Saving Seafood

Two groups appeal the selection of new offshore wind projects for New Jersey, citing cost

March 11, 2024 — Two homeowners’ groups are challenging New Jersey’s preliminary approval of two new offshore wind power projects, saying they would be unlawfully costly to electricity customers.

Protect Our Coast New Jersey and Defend Brigantine Beach and Downbeach filed an appeal to the approval Tuesday in state court, saying that power contracts granted to the project developers violate state law.

The state Board of Public Utilities in January chose Attentive Energy LLC and Leading Light Wind LLC to build offshore wind projects.

Read the full article at the Associated Press 

‘We cannot fish in a wind farm’: Local fishermen file lawsuit over offshore wind project

March 11, 2024 — Many people in Morro Bay have mixed feelings about a planned offshore wind project. Now, a lawsuit has been filed.

The Morro Bay Commercial Fishermen’s Organization and the Port San Luis Commercial Fisherman’s Association claim some rules and regulations related to the project have not been followed.

The Morro Bay Commercial Fishermen’s Organization was incorporated in 1972 and has around 100 members.

“We’ve been here for a while and we’ve got an incredibly good reputation in all of those years, and we are very proud of it,” said Jeremiah O’Brien, Morro Bay Commercial Fishermen’s Organization Vice President.

Read the full article at KSBY

Wind-farm opponents encouraged after hearing

March 9, 2024 — The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals appears unlikely to overturn the approval of the Vineyard Wind offshore energy project sought by the advocacy group ACK for Whales (formerly Nantucket Residents Against Turbines), according to reporting from courthouse news services that covered a pretrial hearing Tuesday, citing questions the judges asked both sides.

But Amy DiSibio, a member of ACK for Whales who attended the hearing in Boston, had a much different take.

“I did not get that impression at all,” she said. “We left the courtroom feeling as confident as we could be, From what I understand the majority of these appeal cases get settled without a hearing. So, we felt really good that they were taking this seriously enough that they wanted (to hold a hearing).”

Read the full article at The Inquirer and Mirror

VIRGINIA: Dominion Energy to pay nearly $1M over turbine views in Virginia Beach

March 9, 2024 — Virginia utility Dominion Energy will pay nearly $1 million to offset the impacts to coastal views from its 176-turbine offshore wind farm in Virginia Beach.

The company will pay the city $290,000 for visual impacts. Virginia Beach’s City Council voted earlier this week to use the money for historical preservation projects. Separately, the Richmond, Virginia, power company will pay $650,000 to the first Cape Henry Lighthouse on the Virginia coast, also for visual impacts. The Dominion payments were first reported by The Virginian-Pilot.

Dominion is also contributing $550,000 to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse in North Carolina.

Read the full article at E&E News

NEW JERSEY: Grassroots Groups File Appeal of Offshore Wind Contracts

March 7, 2024 — New Jersey citizens action groups Defend Brigantine Beach and Downbeach (DBB) and Protect Our Coast New Jersey (POCNJ) filed notices of appeal on Tuesday against the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) in the state Appellate Court.

The appeals challenge the legality of two recent NJBPU Orders granting Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Certificate (OREC) contracts to offshore wind project developers Attentive Energy LLC and Leading Light Wind LLC, according to a news release.

The contracts entitle Attentive Energy and Leading Light Wind to receive payments averaging more than 15 cents/kwh for 3742 MW of power over 20 years, compared with the 6 cents/kwh wholesale price of power available to state utilities.

The organizations supporting the appeal are represented by attorney Bruce I. Afran of Princeton.

The BPU has conducted its solicitations and award of contracts to offshore wind developers in secrecy with no opportunity for public involvement until they issue a final order. Even then the basis for its decision is hidden from public view with the most critical information redacted from the public record, the release says.

Read the full article at OCNJDaily

Compensation Program For Fishermen Impacted By Vineyard Wind Unveiled

March 7, 2024 — Avangrid is announcing that the Vineyard Wind 1 project has launched its Fisheries Compensatory Mitigation Program.

Avangrid says the third-party administered program seeks to provide fair, equitable compensation for commercial fishermen for economic impacts attributable to the project’s construction, operations, and decommissioning activities.

There’s a deadline of June 3rd for fishermen to qualify for compensation from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York.

Read the full article at CapeCod.com

Private equity wades deeper into US offshore wind investments

March 7, 2024 — Challenging economics faced by later-stage US offshore wind projects struggling to get across the finish line are not deterring private equity firms from investing in various parts of the value chain.

From lease sales and port logistics to the projects themselves, some of the largest alternative asset managers are leaning into demand for infrastructure supported by federal tax credits and the Biden administration’s goal of 30 GW of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030 and an additional goal of 15 GW of floating offshore wind energy capacity by 2035.

Global Infrastructure Management LLC announced a deal in mid-February to take over Eversource Energy’s 50% interest in two of the utility company’s joint offshore wind farms with Ørsted A/S for $1.1 billion in cash. The following week, Dominion Energy Inc. saw its stock pop after announcing its own deal to unload a 50% stake in the 2,587-MW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project to Stonepeak Partners LP, with an expectation of $3 billion in proceeds for the utility upon close.

Due to high interest rates, cost inflation and supply chain clogs, Eversource had been forced to take a billion-dollar writedown on its offshore wind portfolio. Global Infrastructure Management will acquire the utility’s interest in the 132-MW South Fork Wind and 700-MW Revolution Wind projects, while Ørsted is moving to take complete ownership of the 924-MW Sunrise Wind project.

“Private equity does well when some of the initial development work has already been done and then they come in and fund it across the finish line,” Norton Rose Fulbright attorney Becky Diffen, who focuses on renewables project development, said in an interview.

Read the full article at S&P Global

Fishermen can now get paid if Vineyard Wind hurts business

March 6, 2024 — Vineyard Wind is inviting fishermen to apply for compensation if they’ve been impacted by the offshore wind farm 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.

Fishermen have 90 days to show they’ve historically used the lease area and a third party administrator — with the help of fishing representatives — will decide how to divide up a $19.1 million pot through the Fisheries Compensatory Mitigation Program to Massachusetts fishermen.

Rhode Island fishermen will have access to $4.2 million, and $3.3 million will be divided between fishermen in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. The area may have been used by those who target everything from squid, to clams, scallops, lobster, and more.

“I feel good about this mitigation fund,” said Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association. “Vineyard Wind is the first offshore wind developer to have steel in federal waters and to come out with their mitigation plan.”

Plus, she added, the funds start at construction rather than completion of the wind farm, which is better for fishermen.

“The impact [of Vineyard Wind] will be real because [fishermen] cannot fish in there while they’re constructing it,” she said. “And the ecosystem is being disturbed to a level that they anticipated 100% decline during construction. So if you’re making $50,000 in that lease area, that’s a $50,000 hit you’re going to lose.”

Read the full article at CAI

Fishermen can start applying for offshore wind compensation: Learn how

March 6, 2024 — Commercial fishermen in Massachusetts and other states who have been negatively impacted financially by the growth of the offshore wind industry have a relatively short window in which to apply for compensation under Vineyard Wind’s new Fisheries Compensatory Mitigation Program.

Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Avangrid, Inc. and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, through its affiliate Vineyard Offshore, announced March 4 that the deadline for impacted fishermen to apply and qualify for payments based on defined criteria is June 3 and that there will be no other opportunity to apply.

Read the full article at the Standard-Times

Vineyard Wind and South Fork Wind Launch Fisheries Compensation Programs

March 4, 2024 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Vineyard Wind 1

Vineyard Wind opened a 90-day eligibility period for the Vineyard Wind 1 Fisheries Compensatory Mitigation Program. This program will provide compensation to commercial fishermen for economic impacts from the construction, operations, and decommissioning of Vineyard Wind 1.

To qualify for the program, commercial fishing vessel owners/operators must submit an online application between March 4, 2024 and June 3, 2024. This eligibility period is the only time that commercial fishing vessel owners/operators can qualify for compensation from the program. Fishermen will not need to demonstrate economic impacts from Vineyard Wind 1 to qualify or receive payments.

The program is open to commercial fishing vessel owners/lessees in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island who can demonstrate historical fishing activities in the lease area, OCS-A 0501.

Open house and tabling events will be hosted in March to help fishermen apply for the program. See this announcement for details. Additional information about the program, including eligibility criteria, is available on the program website.

South Fork Wind

South Fork Wind announced the opening of their eligibility application for direct compensation for commercial and for-hire recreational fishing vessels that have experienced economic impacts from construction and some aspects of operation of the South Fork Wind Project. Separate programs have been established for Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

If eligible, commercial and for-hire recreational fishing operations may file a claim for direct losses/impacts arising from the construction and some aspects of operation of the South Fork Wind project and unforeseen, extraordinary events that lead to later business interruption and direct losses/impacts caused by the project.

Visit the South Fork Wind Fisheries Compensation Program website for additional information and application instructions.

General Guidance for Submitting Fishing Activity Data Requests to NOAA Fisheries 

Contacts for data requests

NOAA Fisheries has provided the following contacts for fishing activity data requests:

General guidance for requests: 

NOAA Fisheries has provided the following guidance for fishing activity data requests:

  • Specify if data are needed by a certain date
  • Include all the fundamental details: Contact information for the person requesting the data; Permit number and vessel name for data requested; What data you need (e.g., logbook landings, fishing revenue, permit issuance); Date range for the data (e.g., fishing or calendar years 2016-2022); Area the data applies to (e.g., logbook data when fishing in the Vineyard Wind 1 lease area)
  • Ensure you have access to historical data from previous owners. Submit or reference existing written proof that a previous vessel/permit owner has given you permission to access their historic fishing data. Make sure permissions include all years of your data request.)
  • Identify expected data output (e.g., spreadsheet or map)