Saving Seafood

MAINE: Gov. Mills seeks to broker peace between fishing, wind power

April 28, 2021 — Maine’s governor introduced a proposal on Wednesday that would establish a decade-long moratorium on new offshore wind projects in state waters.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, a proponent of wind power, made the proposal as members of the state’s fishing industry raised questions about locating wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine. The gulf is a critical fishing ground for lobster harvesters and other fishermen.

Mills said in a statement that her moratorium would “preserve state waters for valuable fishing and recreation, while reaffirming Maine’s priority of locating offshore wind projects in federal waters of the Gulf of Maine.” She cited the fact Maine has proposed the first research array for floating offshore wind technology in those waters.

Mills also said she crafted the proposal, which was submitted to the Maine Legislature, in response to concerns from the fishing industry. Most lobster fishing takes place in state waters, she said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Caledonian Record

The U.S. vs. Atlantic fisheries

April 28, 2021 — In its rush to burnish its green bona fides, the Biden administration is showering billions of dollars of subsidies onto European offshore wind developers, and in the process threatening both the environment and the livelihoods of Atlantic coast commercial fishermen.

The most recent example is the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) decision to fast-track offshore leases to wind energy companies in the New York Bight — a 16,000 square mile triangular area off the coast between Long Island and New Jersey, where Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Phil Murphy want to construct at least 18,000 MW of wind. All told, the Biden administration wants to construct 30,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2030, which would require erecting one 850-foot-tall wind turbine virtually every single day for the next decade.

The Atlantic coast contains some of the most productive fisheries in the world. BOEM is supposed to work with fisheries interests to ensure offshore wind development does not adversely affect habitat and the livelihood of fishermen. In fact, in December of last year, the Department of the Interior issued a detailed memo stating that the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act prohibits offshore wind approvals if a project would interfere with fishing. But just a few weeks ago, the administration reversed those findings.

Read the full story at The Daily News

NEW JERSEY: Wind opponents back Cape May County position

April 28, 2021 — They could not all go in to the meeting of the Cape May County Commissioners on Tuesday afternoon, but opponents of a planned offshore wind farm knew they were heard when the members of county government came out to them.

About 50 people gathered outside the county administration building on a sunny spring day, most carrying signs in opposition to wind turbines off the New Jersey coast. Ocean Wind, the furthest along of what could be multiple offshore wind projects, would mean 99 turbines placed 15 miles off the coast, powering more than a half-million homes starting in late 2024.

Danish energy giant Ørsted won the state contract for that project. A public comment period by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on the proposal concludes Thursday.

On Tuesday, the county government approved a resolution stating that Ørsted and partner PSEG failed to communicate with the county and raised concerns about the impact of the proposal on tourism and the commercial fishing industry.

At a workshop meeting earlier in the day, board members heard from representatives of the local fishing industry, including Greg DiDomenico of Lund’s Fisheries near the Cape May Inlet. He said he and others involved in commercial fishing wanted to like the wind power project.

But he argued the project does not take the needs of his industry or the safety of those working on commercial fishing vessels into account.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

NEW JERSEY: Peaceful Protesters Air Concerns Over Wind Farms

April 28, 2021 — Jeff Reichle and his son, Wayne, didn’t hold up signs expressing their opposition to a proposed offshore wind farm during a peaceful protest Tuesday outside of the Cape May County Administration Building in Cape May Court House.

But the two men, from Lund Fisheries Inc. in Cape May, along with several of their fellow fishermen and women, are concerned.

They are concerned about their livelihood and what the gigantic wind turbines built in the ocean could mean to marine life and how they could safely navigate the structures and what the project would do to commercial and recreational fishing.

“Our issue is they haven’t reached out to the fishing industry,” said Jeff Reichle, chairman of Lund. “People think you can go fish somewhere else. But that is not the way it is. This is our business. We just don’t know how this will affect us. There are too many unanswered questions.”

Wayne Reichle added, “There is no proof that the wind farm will have a positive impact on fishing, only negative.”

Read the full story at OCNJ Daily

RHODE ISLAND: Decision delayed on major offshore wind farm as McKee takes closer interest

April 28, 2021 — At the request of Gov. Dan McKee, state coastal regulators are putting off a key decision on the South Fork Wind Farm to give the project developers more time to reach a compensation agreement with the fishing industry.

Pressure is growing for Orsted and Eversource to find common ground with fishermen, as McKee’s office has signaled a closer interest in the talks.

The Coastal Resources Management Council was expected to consider a federal consistency certification at its meeting this week for the wind farm of up to 15 turbines that would be built in Rhode Island Sound and supply power to Long Island. Agency staff were preparing to present a recommendation to the council at the April 29 meeting and a vote could have taken place that night.

But last Friday, with the possibility that staff could recommend a denial of the certification, Orsted, the Danish company developing the project with utility Eversource, agreed to stay the proceedings and extend the deadline for a decision from May 12 to June 1. A vote is now set for May 25, according to Orsted.

“We fully support the CRMC’s new timeline, as it allows for more dialogue and opportunity to work collectively to reach a fair mitigation agreement and advance this important offshore wind project,” said Orsted spokeswoman Meaghan Wims.

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

Seacoast Leaders And Commerce Secretary Talk Visa Workers, COVID Funding, Climate Change

April 27, 2021 — Seacoast tourism and business leaders want federal officials to approve more foreign visa workers and economic aid to support what they hope will be a busy summer on the tail end of the pandemic.

They spoke at a roundtable Monday in Hampton Beach with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.

Raimondo, the former governor of Rhode Island, was on her first official trip as U.S. Commerce Secretary. She asked what the Seacoast wants out of the latest round of pandemic stimulus money and President Biden’s proposed jobs and infrastructure plan.

New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association CEO Mike Somers said he’s optimistic for any small tourism businesses that made it this far through the pandemic. But he said continued federal support – for visa workers and other aid – will be crucial in the next few months.

To lower emissions and mitigate the warming trend, Raimondo said she’s confident the nation can scale up offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Maine without hurting the region’s fisheries.

She was asked about it by David Goethel, a Seabrook-based commercial fisherman and member of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, a fisheries advocacy group with concerns about wind growth.

Raimondo said she was proud of how Rhode Island worked with its fishing industry to build what’s currently the nation’s only utility-scale wind farm, Block Island Wind.

“They were super anxious, as you are, about what would happen to fish migration patterns when you put the turbines in the middle of the ocean,” she said. “It worked out because we listened to them and we really looked hard at all the data.”

Read the full story at New Hampshire Public Radio

Offshore Wind Agenda Still Has Some Bight

April 27, 2021 — The Biden administration isn’t bowing to all local opposition to offshore wind development (“Railing Against the Wind,” Review & Outlook, April 21). Although the wealthy residents of the Hamptons succeeded in preventing offshore wind farms from spoiling their ocean views, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management intends to sink all opposition to development in the New York-New Jersey Bight, a roughly triangular area bordered by New Jersey and Long Island.

In December 2020, the Interior Department’s Office of the Solicitor issued a detailed ruling that commercial fisheries’ interests must be considered when siting offshore wind. But in March the Biden administration rescinded that ruling. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management intends to ignore fisheries’ interests, even though the Bight is home to some of the most productive fisheries in the world and is a migratory route for endangered right whales.

In the end, the fisheries industry and thousands of jobs at risk are no match for Big Wind’s lobbyists, whose European customers stand to reap billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars from the Biden administration’s new offshore wind-investment tax credit and the sky-high prices for the intermittent and unreliable power that regulators will force utility customers to buy.

Read the full story at The Wall Street Journal

NEW YORK: No Wind Farms in ‘Fairways’

April 23, 2021 — Two areas off the South Shore of Long Island that had been identified as potential federal lease areas for development of offshore wind will not be considered for leases, an official of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said last week.

The announcement came on April 14, during a BOEM-hosted virtual meeting of the Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Forces, comprising representatives from 14 coastal states, local governments, tribes, and federal agencies. A second meeting was held on Friday.

The areas in the New York Bight known as Fairways North and Fairways South, respectively 88,246 and 23,841 acres, “will not be considered for leases,” said Luke Feinberg, a BOEM project coordinator. The Bight is in the waters between Long Island and the New Jersey coast.

The Fairways North area is approximately 15 miles south of Long Island, stretching from Moriches Bay to Montauk Point. Fairways South is farther west and mostly farther offshore. The New York Bight also contains federal wind energy areas known as Hudson North and the Central Bight, off Great South Bay, and Hudson South, south of New York City.

Read the full story at The East Hampton Star

MAINE: Midcoast fishermen can resume activity in offshore wind project’s proposed cable route

April 21, 2021 — Lobstermen who were forced to move traps along a 23-mile long route off the coast of Monhegan can resume fishing activity in the area. Last week, vessels conducting a survey for an offshore wind project completed their work along the route.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources sent a notice to fishermen on Friday stating that gear, like lobster traps, that were relocated to accommodate the New England Aqua Ventus survey can be moved back to their original locations.

Fishermen were asked to voluntarily move their traps so a survey of the seabed floor along the wind project’s proposed cable route could be conducted. But given the contentious issue of wind development of the Gulf of Maine, some fishermen felt they shouldn’t have to move their traps for a project that they feel threatens their livelihood.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

NEW JERSEY: Long Beach Island Residents Critical of Ocean Wind Project During Scoping Meeting

April 21, 2021 — Long Beach Island residents aired criticisms and concerns about a proposed wind farm off the Atlantic City coast at a scoping meeting held online April 15, as required by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

When the BOEM published its notice of intent to engage in an environmental impact study for Ørsted’s Ocean Wind offshore wind farm, it triggered these so-called scoping meetings in which the public is invited to voice concerns or alternatives to the planned wind farm.

Ørsted, a Danish energy company, is in the process of developing a wind farm to be located 15 miles off Atlantic City on the outer continental shelf that will include 98 turbines on monopoles and generate 1,100 megawatts of wind-generated power, enough to power 500,000 homes.

Ørsted held three online scoping meetings this month and on April 15, Beach Haven Mayor Colleen Lambert and Bob Stern, a representative of the Long Beach Island Coalition for Wind Without Impact, both asked that the Ocean Wind turbines be moved farther out to sea. Lambert asked why the Hudson South call area had been abandoned in favor of a lease much closer to shore when there would be more wind farther out. She expressed concern about the visibility of turbines if they are located nearer to the coast. “The alternative is to impact tourism with a decrease of 40% of revenue if turbines are visible.” She noted that New York has required turbines to be located 17 miles from shore.

Read the full story at The Sand Piper