Saving Seafood

Major U.S. offshore wind project asks Biden administration to restart permitting

January 26, 2021 — Vineyard Wind, the developer of the first major U.S. offshore wind farm, said on Monday it has asked the Biden administration to restart its permitting process after former President Donald Trump’s government abruptly canceled it last month.

The company said in a statement it had notified the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management that the project would not need to change its construction plan as a result of switching to a new turbine supplier, General Electric Co.

Last month, Vineyard Wind had requested a pause in the federal permitting process while it determined whether changes to its design were necessary, prompting the BOEM to terminate its entire review.

Read the full story at Reuters

Maine’s governor requests 10-year moratorium on wind permits in state waters

January 26, 2021 — In a 22 January letter addressed to fishermen and fishing organizations in the U.S. state of Maine, the state’s governor, Janet Mills expressed support for an offshore wind research proposal in federal waters, coupled with legislation that would establish a 10-year moratorium on wind energy development in state waters.

“I want to make it clear that my focus is the research array, proposed for federal waters,” the letter reads. “New, commercial-scale offshore wind projects do not belong in state waters that support the majority of the state’s lobster fishing activity, that provide important habitat for coastal marine and wildlife species and that support a tourist industry based on part on Maine’s iconic coastal views.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MAINE: Janet Mills proposes offshore wind moratorium to quell fisheries concerns

January 26, 2021 — Gov. Janet Mills on Monday proposed a 10-year moratorium on new offshore wind projects in state-managed waters and other actions aimed at calming concerns among the fishing industry about her plan to create the nation’s first floating offshore wind research farm in the Gulf of Maine.

In a letter Friday to licensed commercial fishermen, the Democratic governor said she would propose the moratorium to the Legislature. It would protect fishing and recreational areas within three miles of coastal waters managed by the state, which she said are more heavily fished than federal waters. She also has directed her energy office to review offshore wind regulations, asking for input from fishermen about the site of the proposed array.

The research array, announced in November, is part of an ongoing offshore wind initiative announced in 2019 by Mills, who has made climate one of her main issues since being elected more than two years ago. A report from her office last November touted offshore wind as a significant opportunity for economic recovery from the coronavirus-induced recession. Mills did not provide a timeline for the project, but the state’s climate goals are to move to 80 percent renewable energy by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

MAINE: MLA unhappy with wind power initiative

January 25, 2021 — A Gulf of Maine offshore wind power initiative Maine Governor Janet Mills rolled out late last year has raised concern in the lobster fishing community, with Maine Lobstermen’s Association Executive Director Patrice McCarron telling The Islander that “the area identified by the state of Maine for a potential offshore wind farm is prime fishing bottom for Maine fishermen.”

Mills first announced plans to explore offshore wind development last June, when she signed a bill requiring the Public Utilities Commission to approve a floating offshore wind demonstration project, the first of its kind in the United States. The program, Aqua Ventus, is run through the University of Maine and is funded through $39.9 million in federal grants from the U.S. Department of Energy.

At the same time, Mills formed the Maine Offshore Wind Initiative, a state-based initiative “to identify opportunities for offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine and to determine how Maine can best position itself to benefit from future offshore wind projects,” according to a press release.

More information was released in November. The offshore wind research array would be sited 20 to 40 miles offshore into the Gulf of Maine at a yet-to-be-determined site, where the dozen or fewer gloating wind turbines would cover about 16 square miles of ocean. Maine is filing an application with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, as the array will be farther than 3 miles off the coast in federal waters. According to a Nov. 20 press release, the technology for floating arrays is still being developed, and their effect on marine life and fisheries requires further study.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

NEW YORK: East Hampton Town Okays Offshore Wind Farm Agreement

January 22, 2021 — Over the objections of one member and after a contentious discussion, the East Hampton Town Board voted on Thursday to execute an easement and host-community agreement with the developers of the proposed South Fork Wind farm.

Thursday’s vote followed several years of discussion, debate, and public comment on the proposal that would see an installation of up to 15 turbines in a federal lease area approximately 35 miles off Montauk Point. The offshore installation remains the subject of furious opposition, most visibly manifest in an effort to create an incorporated village of Wainscott, where the wind farm’s export cable would make landfall at the ocean beach at the end of Beach Lane.

Four of the board’s five members voted in favor of a resolution authorizing Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc to execute the easement agreement with South Fork Wind, L.L.C., for the construction, installation, maintenance, repair, replacement, removal, and decommissioning of the wind farm’s export cable and related facilities for the wind farm, within town road rights-of-way, to connect the wind farm to a Long Island Power Authority substation off Cove Hollow Road in East Hampton. The resolution is subject to permissive referendum, meaning if enough signatures were collected opponents could force a public vote on the project.

The board also voted 4 to 0 to execute the host-community agreement that would see the developers, Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind and Eversource Energy, making direct payments to the town totaling almost $29 million over the installation’s 25-year lifetime.

Councilman Jeff Bragman abstained from voting on both resolutions, repeating his assertions that the town would maintain leverage and therefore its ability to influence the project by waiting until state and federal reviews are complete, and that many pertinent questions as to environmental review and the installation’s potential impact on the commercial fishing industry remain unanswered.

Read the full story at The East Hampton Star

JACK MERRILL: Offshore and off course

January 22, 2021 — For more than 50 years I have understood that humans need to reduce their fossil fuel consumption, and that green technology, giving us solar, hydro, and wind power, are great alternative options. Through my association with the Lobster Institute in Orono, Maine, I have participated in multiple research projects and backed others with financial support. I’m a supporter of green energy. I believe in the potential of wind energy.

Why then am I appalled by proposed wind platforms off of Maine’s coast? I had to ask myself: Is this simply a “not in my backyard” knee-jerk reaction? The answer is unequivocally no. While wind power itself (with improved technology) makes sense, Maine’s current offshore project, which essentially is doing research to open the door for ownership of hundreds of thousands of ocean acres to private corporations, is foolhardy.

Here are some of the reasons I oppose offshore wind initiatives off the Maine coast:

They threaten the economic health, cultural fabric, and history of Maine.

By removing thousands of acres of bottom from fishing access, these turbines threaten the economic health of Maine’s second largest industry (lobstering alone has an estimated value of a billion dollars a year), at the same time forcing a severe social impact for coastal communities. In fact, they would have a negative impact on all three of Maine’s coastal economic engines.

The uniqueness of Maine’s coast brings millions of tourists every year. A blow to the lobster industry would be a serious blow to that uniqueness. For the summer resident yachting population (large taxpayers) who now enjoy the freedom of today’s open oceans, the hundreds of platforms we are now being told are coming will be an eyesore and pose serious hazards to navigation. We are living in difficult and unusual times. Covid times. Today Maine’s economy is suffering. Where would we have been in 2020 without the fisheries, our summer population, and tourism?

Read the full opinion piece at National Fisherman

Permitting for big U.S. offshore wind farm will resume ‘very, very soon’: Avangrid CEO

January 21, 2021 — The developer of the first major U.S. offshore wind farm said on Wednesday it will soon apply for a federal permit from President Joe Biden’s administration, after former President Donald Trump’s government abruptly canceled its initial application last month.

Vineyard Wind will resubmit its construction plan to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management “very very soon,” Avangrid Inc CEO Dennis Arriola said in an interview, without specifying an exact date. “We believe that the pause button is going to come off and we’re going to continue right where we were,” he said.

Biden has pledged to boost development of renewable energy as part of a sweeping plan to fight climate change and create jobs, and offshore wind proponents expect the nascent U.S. industry to experience dramatic growth.

Vineyard Wind is a joint venture between power company Avangrid, a unit of Spain’s Iberdrola, and Denmark’s Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. Once constructed, the project 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard is expected to provide power to more than 400,000 Massachusetts homes.

Read the full story at Reuters

NY award will more than double the number of wind turbines planned for South Shore

January 20, 2021 — New York State’s decision last week to award two “massive” offshore wind power contracts to Norwegian energy giant Equinor will more than double the size of a planned wind farm off the coast of Long Island. It also promises “substantial” upgrades to a section of the electric grid at Oceanside.

The plan, announced by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo last week as part of an expansive post-COVID-19 green economy, would bring the number the number of turbines expected to be spinning off the South Shore by 2027 to around 170, encompassing some 80,000 acres from Jones Beach to Islip, the company said. New York has a stated goal of some 9,000 megawatts of wind power by 2035, to displace carbon-belching conventional plants.

The state awarded the projects to Norwegian energy giant Equinor, which in 2019 was awarded a separate contract for 816 megawatts in a project called Empire Wind 1, some 15 miles off Jones Beach. That project will be constructed by 2024 directly adjacent to the newly awarded Empire Wind 2 and will be “built as one project, in sequence,” said Siri Espedal Kindem, president of Equinor’s U.S. Wind division. Empire Wind 2 is expected to be comprised of some 90 turbines.

She said the company is interested in bidding for new lease areas off the coast of Long Island, a process currently stalled under the Trump Administration.

Read the full story at Newsday

MAINE: Offshore wind project raises questions for lobstermen

January 19, 2021 — A Gulf of Maine offshore wind power initiative Maine Governor Janet Mills rolled out late last year has raised concern in the lobster fishing community, with Maine Lobstermen’s Association Executive Director Patrice McCarron telling The American that “the area identified by the state of Maine for a potential offshore wind farm is prime fishing bottom for Maine fishermen.”

Mills first announced plans to explore offshore wind development last June, when she signed a bill requiring the Public Utilities Commission to approve a floating offshore wind demonstration project, the first of its kind in the United States. The program, Aqua Ventus, is run through the University of Maine and is funded through $39.9 million in federal grants from the U.S. Department of Energy.

At the same time, Mills formed the Maine Offshore Wind Initiative, a state-based initiative “to identify opportunities for offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine and to determine how Maine can best position itself to benefit from future offshore wind projects,” according to a press release.

More information was released in November. The offshore wind research array would be sited 20 to 40 miles offshore into the Gulf of Maine at a yet-to-be-determined site, where the dozen or fewer floating wind turbines would cover about 16 square miles of ocean. Maine is filing an application with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, as the array will be farther than 3 miles off the coast in federal waters. According to a Nov. 20 press release, the technology for floating arrays is still being developed, and their effect on marine life and fisheries requires further study.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Offshore wind stagnated under Trump, Biden policies could create a boom for offshore energy

January 19, 2021 — President-elect Joe Biden’s climate plan proposes building thousands of offshore wind turbines as a key contributor to the goal of a carbon-free U.S. energy sector by 2035. 

With the states largely carrying the ball as the Trump administration stepped back from climate change and clean energy, the pressure is on for the new administration to come through on its promise. 

“The actions by the states across the country have been really important and kept the U.S. moving forward in spite of a lack of leadership in Washington,” Josh Albritton, director of climate change and energy at the Nature Conservancy, said. “That change is happening … but to get to 2050 (net-zero carbon emissions nationally) we need the federal government.”

While onshore wind power is projected to see greater growth nationally over the next 30 years, offshore wind power is far more important in the populous Northeast where topography and population density mean more permitting conflicts and fewer of the large tracts needed for utility-scale wind farms.

Read the full story at The Cape Cod Times