Saving Seafood

Interior to auction 7 new offshore wind leases

October 14, 2021 — Federal regulators will auction off as many as seven new offshore wind leases by 2025 in an attempt to broaden the industry’s geographic footprint and meet President Biden’s climate goals, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced this afternoon.

The plan is potentially significant. Biden has set a goal of installing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030, but experts say the U.S. will have a hard time meeting that goal without opening new swaths of ocean to development. Haaland’s announcement, made at an industry conference in Boston, marks an attempt to do just that.

Developers are currently planning 16 projects along the East Coast from North Carolina to Massachusetts. Under Interior’s plan, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will for the first time auction off leases in the Gulf of Maine and the Gulf of Mexico and near California and Oregon.

Lease sales will also be held in areas where proposed wind farms are already moving forward, such as the New York Bight, south of Long Island, and in the mid-Atlantic.

Read the full story at E&E News

 

As turbines rise, small-scale fishermen have the most to lose

October 14, 2021 — Offshore wind is a critical component of President Biden’s climate strategy, but it has met fierce resistance from fishermen like Aripotch. They fear installing thousands of massive turbines in the ocean could displace them from their fishing grounds and sink their industry.

The conflict is a vivid illustration of the tradeoffs involved in confronting climate change.

Biden and other supporters say offshore wind can deliver a surge of clean electricity and slash greenhouse gas emissions. But many fishing captains worry the turbines could alter the ocean in unexpected and irreparable ways. Last month, a commercial fishing group filed a lawsuit challenging the federal permit issued to Vineyard Wind I, the country’s first planned development.

Efforts are being made to address those concerns. In New York, one company sat down with local fishermen to discuss turbine placement. Developers working off New England will space their turbines one nautical mile apart to ease navigation. In fact, federal regulators selected many wind development areas specifically because they were less popular with fishermen.

But fishermen say those concessions fall short. U.S. regulators plan to allow fishing inside wind developments, but many captains worry it’s only a matter of time before a boat wrecks on a turbine and they’re banned from wind areas. They also contend the government has underestimated the value of fishing grounds and plowed ahead with new projects.

The truth may lie somewhere in between.

“Many fishermen will not see a big impact, but fishermen who do may see a very large impact,” says Chris McGuire, director of the marine program of the Nature Conservancy’s Massachusetts chapter. “That’s a hard part about this. You hear disparate opinions. And I think this is one of those situations where they’re all true depending on where you sit.”

Read the full story at WBUR

Maine seeks lease for nation’s first offshore wind research site on federal waters

October 5, 2021 — The state of Maine has applied to lease a little more than 15 square miles of ocean for a floating offshore wind research area in what would be the nation’s first such undertaking in federal waters.

In a 143-page application to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Management, the Governor’s Energy Office notes that Maine is uniquely qualified to hold the research lease, which will be limited to 12 or fewer turbines located nearly 30 miles offshore.

The distance is meant to avoid nearshore waters valuable to fishing and recreation, in line with the state’s new moratorium on development of offshore wind in state waters. The moratorium was imposed in response to concerns by Maine fishermen about the potential impact of wind projects on their industry.

Securing a lease to conduct research in federal waters will allow the state to use patented technology developed at the University of Maine and help Maine meet long-term climate change goals through wind energy, which represents a $1 trillion opportunity worldwide by 2040, according to the application.

Read the full story at Mainebiz

 

U.S. offshore wind is under sail, but challenges remain

October 1, 2021 — The electric system across the United States is under stress from environmental and policy challenges, but a historically untapped resource is primed to make significant inroads over the coming years. For the last decade, electric generation from wind production has been growing all over the continental U.S. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the total amount of electricity produced by wind generation domestically has increased from 6 billion kWh in 2000 to 338 billion kWh in 2020, and as of last year wind generation was more than 8% of the total utility-scale generation operating in the U.S.

Yet despite that growth and the corresponding reduction in carbon emissions, one source of wind power – offshore wind production, the generation of electricity from wind turbines stationed in the ocean — is almost entirely missing. Even with its thousands of miles of coastline, the U.S. only has about 30 MW of offshore wind production from a single operating utility-scale wind farm. This pales in comparison to other parts of the world, particularly Europe, which has more than 25 GW of grid-connected offshore wind capacity from more than 100 offshore wind farms.

But as the Biden administration, state governments, and utilities prioritize addressing climate change by further reducing carbon emissions, the U.S. has looked to the European example; if current plans hold, the U.S. may soon rival Europe in its use of offshore wind.

Read the full story at Reuters

Another offshore wind project eyed off New Jersey coastline

September 30, 2021 — A company that has already received preliminary approval to build a wind farm off the southern coast of New Jersey is planning a second project.

Atlantic Shores, a joint venture between EDF Renewables North America and Shell New Energies US, already has approval from New Jersey regulators to build a wind farm about 8.7 miles off the coast.

But in a construction plan filed with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Atlantic Shores revealed it is planning a second such project, one it has not publicly announced.

Read the full story at the AP

 

U.S. Fishermen Are Making Their Last Stand Against Offshore Wind

September 30, 2021 — A few hundred yards south of the fishing boat docks at the Port of New Bedford in southeastern Massachusetts, workers will soon start offloading gigantic turbine components onto a wide expanse of gravel. Local trawlers and lobster boats will find themselves sharing their waterways with huge vessels hefting cranes and massive hydraulic jacks. And on an approximately 100-square mile patch of open sea that fishermen once traversed with ease, 62 of the world’s largest wind turbines will rise one by one over the ocean waves.

Known as Vineyard Wind, the project is set to be the first-ever commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the United States, generating 800 megawatts of power, or enough to power about 400,000 homes. Dozens of other offshore wind projects are in development up and down America’s east coast. But some in the fishing industry, including many New Bedford fishermen, are concerned that the turbines will upend their way of life.

Earlier this month, a coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing outfits, including 50 New Bedford fishing boats, filed a lawsuit against several U.S. agencies, including the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which approved Vineyard Wind in May, alleging that they violated federal law in allowing the project to go forward. The fishing groups frame that fight as a matter of survival, a last ditch effort to slow down a coalition of banks, technocrats and global energy companies set on erecting multi-billion dollar projects that they worry could devastate their livelihoods.

Money is certainly a big issue for many of those behind Vineyard Wind—backers like Bank of America and J.P. Morgan have pledged about $2.3 billion in funding for the project, and they’re looking for returns on that investment. But there’s also a societal imperative to push ahead with such projects, with many green energy proponents saying there is little choice but to get offshore turbines built as soon as possible if the U.S. is to have any chance of meeting its obligations under the Paris Agreement and averting the worst effects of climate change. The Biden Administration is counting on such turbines to produce about 10% of U.S. electricity by 2050, and in coastal, population dense states like Massachusetts and New York, leaders view sea-bound wind farms as a lynchpin of their net zero ambitions.

Read the full story at TIME

 

NEW HAMPSHIRE: ‘Environmental Justice’ To Be Part Of Offshore Wind

September 28, 2021 — As the Commission To Study Offshore Wind and Port Development approaches a deadline for submitting recommendations to the governor and the legislature, questions about the role of fishermen and others who may be impacted by the project continue to arise.

During the commission’s Sept. 27 meeting at the Pease International Tradeport, Erik Anderson, representing the N.H. Commercial Fishermen’s Association, pressed Mark Sanborn, assistant commissioner of the Department of Environmental Services, about worries that wind towers might disrupt the livelihoods of New Hampshire fishermen.

“If we ever move forward with offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine, there will be a representative of the commercial fishermen from the New Hampshire side, I promise you,” Sanborn assured him.

The impact of an offshore wind farm on marine life has been a continuing topic of concern to fishermen who already are coping with climate change, evolving federal regulations, and a pandemic that has disrupted their industry.

Prior to the meeting, Jim Titone, serving on the commission as a representative of the Yankee Fishing Cooperative, described the up-and-down nature of commercial fishing. He noted that, during last year’s COVID-19 lockdown, lobster prices plummeted to $3 per pound. Currently, possibly due to pent-up demand, lobster prices have jumped to $7 per pound. He doesn’t know how long that pricing will continue, and is concerned that projects like that proposed for the Gulf of Maine will permanently hurt his industry.

Read the full story from the New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Biggest offshore wind procurement draws just 2 bids

September 27, 2021 — The two companies already chosen to develop offshore wind projects for Massachusetts were the only two to submit proposals for the state’s third offshore wind solicitation, each offering up to 1,200 megawatts of power generation and various economic development-related sweeteners.

The state’s third competitive solicitation attracted bids from just Vineyard Wind and Mayflower Wind, a smaller pool of bids than House Speaker Ron Mariano and others were hoping for. Both developers submitted bids that maxed out at 1,200 MW of capacity, 25 percent short of the 1,600 MW upper limit that the state’s solicitation sought but still 50 percent more than either project currently under development.

Though key details like the price of the cleaner power and the number of turbines planned remain under wraps until later stages of the selection process, the two developers vying for the work outlined Thursday what they think are the benefits of their bids.

If one of its multiple proposals is chosen, Mayflower Wind said it would set up an operations and maintenance port in Fall River and spend up to $81 million for supply chain support, training and education, port investments, and diversity and inclusion programs on the South Coast.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

 

NC Coalition Forms To Advocate For Offshore Wind Energy Projects

September 27, 2021 — A group of 10 advocacy groups has formed the Offshore Wind for North Carolina coalition, or OSW4NC, to lobby for funding, legislation and anything else that will get wind turbines turning off the North Carolina coast.

The move comes as North Carolina, the U.S. and the rest of the world race to get global warming under control by reducing reliance on fossil fuels. To get there, President Joe Biden’s administration and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper are pushing for more renewable energy development, including offshore wind energy.

Members of the new offshore wind coalition include Audubon North Carolina, Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy, Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental Entrepreneurs, North Carolina Coastal Federation, North Carolina Conservation Network, North Carolina League of Conservation Voters, North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association, Sierra Club North Carolina and Southeastern Wind Coalition.

Read the full story at Blue Ridge Public Radio

Jersey Shore’s fishing industry wonders: Can it coexist with planned massive wind farms?

September 24, 2021 — As part of the Biden administration’s commitment to tackling climate change, it wants to develop 30,000 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2030 — enough to light up 10 million homes. Only two small wind farms now exist in the United States: the five-turbine farm off the coast of Block Island, Rhode Island, operated by a unit of the Danish energy company Orsted, and a small pilot project in Virginia operated by Dominion Energy. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, has already awarded 17 lease areas between Massachusetts and North Carolina, and this year it added another eight between Long Island and Cape May.

New Jersey was awarded the largest leasing area yet: Hundreds of turbines will rise more than 80 stories tall, like a forest of steel bolstered by a bed of rocks on the seabed and stretching over hundreds of thousands of acres 10 to 15 miles from shore.

[Tom] Dameron says clammers will compete for a smaller patch of ocean.

“It’s going to lead to localized overfishing,” he says, “which will lead to the boats targeting smaller and smaller clams, which has the potential to lead to the collapse of this fishery in Atlantic City.”

Researchers, funded by a mix of grants from the fishing industry, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, the Department of Energy, and the wind industry, are racing to figure out what this massive industrialization — which includes 1.7 million acres of lease area along the East Coast and more than 1,500 structures in the seabed — will mean for fisheries, marine mammals, and ecosystems.

“From my perspective as a fishery scientist, that’s a lot of ocean and a lot of fisheries and a lot of marine habitat that is on the table,” says shellfish ecologist Daphne Monroe, who works at Rutgers Haskin Shellfish Research Lab. “So it’s a lot to think about.”

Monroe recently had to shift her focus to the impact of wind. Her computer modelling shows fishermen like Dameron and [Charlie] Quintana are right to be fearful.

Another fear is what could happen to a unique feature of New Jersey’s coastal fishery — the “cold pool.” Though surface waters warm each summer, lower parts of the mid-Atlantic ocean don’t mix very much with the warmer surface waters unless there’s a strong storm like a hurricane. So that deeper, colder water acts as a refrigerator for species like clams and scallops, along with bottom fish like summer flounder, or fluke.

In fact, the same ecosystem that makes fishing along the Jersey coast so lucrative, its flat sandy bottom, makes it ideal to construct a wind farm. But it’s unclear whether the wind turbines will affect that mix of ocean temperatures for better or for worse. Or whether they will shift migration patterns.

Travis Miles, a meteorologist and physical oceanographer at Rutgers University, says that in the summertime, the mid-Atlantic ocean is one of the most highly stratified and stable water columns. Warm on top, cold on the bottom, with very little mixing. He says that we can learn some things from the large wind farms that have been built in the North Sea, but that it’s a very different ecosystem.

“Europe has very strong tidal currents,” he says. “Tides happen every day, twice or more, and those strong currents can cause mixing, the faster the water goes past a structure the more mixing. The mid-Atlantic has very weak tides, what usually causes mixing are very strong storms, cyclones, or nor’easters.”

The Science Center for Marine Fisheries funded Miles to do research on both the impact of the North Sea wind farms and local impacts. He recently published his results in a peer-reviewed journal, Marine Technology Journal.

Read the full story at WHYY