Saving Seafood

New tool maps birds, fish in offshore wind areas

September 23, 2021 — While federal and state officials eagerly pursue a rapid and significant deployment of offshore wind turbines to generate cleaner power along the East Coast, scientists and advocates on Wednesday unveiled a new mapping tool designed to give developers, regulators and the public a better sense of the natural resources below the surface in the neighborhood of proposed wind projects.

Last year, the U.S. offshore wind pipeline grew by 24 percent with more than 35,000 megawatts now in various stages of development, the U.S. Department of Energy said in its latest offshore wind market report. Massachusetts has authorized up to 5,600 MW and so far has contracted for about 1,600 MW of offshore wind power. But even before the first turbine is installed, the industry is facing headwinds from two federal lawsuits that focus on the protection of endangered species like the North Atlantic right whale and commercial fishing interests.

The marine mapping tool rolled out Wednesday by The Nature Conservancy covers the coast from Maine through North Carolina and includes information about the makeup of the seafloor, the fish and invertebrates that live near the bottom of the ocean in a given area, the marine mammals that frequent a chosen swath of ocean, the bird species that are known to be in the area and more. The tool allows a user to compare data from different times of the year and incorporates historical data as well.

Read the full story at WWLP

 

What’s behind one lawsuit against Vineyard Wind

September 21, 2021 — Annie Hawkins has a message you don’t hear very often in Massachusetts these days.

The executive director of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, a national group of fishing interests, Hawkins is questioning the rush to develop offshore wind. Her organization is suing the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, alleging the agency is failing to protect the fishing industry as it races to develop the nation’s offshore wind potential to help address climate change.

“In taking action to address climate change, we have to acknowledge that these new uses [of the ocean] have a lot of environmental uncertainty. They have a lot of impacts of their own,” Hawkins said on The Codcast. “They can be better understood and minimized before we go whole hog on this 30 gigawatts tomorrow. A lot more upfront due diligence needs to be done.”

The 30 gigawatts reference refers to President Biden’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. It’s a goal that meshes with Gov. Charlie Baker’s push to develop 3.2 gigawatts by 2030. The Baker administration has already procured 1.6 gigawatts and is in the midst of reviewing proposals that would double that amount.

Read the full story at CommonWealth Magazine

 

New Bedford Fishermen Among Those Suing Over Vineyard Wind

September 15, 2021 — Local fishermen are among those in a coalition of commercial fisheries suing the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management over its approval of the Vineyard Wind project.

More than 50 fishing vessels based in New Bedford and Fairhaven are listed as members of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, along with 13 Massachusetts-based businesses and associations.

The group filed a petition in federal court on Monday to review the agency’s approval of Vineyard Wind, a project slated to become the country’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm off the coast of Nantucket.

According to a statement from the coalition, fisheries professionals had been participating in the planning process for the 62-turbine project — but, the group said, their input was “summarily ignored by decision-makers.”

Read the full story at WBSM

 

Balance of power: BOEM and states look at compensation for fishermen; endangered whales pose challenge to developers

September 14, 2021 — The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is working with coastal states to come up with plans for potentially compensating fishermen for lost fishing grounds and other negative effects of developing offshore wind turbine arrays.

Fishing industry advocates are pushing anew to get fishermen deeply involved now to minimize impacts from sweeping plans to rapidly develop a U.S. offshore wind industry — and hoping to limit damage to the U.S. food supply.

The government’s drive toward creating more offshore wind energy areas in the New York Bight is looking like a repeat of its mistakes in planning southern New England projects and needs to be braked, fishermen said at an Aug. 6 meeting in New Bedford, Mass.

“It’s going to be responsible for the destruction of a centuries-old industry that’s only been feeding people,” Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, told officials of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

U.S. fishing group sues Biden administration over offshore wind project

September 13, 2021 — A U.S. fishing group on Monday sued the Biden administration over its approval of the huge Vineyard Wind offshore wind project off the East Coast, saying the government had failed to address industry concerns about its potential safety and environmental impacts.

The development is the latest in a string of clashes between the fishing industry and public and private efforts to create a new domestic renewable energy industry to help wean the economy off fossil fuels and combat climate change.

Fishing interests view offshore wind as a threat to catches of crucial stocks, including squid, scallops and clams, charging that towering wind turbines would interfere with navigation and alter habitats. If built, Vineyard Wind would be the nation’s first major offshore wind farm.

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, which advocates for fishing industry interests in offshore wind development, said it filed a brief petition in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. The petition asks the court to review the administration’s approval of the project.

Read the full story at Reuters

Interior Department Announces Environmental Review of Proposed Wind Energy Facility in the North Atlantic

August 31, 2021 — The following was released by the US Department of the Interior:

As part of the Biden-Harris administration’s goal to deploy 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy by 2030, the Department of the Interior today announced that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) plans to conduct an environmental review of a proposed commercial-scale wind project offshore New York.

“The Interior Department is committed to confronting climate change, creating thousands of good-paying jobs, and paving the way for the nation’s transition to a cleaner energy future. Offshore wind is a critical component of that ambitious agenda,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “The demand for offshore wind energy has never been greater — we will continue to invest in the infrastructure to develop the offshore wind industry and to help attract the domestic supply chain.”

The project proposes to build up to 122 wind turbines, which would generate 880 to 1,300 megawatts of renewable energy and power nearly 600,000 homes. The project would help New York meet its clean energy goal of achieving 70 percent electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

The lease area is in federal waters approximately 31 miles east of Montauk, New York; 19 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts; and 17 miles from Block Island, Rhode Island.

BOEM’s Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) opens a 30-day public comment period on the proposed Construction and Operations Plan (COP) submitted by Sunrise Wind, LLC, a joint venture between Orsted North America Inc. and Eversource Investment, LLC.

During the 30-day public comment period, BOEM is seeking information to determine the scope of important resources and issues, potential impacts to the environment, reasonable alternatives, and mitigation measures to be analyzed in the EIS. After identifying the scope of the review, BOEM will conduct a full environmental analysis as part of the EIS and determine whether to approve the COP.

BOEM will accept comments via U.S. mail, through Regulations.gov, and during three virtual scoping meetings where stakeholders and other members of the public can learn more about the project before commenting for the record. The meeting dates and times are:

  • Thursday, September 16, 2021; 5:30 p.m. (ET)
  • Monday, September 20, 2021; 1:00 p.m. (ET)
  • Wednesday, September 22, 2021; 5:30 p.m. (ET)

The comment period will close at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on September 30, 2021.

More information about the proposed offshore wind project, BOEM’s environmental review, and how to provide public comments may be found at BOEM’s Sunrise Wind webpage.

Trump adviser involved in Vineyard Wind opposition

August 30, 2021 — The two Nantucket women said they were suing the federal government because they wanted to save the North Atlantic right whale from offshore wind. Then a former member of President Trump’s EPA transition team stepped to the microphone to commend them for their bravery.

“They did it voluntarily,” David Stevenson, the former Trump adviser, said of the women. “They’re not getting anything out of this other than trying to save the whales, save Nantucket.”

So went a press conference outside the Massachusetts State House yesterday, where offshore wind critics announced a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s approval of Vineyard Wind, the first major offshore wind project in America to be issued an environmental permit.

The lawsuit marks a new chapter in a decadeslong push to build offshore wind farms in America. Cape Wind, the first offshore wind project proposed in the U.S. waters, was sunk by nearly two decades of legal battles. Now, the question is whether they will sink a second generation of projects.

Vineyard Wind, a 62-turbine project 12 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, is the first to run the legal gauntlet. The $2.8 billion project is the only utility-scale offshore wind project to receive a final permit from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Other projects could soon follow. BOEM, as the bureau is known, has committed to reviewing 16 others along the Eastern Seaboard by the end of President Biden’s first term.

The lawsuit filed by Nantucket Residents Against Turbines in the U.S. District Court District of Massachusetts argues that the bureau failed to consider the impact of Vineyard Wind on right whales. It seeks to vacate the permit.

It’s not the first time opponents have challenged BOEM’s review of Vineyard Wind. That distinction belongs to a small-scale solar developer who owns a vacation house on Martha’s Vineyard (Climatewire, July 20).

Read the full story at E&E News

Port of Virginia Expands Dominion Energy Lease to Create Wind Port

August 27, 2021 — The Port of Virginia reached an agreement to lease a dramatically increased portion of the Portsmouth Marine Terminal to Dominion Energy. The agreement, which positions the port to become a leader in the emerging offshore wind energy sector, puts to use an idle terminal area converting it into a large pre-assembly and staging area for the planned wind farm off the Virginia coast. Previously, the port had agreed to a lease to create a small staging area.

Under the new agreement, Dominion Energy will use 72 acres of the deep-water, multi-use marine cargo Portsmouth Marine Terminal as a staging and pre-assembly area for the foundations and turbines that will be installed 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. Expected to be in service by the mid-decade, the Virginia wind project will produce more than 2,600 megawatts of renewable energy.

“This announcement is yet another milestone toward making Virginia the national leader in offshore wind power,” said Governor Ralph Northam. “The Commonwealth and Dominion Energy are standing together to promote clean energy, reduce carbon emissions, create jobs, and build a new American industry on the East Coast of the United States.”

The lease term is 10 years—valued at nearly $4.4 million annually—and includes an option for two five-year renewals. In January 2020, Virginia had agreed to a lease for 1.7 acres at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal through 2026, with options to expand to 40 acres. The original plan called for the terminal to operate solely as a staging area.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive

Nantucket Group Sues To Stop Massive Wind Farm, Claiming Threat To Endangered Right Whales

August 27, 2021 — A federal lawsuit is aiming to stop the construction of thousands of wind turbines off the Massachusetts coast.

The “ACK Residents Against Turbines” who filed the lawsuit said the proposed Vineyard Wind project poses a threat to the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale.

“The whales belong to all of us and with fewer than 400, of which there are fewer than 100 breeding females left, each one is worth protecting. The people of Nantucket have a long history with these whales and we have done so much recently to protect this species,” said group co-founder Mary Chalke in a statement. “It would be a tragedy to see all of them lost in order to build an industrial offshore development.”

The project is set to be the first utility-scale wind power development in federal waters.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which are named in the suit, declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. Vineyard Wind, a joint project of a Danish company and a U.S. subsidiary of the Spanish energy giant, Iberdrola, also declined to comment.

But the American Clean Power Association, a group that represents renewable energy companies, stressed the project has undergone a lengthy environmental review, permitting and public comment process.

Read the full story at CBS Boston

Right Whale Use of Southern New England Wind Energy Areas Increasing

August 27, 2021 — Southern New England habitat is important to the North Atlantic right whale. With offshore wind energy development planned in the region, working with stakeholders to minimize potential impacts on right whales and other protected species is crucial.

Right whales are increasing their use of southern New England waters, including regions slated for offshore wind energy development, according to aerial survey data collected during the last decade. Offshore wind energy installations are proposed in waters off the south coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Understanding and minimizing the potential impacts from construction noise, increased vessel traffic, and habitat alteration will be crucial to protecting and conserving this endangered species. This research supports the Administration’s goal of deploying offshore wind while protecting biodiversity and promoting ocean co-use.

The study was published July 29 in Endangered Species Research. Marine mammal researchers from NOAA Fisheries and colleagues at the New England Aquarium and the Center for Coastal Studies examined aerial survey data collected between 2011–2015 and 2017–2019. The data was collected in offshore waters including the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Wind Energy Area. The data from these two time periods were used to quantify right whale distribution, residency, demographics, and movements in the region.

“We found that right whale use of the region increased during the last decade, and since 2017 whales have been sighted there nearly every month, with large aggregations occurring during the winter and spring,” said Tim Cole, lead of the whale aerial survey team at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and a co-author of the study.

Read the full story at Eco Magazine