Saving Seafood

Marine commission: Whale deaths not linked to wind prep work

February 23, 2023 — An independent scientific agency that advises the federal government on policies that could impact marine mammals said there is no evidence linking site preparation work for offshore wind farms with a number of whale deaths along the U.S. East Coast.

In a statement released Tuesday, the Marine Mammal Commission became the third federal agency to reject a link between the deaths and the offshore wind energy industry, despite a growing narrative among offshore wind opponents that probing the ocean floor to prepare for wind turbine projects is killing whales.

Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said there is no evidence linking offshore wind development with whale deaths.

The commission said 16 humpback whales and at least one critically endangered North Atlantic right whale have washed ashore dead on the East Coast this winter.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

Feds slash Gulf’s first wind farm areas to make room for drilling, shipping, fishing

February 23, 2023 — The Gulf of Mexico’s first slate of offshore wind farms will have much less space than the federal government proposed late last year.

A new wind energy lease sale plan released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management slashes the Gulf’s offshore wind energy development areas by two-thirds, potentially reducing the amount of jobs and clean energy the region’s leaders had hoped wind farms would generate in the coming years. BOEM’s decision to cut the size of wind energy areas is aimed at easing potential conflicts with the Gulf’s many other users, including the oil and gas industry, shipping companies and the military.

The new boundaries include a 102,000-acre area south of Lake Charles, and two areas near Galveston, Texas that will likely be trimmed to one zone stretching across about 100,000 acres. The Gulf’s total combined area will likely be just under 200,000 acres, according BOEM officials. That’s a substantial reduction from the 682,000 acres BOEM proposed in October.

It’s unclear how much the smaller areas may dampen the prospects for offshore wind development, which has been promoted as a potent force for job creation and clean energy in a region with deep but fading ties to the oil and gas industry.

BOEM had estimated the larger, 682,000-acre area could generate power for almost 3 million homes or enough electricity for all the residents of Houston, New Orleans and Baton Rouge. On Wednesday, BOEM cut its estimate down to 1.3 million homes, but that number could be cut again after the two Galveston zones are reduced to a single area.

Federal agency says no evidence offshore wind activity responsible for whale deaths

February 23, 2023 — In the latest jabs in the public debate over recent whale deaths along the Atlantic Coast, an independent government agency tasked by the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act to protect marine mammals, said Tuesday that offshore wind activities aren’t responsible for the recent spate of whale deaths here and elsewhere on the East Coast.

Eight whales have washed ashore dead in New Jersey since Dec. 1, while 23 have been spotted up and down the Atlantic Coast, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Marine Mammal Commission said the deaths are part of the Humpback Whale Unusual Mortality Event (UME) declared by the National Marine Fisheries Service that began in 2016.

“Although these strandings have generated media interest and public scrutiny, humpback whale strandings are not new nor are they unique to the U.S. Atlantic coast. In fact, ten or more humpback whales have stranded each year during the UME, with a high of 34 in 2017,” the commission said.

Read the full article at app.

New York’s Wind Power Future Is Taking Shape. In Rhode Island.

February 22, 2023 — When Gov. Kathy Hochul laid out her plan for accelerating the development of New York’s offshore wind industry a year ago, she promised thousands of jobs for state residents.

Today, New York’s first wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean is under construction. Crews in hard hats are assembling platforms for giant turbines and building boats that will ferry technicians onto the water to ensure the massive blades keep rotating.

But the work is not being done in New York. It is happening more than 150 miles away in Rhode Island.

States and cities all along the East Coast are vying with New York to be hubs for the fast-growing business of harnessing wind power offshore. But Rhode Island took the lead by building the first offshore wind farm in the United States several years ago. Centrally located among projects planned from New York to Massachusetts, the nation’s smallest state has held on to many of the jobs and economic benefits that go with being first.

Read the full article at The New York Times

Congressional critics plan legislation, hearings on offshore wind

February 22, 2023 — Offshore wind power development may be next on the list for the Congressional Republicans’ public investigations of Biden administration policies.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-NJ, says he’s planning to launch public hearings on the federal permitting process for wind power, starting March 16 somewhere in Van Drew’s southern New Jersey coastal district.

“The unknown impacts of these offshore wind projects raises serious concerns, especially after 18 whales have washed ashore near where surveying is taking place along the East Coast, six of which have been in New Jersey,” Van Drew said in announcing his plans.

Van Drew’s district includes beach resorts like Ocean City, N.J., and Long Beach Island, where homeowners’ groups and municipal officials oppose Ørsted’s Ocean Wind 1 and the nearby Atlantic Shores project. Ocean City officials attempted to block construction of a power cable landing for Ocean Wind, but were rebuffed last week by New Jersey state utility regulators.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

The $100 Billion Offshore Wind Industry Has a Whale Problem

February 21, 2023 — The offshore wind industry has a 40-ton problem on its hands.

Since early December, close to two dozen large whales have washed up on or near beaches on the US Atlantic coast, and about a third of the so-called strandings have occurred on the shores of New Jersey. It’s unclear what exactly is fueling the deaths, but an unlikely coalition of wind opponents, local environmental groups and conservative talk show hosts have zeroed in on offshore wind as the culprit. They argue that projects in development are disrupting marine life and contributing to the unusually high number of deceased whales.

Read the full article at Bloomberg

New Jersey congressman wants GAO to investigate offshore wind

February 21, 2023 — A coastal New Jersey congressman introduced a bill Friday for the Government Accountability Office to investigate how federal agencies conduct environmental reviews of offshore wind energy projects.

Rep. Chris Smith, R-NJ, filed bill H.R. 1056 calling for “an immediate, comprehensive investigation into the environmental approval process for offshore wind projects” by the Bureau of Offshore Energy Management and National Marine Fisheries Service, amid continuing demands from wind power opponents in his district to suspend work on the projects after a string of recent whale strandings.

“Nine dead whales have washed up on our beaches since early December, and we still have no meaningful answers from (New Jersey) Governor (Phil) Murphy or the Biden Administration on the broader impact of these projects on the marine environment as they rush to build the largest offshore wind farm in the nation,” Smith said in a prepared statement.

“As part of a full-court press for answers, my legislation will investigate the level of transparency from federal agencies that greenlighted this aggressive offshore wind development and determine how much scrutiny was implemented in reviewing the environmental and maritime safety of this project, especially given its unprecedented size and scale,” said Smith.

Offshore wind critics contend ongoing work to survey wind turbine sites could have contributed to the repeated strandings of humpback whales since December. Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration strongly dispute the claim, saying there is no evidence that the projects are adding to an “unusual mortality event” of  humpback strandings the agency has tracked since 2016.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Hundreds of NJ residents rally against green energy over environmental concerns

February 21, 2023 — Hundreds of local residents in a coastal New Jersey town rallied over the weekend, calling for a federal moratorium on offshore wind energy development until the recent uptick in whale deaths was determined.

During the rally in Point Pleasant Beach, lawmakers, local officials and environmentalists expressed concern that offshore wind construction played a role in the deaths of at least 10 whales that have been discovered over the last two months in New Jersey and New York. Additional dead whales have been found beached in other East Coast states, including Maryland and Virginia, since December.

“Today, the whales are sending us a tragic message that demands transparency and accountability — both of which has been sorely missing from Governor Murphy’s plan to use New Jersey’s coast as the prime location for the offshore wind industry in the U.S.,” Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said during the rally on Sunday. “Questions and concerns raised by me and many others have gone unanswered concerning the unexplained deaths of at least 10 whales.”

Read the full article at Fox News

BOEM Proposes Archaeological Rules as Criticism of Offshore Wind Grows

February 15, 2023 — Faced with a broad range of criticisms over the development of offshore wind farms, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is proposing steps that it says are designed to ensure that wind farms cohabitate with other ocean users and reduce potential harm in the ocean environment. The latest proposals address marine archaeological resources following steps at the end of 2022 to work with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries division.

To better protect shipwrecks and other cultural resources on the seabed from harm due to offshore energy activities, BOEM is proposing regulatory changes to its marine archaeology reporting requirements for activities on the Outer Continental Shelf. A notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comment will publish in the Federal Register on February 15, for a 60-day comment period ending on April 17, 2023.

BOEM says that after evaluating over 40 years of empirical evidence collected by and for the oil and gas industry, academic institutions, and state and federal agencies, it has determined that previously undiscovered archaeological resources may be present in any part of the OCS, regardless of the lack of any historical or predictive modeling evidence.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

 

Ninth whale death renews calls in New Jersey to halt offshore wind projects

February 15, 2023 — A whale washed ashore in Manasquan, New Jersey, on Monday – the ninth whale found dead since early December on the New York-New Jersey shores — further stoking the debate about what’s causing the frequent mortalities along the Atlantic Coast.

“I’m currently standing on the beach a few hundred feet from the Manasquan Inlet watching yet another dead whale wash into the surf,” Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Paul Kanitra posted on Facebook on Monday. “Governor, when do these stop becoming coincidences? How many more will it take?”

What’s behind the whale mortalities has not been clearly established, but theories abound. Some local activists and officials blame offshore wind development in the region, claiming construction of the sites causes harm to marine animals. But federal officials have pushed back, saying that’s not what the evidence shows.

Read the full article at CBS News