Saving Seafood

Offshore wind threatens future of commercial fisheries

April 28, 2024 — Green Oceans, a new NGO, has emerged as a formidable force in the battle against wind farms in New England. Founded in January 2023 by a passionate group of individuals, Green Oceans has launched a series of lawsuits against wind farm developers, coupled with extensive educational and outreach initiatives.

The organization has forged a strong alliance with fishermen, recognizing their pivotal role in this struggle. “We’ve formed a bond with them, and they’ve reciprocated,” shares the group’s co-founder Bill Thompson. “Fishermen are at the forefront of this issue,” he emphasizes. “They will bear the brunt of the impact.”

The Green Oceans website showcases a video featuring Meghan Lapp of the Center for Sustainable Fisheries, Rhode Island. Lapp, a co-plaintiff with Green Oceans in a federal suit against wind farm development, labels wind farms as the most significant threat to commercial fishing on the East Coast. “If the boats disappear, everything will vanish,” she warns, referring to many jobs in seafood processing, vessel repair and maintenance, and more

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Gusts of activity underway by friends and foes of offshore wind energy projects

April 28, 2024 — Government supporters of offshore wind energy projects in New Jersey and New York are trading blows with opponents in some shore towns who say many vacationers and local residents don’t want to see turbines filling the ocean horizon.

Eight Jersey Shore beach towns wrote to state utility regulators Wednesday, saying one wind farm proposal will be vastly more expensive than projected, and it will cost tourism-driven jobs and economic activity.

Their move came on the same day that federal energy regulators approved new rules to streamline the application and approval processes for offshore wind farms, and also the day that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued supply chain and logistics proposals to help her state’s offshore wind industry. Hochul’s move came days after three New York projects were scrapped because the companies and state regulators couldn’t agree on the financial terms

Read the full article at the Associated Press 

Federal Court Rejects Nantucket Group’s Appeal Of Vineyard Wind Project

April 28, 2024 — A federal court has rejected the appeal filed by a group of Nantucket residents aimed at stopping the Vineyard Wind offshore wind energy project southwest of the island.

The group ACK For Whales – formerly known as Nantucket Residents Against Turbines – filed the appeal last September with the First Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals, seeking to overturn the May 2023 decision of U.S. District Court judge Indira Talwani, who dismissed the group’s original complaint. ACK For Whales had alleged that the federal agencies that permitted the Vineyard Wind project violated the Endangered Species Act by concluding that the project’s construction likely would not jeopardize the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. The group also asserted that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had violated the National Environmental Policy Act by relying on a “flawed analysis” from the National Marine Fisheries Service.

But on Wednesday, three U.S. Court of Appeals judges rejected those allegations and affirmed the ruling of the U.S. District Court which had previously dismissed ACK For Whale’s complaint.

“NMFS and BOEM followed the law in analyzing the right whale’s current status and environmental baseline, the likely effects of the Vineyard Wind project on the right whale, and the efficacy of measures to mitigate those effects,” wrote judges William Kayatta, Sandra Lynch, and Gustavo Gelpí wrote in their decision. “Moreover, the agencies’ analyses rationally support their conclusion that Vineyard Wind will not likely jeopardize the continued existence of the right whale. We therefore affirm the judgment of the district court.”

Read the full article at Nantucket Current

NEW YORK: Collapse of wind farm projects spoils New York’s climate goals. Here’s why.

April 25, 2024 — In the rush to save New York’s offshore industry from collapse last fall, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration bet big on three new wind farms — and even bigger on General Electric, a blue chip American company founded in Schenectady in 1892.

A win would be just the kind the Biden administration is looking for: Pairing clean energy with union jobs and domestic manufacturing.

But the bet was a losing one.

For months, it’s been clear GE Vernova, a spinoff of GE, couldn’t deliver the crucial parts all three wind farms were forced to use. And, late last week, New York officials announced all three projects are dead in the water.

Industry and environmental groups moved to downplay the fallout, but 2024 was supposed to be offshore wind’s year. Instead, it’s looking more like the disastrous 2023, where several projects in New York and New Jersey were canceled or had to be reworked because of inflation and supply chain issues.

New York’s projects were key to President Joe Biden meeting his energy goals for the nation. The struggles of projects in the Northeast during his administration are a major setback for the industry and the woes could be much worse if former President Donald Trump, who is openly hostile to offshore wind, wins this fall.

Read the full article at Politico

Biden administration announces plans for up to 12 lease sales for offshore wind energy

April 25, 2024 — A new five-year schedule to lease federal offshore tracts for wind energy production was announced Wednesday by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, with up to a dozen lease sales anticipated beginning this year and continuing through 2028.

Haaland announced the plan at a conference in New Orleans.

Under the plan outlined Wednesday, which includes some previously announced lease auctions, three of the anticipated sales would be for Gulf of Mexico tracts to be offered this year, in 2025 and in 2027. Central Atlantic area leases would be sold in 2024 and 2026.

Other anticipated sale areas include the Gulf of Maine (2024 and 2028); Oregon waters (2024); an area of the Atlantic known as New York Bight (2027); and California, Hawaii, and an as-yet unspecified U.S. territory (2028).

The sales will be coordinated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

Groups urge judge to freeze New England offshore wind project

April 25, 2024 — Rhode Island homeowners are leading calls for a federal judge to freeze construction of an offshore wind farm in New England, after the Biden administration reopened analysis of how the project could harm endangered whales and sea turtles.

Green Oceans and other advocacy groups urged the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop ongoing seabed construction of Revolution Wind to prevent further harm to several at-risk species, including the North Atlantic right whale and loggerhead sea turtle.

“Construction must be halted until [NOAA Fisheries] is able to review and analyze the impacts to the endangered whales and other marine mammals and NMFS should require more stringent mitigation measures to protect these animals that are dying at rapid rates,” the groups said in an April 18 filing.

Read the full article at E&E News

Lawmakers Discuss Delaware Offshore Wind Bill, Delawareans React

April 25, 2024 — On Wednesday, Delaware lawmakers discussed Senate Bill 265, also known as The Delaware Energy Solutions Act of 2024, which lays the framework for the state to buy offshore wind energy.

The bill essentially paves the way for increased use of carbon-free energy sources and a commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions in Delaware.

Under the bill, Delaware would be able to solicit bids for the purchase of offshore wind energy ranging from 800 to 1,200 megawatts.

Proponents of the bill, like Rehoboth Beach resident Jim Bovender, are enthusiastic about its potential environmental benefits.

Read the full article at WBOC

U.S. Plots 12 Offshore Wind Lease Auctions by 2028 and Revises Rules

April 25, 2024 — The Biden administration is moving forward aggressively to expand the U.S. offshore wind energy industry including mapping out a five-year plan for up to a dozen new leases and streamlining and modernizing the rules for development. All of this comes as the industry however continues to struggle to get projects from concept to reality with New York suffering the latest setback in moving forward with approved projects.

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced the new five-year offshore wind leasing schedule which anticipates auctions in the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, and the waters offshore of the U.S. territories in the next five years. The leasing schedule includes four potential offshore lease sales in 2024 (Central Atlantic, Gulf of Maine, Gulf of Mexico, and Oregon). It will be followed by one each in 2025 (Gulf of Mexico) and 2026 (Central Atlantic), two in 2027 (Gulf of Mexico and New York Bight), and four in 2028 (California, a U.S. Territory, Gulf of Maine, and Hawaii).

The new schedule is a follow-on to a 2021 timeline that called for seven lease sales by 2025. The previous plan included a commitment to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 and a target goal of permitting at least 25 gigawatts of onshore renewable energy by 2025. Currently, the U.S. has just over 240 MW installed offshore, which is up from 42 MW last year.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

Vineyard Wind fisheries compensation meetings

April 24, 2024 — Offshore wind developers Vineyard Wind will hold a series of open-house events where fishermen can apply for a program to compensate for losses from development of the 804-megawatt offshore wind turbine array off southern New England.

The Vineyard Wind Fisheries Compensatory Mitigation Program is open from March 4 to June 3. To qualify for the program, commercial fishing vessel owners/ operators are required to submit an online application during the eligibility period.

The ongoing eligibility period to June 3 is the only time that commercial fishing vessel owners/operators will be able to qualify for compensation from the program. Vineyard Wind is hosting events to help fishermen apply for the program, each day from 9 a.m to 12 p.m.:

April 23: Montauk Fish Dock, 478 W. Lake Dive, Montauk, N.Y.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ICYMI: Secretary Haaland Announces New Five-Year Offshore Wind Leasing Schedule

April 24, 2024 — The following was released by BOEM:

In remarks at the International Partnering Forum conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, today, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced a new five-year offshore wind leasing schedule, which includes up to 12 potential offshore wind energy lease sales through 2028. Future offshore wind energy lease sales from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) are anticipated in the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, and the waters offshore of the U.S. territories in the next five years. The leasing schedule includes four potential offshore lease sales in 2024, one each in 2025 and 2026, two in 2027, and four in 2028. More information can be found on BOEM’s website.