Saving Seafood

Federal Meeting On Deepwater Application In New York On Monday, November 5

October 31, 2018 — The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will host a public hearing Monday, November 5, on the application by Deepwater Wind to construct 15 wind-generated power turbines in the ocean off Block Island.

The public hearing will begin at 5 p.m. at the American Legion Hall at the corner of Abrahams Path and Montauk Highway in Amagansett. There will be a presentation on the application at 6 p.m., and public input will be welcomed until 8 p.m.

The hearing will focus on the scoping session portion of the application, at which the public will be asked to offer input of the sort of issues and concerns about the project that should be addressed by the company and BOEM during the federal review of the project.

Read the full story at 27 East 

 

BOEM Announces Public Meetings For South Fork Offshore Project

October 31, 2018 — The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has announced three upcoming public meetings in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island to discuss Deepwater Wind’s proposed South Fork offshore wind project.

BOEM plans to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the construction and operations plan (COP) of Deepwater Wind’s South Fork Wind, proposed offshore Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The plan would allow construction and operation of up to 15 turbines that connect via a transmission cable to a grid in East Hampton, N.Y., the east end of Long Island.

Read the full story at North American Wind Power

 

BOEM opens process for New York offshore wind power

October 31, 2018 — Federal energy officials are opening an environmental impact study for what could be the first offshore wind power project in East Coast federal waters, with public sessions next week on the South Fork Wind Farm proposal east of Montauk, N.Y.

The 15-turbine array is proposed by Deepwater Wind, the company that pioneered the first U.S. commercial offshore wind project at Block Island, R.I. Now in the process of being acquired by Denmark-based energy company Ørsted for $510 million, Deepwater Wind would build the South Fork array about 19 miles southeast of Block Island and 35 miles east of Montauk.

The Bureau of Offshore Energy Management is holding public scoping meetings Nov. 5 to Nov. 8 at Amagansett,  N.Y.;  New Bedford, Mass.; and Narragansett, R.I. Agency officials say they provide “multiple opportunities to help BOEM determine significant resources (e.g. avian, marine mammals) and issues, impact-producing factors, reasonable alternatives, and potential mitigating measures to be analyzed in the EIS.”

Read the full story at WorkBoat

Report maps potential environmental impacts of offshore wind energy

October 31, 2018 — A four-year study of planned wind energy areas off the East Coast found that building and operating offshore wind energy arrays could affect some of the region’s most commercially valuable fish species.

The report by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was written to help the federal Bureau of Offshore Energy Management to evaluate development plans for eight offshore wind energy leases issued by the agency.

Those areas, extending from the largest proposals to date off southern New England to North Carolina, represent just about 2.7% of what NOAA Fisheries defines as the Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem, according to the report. Since then four more leases have been issued, for a dozen proposed wind developments in all.

“While the extent of the WEAs (wind energy areas) may appear small in comparison with the entire system, it is the largest pre-planned anthropogenic (man-made) development in the coastal ocean in this region,” the authors note. “Further, the LME is not homogeneous, so that the effects of WEA development can potentially have impacts out of proportion to its small size.”

Read the full story at WorkBoat

UK delegates offer advice to New Bedford on offshore wind

October 31, 2018 — Visitors from the United Kingdom had clear lessons about offshore wind to share with the SouthCoast on Tuesday during an all-day symposium in New Bedford.

In the early days of the UK industry, communities in the Humber region were trying to figure out what kind of jobs they would get, said Mark O’Reilly, chairman and CEO of Team Humber Marine Alliance, a nonprofit business group based in East Yorkshire. Would it be welders? Fabricators?

The region got a blade factory that created 1,000 jobs, “which is great for jobs, not necessarily fantastic for supply chain. But you can’t have it all,” he said.

Because the UK is geographically close to established suppliers in Denmark and Germany, some of the hoped-for supply business did not materialize. New Bedford, in contrast, has the opportunity to position itself as the heart of the U.S. supply chain, one UK visitor said from the audience.

“Don’t squander it,” he said.

The symposium at the New Bedford Whaling Museum was hosted by the British Consulate-General in Boston, Bristol Community College, the city of New Bedford, and the New Bedford Wind Energy Center.

Harriet Cross, British consul general to New England, gave welcoming remarks. Speakers participated from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as from Massachusetts.

In a panel discussion on fishing, UK fisherman Davey Hill said he once led the charge against wind farms. “But I came quickly to realize that government policy doesn’t listen to fishermen,” he said.

With less space for turbines than the United States, the UK chose locations based on winds and water depth. Fishermen had no say, he said. But they decided to look for opportunities.

Today, some vessels serve as work boats for offshore wind, and also go out fishing. The process has benefited the fishing community because they have modernized their vessels and improved safety, Hill said.

Eric Hansen, a New Bedford scallop boat owner whose family has fished for generations, said unequivocally that vessels the size of those in the New Bedford fleet would not fish between turbines spaced 1.5 or even three miles apart. Showing the audience a radar image of a field of turbines, he said “Now, you show that picture to a fisherman, and he’d basically throw up. There’s no way they’re going to fish in that.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

BOEM to hold public meetings for proposed offshore wind farm

October 30, 2018 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) says it will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) submitted by Deepwater Wind that would allow it to construct and operate up to 15 turbines, an electric service platform offshore Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and an export cable to East Hampton, New York.

Comments may be submitted until November 19, 2018 by either of the following two methods:

  • Federal eRulemaking Portal: In the entry titled “Enter Keyword or ID,” enter BOEM– 2018-0010, and then click “search.”  Follow the instructions to submit public comments and view supporting and related materials available for this notice.
  • U.S.  Postal Service or other delivery service.  Send your comments and information to the following address:

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Office of Renewable Energy Programs
45600 Woodland Road (VAM-OREP)
Sterling, Virginia 20166

BOEM’s scoping process is intended to identify any important issues and potential alternatives for consideration in the Deepwater Wind COP EIS. Throughout the scoping process, there will be multiple opportunities to help BOEM determine significant resources (e.g. avian, marine mammals) and issues, impact-producing factors, reasonable alternatives, and potential mitigating measures to be analyzed in the EIS.

Read the full story at Windpower Engineering & Development

Ocean wind has big week, fishermen need to step up

October 29, 2018 — Last week, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced three major developments in American offshore wind energy that set the table for fishermen engagement through public comment on plans. Two of the announcements impact fishermen in Rhode Island and Massachusetts directly.

Last Friday the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) published a Notice of Intent to prepare/review an Environmental Impact Statement (ESI) for the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) for the South Fork Wind Farm project off Massachusetts and Rhode Island being developed by Deepwater Wind.

If approved, the plan would allow construction and operation of up to 15 turbines that connect via a transmission cable to a grid in East Hampton, New York — the east end of Long Island. The project is approximately 19 miles southeast of Block Island. The notice will have a 30-day public comment period closing on November 19.

“The public will have the opportunity to review the Construction and Operations Plan and provide input to BOEM at three community meetings to be held in East Hampton, Rhode Island, and in Massachusetts, or through written comment,” Jeffrey Grybowski, CEO of Deepwater Wind said. “We’re on-track to begin construction on the South Fork Wind Farm once the EIS and permits are in-hand, by 2021, and to deliver clean energy to the South Fork starting in 2022.”

An open house will be held at the Narragansett Community Center, at 53 Munford Road in Narragansett, RI, on Thursday, Nov. 8. In New Bedford, the meeting will be Wednesday, November 7 at UMass-Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology East, located at 836 South Rodney French Boulevard. Both open houses are from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., with a presentation followed by a question-and-answer session starting at 6 p.m. For copies of the plans and information on how to comment online, by mail or for information on the Long Island meeting, visit https://www.boem.gov/South-Fork/.

In a second development last week, Secretary Zink announced a much-anticipated wind auction in federal waters off the coast of Massachusetts which will take place on December 19. And, the third announcement pertained to the next steps to the first-ever wind auction in federal waters off California.

Read the full story at The Sun Chronicle

MASSACHUSETTS: The Country’s Most Valuable Fishing Port Gears Up For Wind Energy

October 29, 2018 — The city of New Bedford first prospered as a whaling capital. Now, a thriving scallop industry makes this the country’s most valuable fishing port.

“Last year we landed over $300 million worth of fish and that’s only a small portion of what’s processed here,” said New Bedford Port Director Ed Anthes-Washburn. “We’re now at a point where more vessels unload from North Carolina in New Bedford than unload in North Carolina.”

On board a port authority boat, Anthes-Washburn points to the infrastructure that has made New Bedford a fishing destination: fuel barges, ice houses and the warehouses where fishermen drop their catch daily for auction.

Massive fishing vessels painted in bright orange, red and blue line the port, but these days not all the boats are for fishing.

Anthes-Washburn pointed to a pair of research vessels outfitted to explore the depths of ocean. New Bedford — a community with expertise in catching fish — is gearing up to capture wind. The city is poised to be the launching point for the country’s first full-scale off shore wind farm.

The centerpiece of this effort is the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal, a 29-acre tract of land along the port. It will serve as a staging area for construction of the off-shore wind turbines. More than one hundred are planned in federal waters 14 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. Think windmills in the ocean, but far bigger than the type used on land, each one the size of a sky-scraper.

“It’s a $2 billion construction project,” said Anthes-Washburn. “It’s my job to make sure to see that as much of that happens in New Bedford as it can.”

Construction of the off-shore wind farm is expected to bring thousands of jobs to New Bedford. Long term, the city is positioning itself to serve as an offshore wind operations and maintenance center.

Read the full story at WGBH

Federal Environmental Review Begins for Deepwater Wind

October 25, 2018 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management published a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement on plans by Deepwater Wind to develop the South Fork Wind Farm roughly 30 miles off the coast of Montauk.

BOEM will lead the federal review of Deepwater Wind’s proposal to construct up to 15 wind turbines as a part of its South Fork Wind Farm Project. The New York State Public Service Commission will lead the state review of the project.

According to a press release issued by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, the notice was published in the Federal Register on October 19 and will have a 30-day public comment period that will close on November 19.

“The U.S. is making offshore wind a major priority for our energy future. The South Fork Wind Farm, New York’s first offshore wind farm, will be a centerpiece of that vision,” said Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski in a statement. “Starting the EIS review is a major step forward for the South Fork Wind Farm and an important milestone. This extensive review will examine the project’s Construction and Operations Plan (COP) and related environmental considerations.

“The public will have the opportunity to review the COP and to provide their input to BOEM at three community meetings held in East Hampton, in Rhode Island and in Massachusetts, or through written comment. Our timeline is right on-schedule. We’re on-track to begin construction on the South Fork Wind Farm once the EIS and permits are in-hand, by 2021, and to deliver clean energy to the South Fork starting in 2022.”

Read the full story at Sag Harbor Express

Interior agency advances offshore wind on both coasts

October 24, 2018 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is taking steps that could lead to offshore wind farms along the East and West coasts.

BOEM on Oct. 19 asked companies to indicate their interest in developing three areas off the coast of California. BOEM is part of the Department of the Interior.

The parcels off California’s central and northern coastline total about 687,825 acres, but BOEM said it would consider changing the size of areas eligible for wind leases. BOEM delineated the areas in consultation with an interagency task force and the state of California.

BOEM this year received an unsolicited lease request from the Redwood Coast Energy Authority, which is leading an effort to develop a wind farm offshore Humboldt County, according to the agency.

In March, the RCEA, a joint powers agency, selected a group of companies to develop the offshore project, including Principle Power, EDPR Offshore North America, Aker Solutions, H.T. Harvey & Associates and Herrera Environmental Consultants. The group aims to bring the wind farm into service in 2025.

Also, in early 2016, BOEM received an unsolicited lease request from Trident Winds for a project off Morro Bay, according to the agency.

Read the full story at Public Power