ahead Wednesday for New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm to begin construction, clearing the way for the first of at least three — and likely many more — such projects in a state trying to become the East Coast leader in wind energy.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved a construction and operations plan for Ocean Wind I, a wind farm to be built by Danish wind energy company Orsted between 13 and 15 miles off the coast of Atlantic City. The wind farm would power 500,000 homes.

Additional approvals from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency still must be obtained, which Orsted estimates will happen by the second quarter of 2024.

Read the full article at WSB-TV