Saving Seafood

NEW JERSEY: Four Congressmen Strongly Criticize Plans for Offshore Wind Projects

March 19, 2023 — Four congressmen and a panel of expert witnesses denounced plans for a series of offshore wind energy projects as a mass “industrialization” of the ocean that will cause environmental harm and could seriously damage the Jersey Shore’s tourism industry.

The congressional hearing Thursday at the Wildwoods Convention Center was packed with an overflow crowd of about 450 people, while dozens of others were not allowed to enter the auditorium because of crowd restrictions.

“Let us in. Let us in,” chanted the people who were forced to stand outside while the hearing got underway.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who headed the hearing, vowed that President Joe Biden and Gov. Phil Murphy’s Democratic administrations will face stiff opposition if they continue to support the development of wind farms off New Jersey and other East Coast states.

“This is not the last hearing, I tell you. We are not giving up on this,” said Van Drew, the Republican New Jersey congressman whose district includes the shore communities in Atlantic and Cape May counties.

Read the full article at OCNJDaily

NEW JERSEY: ‘No credible evidence’ that offshore wind activity is killing whales, state officials say

March 18, 2023 — The state’s Department of Environmental Protection, which has been quiet publicly on the recent spate of whale deaths, said Wednesday that it’s “aware of no credible evidence that offshore wind-related survey activities could cause whale mortality.”

“While DEP has no reason to conclude that whale mortality is attributable to offshore wind-related activities, DEP will continue to monitor,” the statement said.

The DEP’s statement came the day before two members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) and Chris Smith (R-NJ), and a member of Maryland’s congressional delegation, Rep. Andy Harris (D- MD), are to host a hearing titled “An Examination into Offshore Wind Industrialization” at the Wildwood Convention Center. The hearing is to gather testimony from local experts and stakeholders affected by offshore wind development along the East Coast.

Read the full article at app.

East Coast congressmen seek NOAA response on scientists’ offshore wind advice

March 16, 2023 — Four East Coast congressmen asked top Biden administration officials how their agencies responded to a May 2022 scientific recommendation for wider buffer areas around offshore wind projects to protect endangered whales.

In a joint letter Tuesday Reps. Jeff Van Drew and Chris Smith, both R-NJ, Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Andy Harris, R-Md., sought answers from leadership of the Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

The request announced by Van Drew is a scene-setter for the southern New Jersey congressman’s March 16 public hearing in Wildwood, N.J., billed by Van Drew’s office as “an examination into offshore wind industrialization.”

It could be the first of Congressional hearings by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives into how the Biden administration is permitting offshore wind developments.

“There have been more than twenty whale deaths in just the past three months, an unprecedented number, yet this administration does not bat an eye,” Van Drew said Tuesday. “Despite calls for investigations as to why endangered whales keep washing up on our shores, this administration instead has decided to expand offshore wind development, allocating $60 million for projects in President Biden’s budget proposal.”

Offshore wind critics in Van Drew’s New Jersey coastal district have pointed to this winter’s strandings of humpback whales – a resurgent species along the Atlantic coast, unlike the highly endangered right whales – in demanding a moratorium on surveys to plan offshore wind projects off New Jersey.

They contend noise from geotechnical survey vessels may have disoriented the whales before their deaths, several determined by necropsy to have been caused by vessel strikes. NOAA officials reject those claims, saying the humpback strandings are part of a larger “unusual mortality event” that has been tracked since 2016.

So far this winter’s toll has included one right whale, a 20-year-old male washed up in Virginia, the apparent victim of a vessel strike.

The congressmen’s letter focuses on a May 2022 letter to BOEM from Sean Hayes, chief of protected species for NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

Read the full release at the National Fisherman

Van Drew, other Congress members call for answers on offshore wind and whales

March 15, 2023 — Two New Jersey congressmen, together representing a significant stretch of the New Jersey coastline, sent a letter Tuesday to Biden administration officials asking what has been done to reduce the potential harm to whales and other marine life from offshore wind projects.

“Offshore wind development and deployment stands to be a consequential national undertaking, which is why our approach should be done correctly the first time, with full consideration taken in order to mitigate negative impacts on marine species such as the North Atlantic right whale,” reads the letter, signed by U.S. Reps. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, and Chris Smith, R-4th, along with Reps. Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican, and Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine.

The new letter cites a May 2022 internal federal letter raising concerns about the potential impact of wind farms on right whales, an extremely endangered whale.

Read the full article at the Press of Atlantic City

Ørsted, Eversource propose Revolution Wind 2 project for Rhode Island

March 14, 2023 — Offshore wind partners Ørsted and Eversource submitted a proposal for an 884-megawatt project called Revolution Wind 2 in response to Rhode Island’s newest wind power solicitation, promising “unprecedented investments in port improvements and shipbuilding.”

“Ørsted and Eversource are leading the buildout of a homegrown American offshore wind industry, and Revolution Wind 2 will further advance the state’s leadership position in this growing green jobs sector,” the companies said in announcing their proposal Monday.

Revolution Wind 2 would be a second phase in the developers’ plans for their federal wind energy lease area, on a tract south of the current Revolution Wind project area that starts about 18 miles south of Point Judith, R.I.

With the 2016 installation of five wind turbines off Block Island in 2016, Rhode Island became the first base for the U.S. offshore wind industry. The 30 MW Block Island Wind Farm, built by start-up Deepwater Wind and later acquired by Ørsted, has had its share of troubles, ranging from erosion exposing sea floor cables to turbine outages. But it played a big role in establishing Rhode Island as a base for future utility-scale projects off southern New England.

Read the full article at Workboat

Pacific fishery council calls for new start to offshore wind planning

March 13, 2023 — Proposed offshore wind energy areas off the Oregon coast must be set aside and the planning process started anew, using more planning tools “to minimize siting impacts to fisheries and ecosystem resources,” according to the Pacific Fishery Management Council.

At its meeting in Seattle, the council voted Thursday to recommend the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management do a complete reset on outlining “call areas” off the Oregon coast, an early step in planning for future wind power leases to gauge potential developers’ interest.

A motion approved by the council calls for rescinding the Brookings and Coos Bay call areas previously outlined by BOEM. The council further “requests that BOEM restart the process to identify call areas and consider all water off Oregon from 12 miles and beyond, including waters that are greater than 1,300 meters in water depth, and using marine spatial planning tools to minimize siting impacts to fisheries and ecosystem resources.

“Exclude from further consideration all offshore banks and seamounts and require an adequate buffer zone surrounding them as determined by collaborative work” among the council and state and federal agencies.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NEW JERSEY: New Jersey opens third offshore wind solicitation, amid pressure for moratorium

March 8, 2023 — New Jersey energy officials moved to open a third round of solicitations from offshore wind energy companies that could double the state’s already aggressive wind power goals.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities voted Monday to open applications for between 1.2 gigawatts and 4 GW of capacity, on top of 3.75 GW already in the pipeline set by Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration.

“Today marks a pivotal next step toward accomplishment of our offshore wind development goals,” according to a statement from Murphy, who has talked of building out to 11 GW of potential power offshore – rivaling the goals of neighboring New York State.

“Offshore wind constitutes a crucial component of our journey to 100 percent clean energy by 2035, a benchmark that solidifies our position at the national forefront of climate action,” said Murphy. His administration is building infrastructure initiatives like the New Jersey Wind Port near the mouth of the Delaware River to position New Jersey as a hub for building projects off the Mid-Atlantic coast.

The solicitation comes as the Murphy administration and federal agencies are under fire from offshore wind critics, who contend a series of whale strandings on the state’s beaches require a pause in offshore wind geotechnical surveys using sonar and seafloor drilling.

The latest whale deaths include a whale reported this week on Bethany Beach, N.J. on Delaware Bay, and a humpback at Seaside Park, N.J., that investigators say showed evidence of a fractured skull, likely from a vessel propeller.

The Ocean Wind and Atlantic Shores turbine arrays planned off New Jersey already had local opposition from residents and businesses in beachside towns. The whale deaths since December have energized their effort, and generated publicity from Fox News and other conservative commentators who have picked up the critics’ narrative that survey noise could have disoriented the whales’ sense of hearing.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Northern Wind expanding its lobster traceability with right whales in mind

March 8, 2023 — New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based Northern Wind is expanding its scallop traceability program into its lobster supply, with an aim of developing the technology to help reduce the risk of North Atlantic right whale entanglements.

Northern Wind finalized a partnership with traceability technology company Legit Fish in 2021, enabling full-chain of its North Atlantic scallop supply. That technology, which traces product origin, harvest area, and landing-date – verifiable to government records – will now be utilized in the company’s lobster supply.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

New Jersey seeks more offshore wind projects; foes want halt

March 7, 2023 — New Jersey utility regulators are seeking additional offshore wind farm projects to generate electricity, even as opponents of wind power want to pause or halt the projects.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved a third solicitation of offshore wind projects Monday; three wind farms have already been approved for the waters off southern New Jersey.

“Today marks a pivotal next step toward accomplishment of our offshore wind development goals,” said Gov. Phil Murphy. “Offshore wind constitutes a crucial component of our journey to 100% clean energy by 2035, a benchmark that solidifies our position at the national forefront of climate action. In addition to safeguarding our communities from the worsening impacts of climate change, this emerging industry will generate thousands of good-paying jobs and economic opportunity across the state.”

The Democratic governor has set a goal of having 11 gigawatts of offshore wind energy in New Jersey by 2040, which could power 3.2 million homes.

Read the full article at the Associated Press 

As More Dead Whales Wash Ashore in NJ and NY, Research Into East Coast Wind Farms Eyed

March 6, 2023 — As dead whales continue to wash ashore on the East Coast — and particularly the Jersey Shore — officials and academics are planning a wide array of monitoring and research aimed at preventing or minimizing harm to whales and other marine life during construction and operation of offshore wind farms.

A dead whale washed ashore Thursday in New Jersey, a day after another was found in New York amid a continuing wave of whale deaths along the East Coast. Twenty-five of the animals have died since Dec. 1, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

A research and monitoring initiative announced last year by New Jersey environmental and utility regulators is launching numerous projects to establish a baseline of current ocean conditions, with plans for monitoring while wind farms are built and operated.

Read the full article at NY4