Saving Seafood

BOEM disregards Oregon objections and pushes forward with offshore wind energy areas

February 14, 2024 — The following was released by the Midwaters Trawlers Cooperative:

Despite overwhelming opposition from tribes, fishing organizations and coastal communities, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced the release of the final wind energy areas (WEAs) off Oregon’s south coast today. The WEAs remain unchanged from the draft areas released earlier this year. State agencies, fishermen, environmentalists, state legislators and others raised significant concerns about the draft WEAs, apparently to no avail.

“This is a slap in the face to the many stakeholders who have been trying to engage with BOEM for the last few years,” said Heather Mann, Director of the Midwater Trawlers Cooperative. “BOEM is a rogue federal agency pushing a dangerous agenda largely unchecked. BOEM will stop at nothing until our oceans are littered with wind turbines and all just to meet an arbitrary political deadline.”

Three weeks ago, Oregon’s Coastal Caucus sent BOEM a follow-up letter detailing concerns about the flawed BOEM process and the need for authentic engagement which most agree has not occurred. Oregon state legislators noted, “Coastal community members and individuals tied to the fishing industry have overwhelmingly spoken with great opposition towards offshore wind. These concerns have been echoed by marine scientists, engineers, environmentalists, tribes, and coastal municipalities. We cannot move forward with offshore wind in Oregon until the needs and concerns of these groups have been addressed.”

Mann said authentic engagement with BOEM has been non-existent. “The final wind energy areas are in prime fishing grounds where millions of pounds of sustainable seafood have been harvested. The areas are prime habitat for marine mammals and include nursery grounds for important fish species. BOEM is pitting renewable energy against sustainable food production.”

Fourth-generation fisherman Chris Cooper was also caught off guard by the announcement. “I am shocked and I’m angry,” he said. Cooper has plied the waters off southern Oregon for years. “We gave BOEM our track lines for where we fish, and I guess they have decided that our businesses and livelihoods are worth trading off to create gigantic wind farms. We will not be able to fish in these areas and we have no idea what the impact of these installations will be on the fish species found in there.”

The scale of floating offshore wind being contemplated for the West Coast does not currently exist anywhere in the world. The technology is also not successfully deployed in waters deeper than 300 meters. The WEAs finalized by BOEM for floating turbines off the Oregon coast are at 1300 meters.

Mann summed the situation up by saying, “This is a giant experiment and unfortunately, Oregon’s seafood industry and coastal communities are the ones who will end up paying the price.”

According to the BOEM announcement, the next steps in the process involve preparation of an environmental assessment of potential impacts in those areas. This will include a 30-day public comment period, during which concerned citizens are encouraged by Mann to voice their opposition.

TRIBE DISAPPOINTED WITH WIND ENERGY DECISION CITING FAILURE OF BOEM TO HONOR ITS OBLIGATIONS TO TRIBE AND IMPACTS TO FISHERIES, CULTURAL RESOURCES, AND HERITAGE

February 14, 2024 — The following was released by the CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF COOS, LOWER UMPQUA & SIUSLAW INDIANS:

The Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians (“Tribe”) are extremely disappointed in today’s decision by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”) to finalize the Wind Energy Areas for offshore wind development in Oregon. Today’s decision authorizes approximately 195,012 acres for wind energy development, in areas that are within the Tribe’s ancestral territory, contain viewsheds of significant cultural and historic significance to the Tribe, and are important areas for Tribal fishing.

“Despite a federal obligation to consult on a government-to-government, the Tribe learned yesterday of BOEM’s impending decision from officials with the Oregon Governor’s office,” said Tribal Council Chair Brad Kneaper. “BOEM had the courtesy to communicate its decision to the State well ahead of its public release and waited until the eleventh hour to send the Tribe an email about its decision. This illustrates well the failure of BOEM to meet its obligations to consult with the Tribe and to meaningfully consider its concerns. We would have at least expected a phone call from BOEM. We appreciate the Governor and her staff in reaching out to us. ”

“BOEM’s press release states that it has ‘engaged’ with the Tribe, but that engagement has amounted to listening to the Tribe’s concerns and ignoring them and providing promises that they may be dealt with at some later stage of the process,” said Chair Kneaper. “BOEM has failed to recognize that wind development has impacted the Tribe and has failed to assure that wind energy development will do good and not harm the Tribe, its members, and the greater coastal community. The Tribe will not stand by while a project is developed that causes it more harm than good – this is simply green colonialism.

In November 2023, the Tribal Council unanimously passed a resolution expressing its opposition to offshore wind energy development off the Oregon Coast. In multiple communications with BOEM, including comments submitted in November, the Tribe has consistently raised concerns about wind energy development. These comments include a request that important, cultural viewsheds be excluded from the WEAs and that wind development avoid areas critical to resident and migratory species, including important areas for fishing.

The Tribe’s concerns echo the concerns of other local governments, including Lane County and Coos County, which has expressed opposition to wind energy development, and resolutions of regional and national tribal organizations, including the National Congress of American Indians, which has called for a halt to the approval process until BOEM develops a process to consider Tribal impacts.

“The Tribe consistently asked BOEM to exclude important fishing areas from wind energy development. Fishing is an important industry on the Coast that employs tribal members and supports tribal businesses. Fish, including salmon, are also an important cultural and subsistence resource to the Tribe. Any impact on fish from wind development is going to harm our local jobs and the Tribe,” said Chair Kneaper. “We also have serious concerns for the environmental impacts that may occur as a result of this development. We simply don’t know yet how extensive those impacts may be. Today’s decision ignores these concerns.”

“The Tribe has called the Coast our home since Time Immemorial,” said Tribal Chief Doug Barrett. “The unique landscape, places of religious significance, viewsheds and traditional resources of our Ocean, bays, upland dunes, forests, archaeological features, cultural resources, and first foods connect us to our tribal ancestors. Our homelands and oceans have been the foundation of our way of life since time immemorial and remain a cornerstone of our Tribe to this day. As a confederation of coastal tribes deeply dependent on the Ocean and its rich resources, we assert a direct interest in the viewshed extending from our shores, encompassing a distance of at least twelve nautical miles beyond the continental shelf. We believe it is our inherent right to have the ability to see across our viewsheds, as this direct connection is integral to our cultural practices and traditional way of life. This connection empowers us to protect and conserve our cultural resources for the prosperity of our future generations. Our religious beliefs, traditional practices, fishing, first foods, and relations are interconnected and influenced by all that is encompassed in the broader Ocean. We are and have been stewards of our ocean and our ecosystems forever! BOEM’s decision today ignores the important cultural concerns consistently expressed by the Tribe, including impacts to our culturally significant viewsheds. We don’t want these places marred by development.”

In an October 31, 2023 letter to BOEM, the Tribe called upon BOEM to halt its process to allow for consideration of impacts of wind energy, including consideration of a congressionally mandated National Academy of Science study on wind energy impacts to fisheries on the West Coast.

“BOEM is proceeding without seriously considering or understanding the impacts of wind energy development,” said Chair Kneaper. “The Tribe will explore all options to ensure that its concerns are addressed in this process.”

Farther offshore, next New York Bight wind leases still draw opponents

February 12, 2024 — Six offshore wind lease areas in the New York Bight are more than 30 miles offshore of the region’s bustling suburbs and seaside resorts – distance that might have defused resistance to the wind energy projects before.

Now opposition groups that grew in reaction to nearshore projects, like Ørsted’s cancelled Ocean Wind plan off New Jersey, show few signs they will accept a new round of proposals farther east to the horizon.

Over 100 visitors walked through a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management public scoping session Feb. 8 in a Toms River, N.J., hotel meeting room, talking to BOEM workers and giving the agency testimony in video interviews and writing. The agency has grown to prefer the low-key scoping process – in-person and online – to fulfill its legal obligations to gather public input short of full-blown public hearings.

The visitors were not shy with opinions.

“What we’re really worried about is the cabling. It’s death,” said Ed Baxter, a commercial fisherman with the Fishermen’s Dock Cooperative in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.

The offshore leases now being planned for wind power development would need turbine towers linked by a network of power cables, and linked by energy export cables coming ashore near New York City and Sea Girt, N.J. A future cable network would potentially shut mobile gear fisheries like scallop dredging out of those routes, if fishermen can’t be safe that their gear won’t snag on cables, said Baxter.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Wind power giants find little shelter from sector troubles

February 10, 2024 — The world’s three biggest wind power groups – Siemens Energy, Orsted and Vestas on Wednesday gave a sober view of the year ahead for an industry buffeted by project delays, equipment problems and inflation.

Siemens Energy, the world’s largest maker of offshore wind turbines, expects a 2024 loss before special items of around 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) at Siemens Gamesa. The wind division has had to deal with the cost of addressing quality problems affecting some onshore models.

In addition, rising prices for raw materials and components as well as regulatory delays have caused writedowns and losses across the wind industry despite robust demand for renewable technology. Turbine makers have been particularly hit.

“You see the terms and conditions of the projects being too difficult for investors and project developers to take. So we are in a standstill,” said Danny van Doesburg, senior portfolio manager at Dutch APG Asset Management, which according to LSEG data owns stakes in Vestas, Orsted and Siemens Energy.

Read the full article at Reuters

NEW JERSEY: Six offshore wind turbine sites planned off Barnegat Light, draw large crowd to Toms River

February 10, 2024 — A plan to place wind turbine farms in six areas of ocean off the Jersey Shore brought a crowd to the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center on Thursday, where the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management fielded questions and concerns.

Federal personnel met with more than 100 offshore wind supporters, critics and curious residents over a plan to develop an area of the Atlantic known as the New York Bight.

Combined, the six lease areas in the New York Bight cover 488,201 acres and have the potential to power nearly 2 million homes, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM.

At its closest approach, the easternmost of the six project areas is 27 nautical miles (about 31 miles) from Barnegat Light.

Read the full article at app.

States edge closer to regional fund for fishermen hurt by offshore wind projects

February 10, 2024 –A regional fund that would pay fishermen for damages caused by offshore wind is one step closer to being established. A New York state energy agency, in collaboration with Massachusetts and nine other East Coast states, took a concrete step Thursday toward establishing that fund.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority issued a request for proposals seeking a firm to design and develop the regional fund and a standardized claims process for the fishing industry. The process would apply regardless of which wind project caused the economic loss.

In as few as 16 months, the states hope to have a claims process established, a third-party administrator selected, and millions of dollars from offshore wind developers that can be doled out to affected fishermen of any Eastern port as needed. The fund is a response to several projects that are slated to come online along the Northeast amid a lack of any national solution.

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light

NOAA designates fish habitat around New England wind power leases

February 8, 2024 — A swath of ocean off southern New England between Nantucket and Block Island – including tens of thousands of acres marked for offshore wind energy development – will be designated a ‘habitat area of particular concern’ by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NOAA Fisheries will finalize the action March 6, implementing a proposal by the New England Fishery Management Council over its concerns of how wind development will affect essential fish habitat, including Cox Ledge, an important bottom area for cod spawning.

The designation itself does not impose new conditions on the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and wind developer plans for energy projects. The HAPC brings additional conservation focus when NOAA Fisheries reviews and comments on federal and/or state actions that could impact essential fish habitat – such as BOEM’s reviews of offshore wind energy construction and operations plans.

“EFH consultations provide non-binding conservation recommendations to the implementing (action) agency to avoid, minimize, and mitigate the impacts of federal actions on EFH,” according to the NOAA Fisheries Feb. 2 notice in the Federal Register.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Orsted Sets Out Cost-Saving Plan After U.S. Wind Projects Cancellation

February 7, 2024 —  Orsted the struggling European wind-energy giant, said it will cut costs, pause dividend payments over several years, sell assets and refocus business priorities as it tries to right itself from a costly move into the U.S. offshore wind market.

Orsted, which transformed itself in recent years from what was Denmark’s small state oil company into a global giant in wind energy development, has recently hit major headwinds as it pushed aggressively to expand into new markets, particularly in a push in the U.S.

After betting big on offshore wind development on the U.S. East Coast, it has pared back dramatically, and seen its stock-market valuation—at one point eclipsing that of some of its more traditional oil and natural gas peers—crater.

It has struggled with supply-chain bottlenecks in the U.S., higher interest rates and trouble getting tax credits there. Late last year, it said it would pull out of two high-profile wind projects off the coast of New Jersey due to spiraling costs.

Read the full article at the Wall Street Journal

MARYLAND: House leaders prepping legislation to boost Maryland offshore wind

February 7, 2024 — Stung by news that one of the two companies that was planning to install wind energy turbines off the coast of Ocean City is reassessing its projects, House leaders are drafting legislation designed to shore up the state’s offshore wind industry.

House Economic Matters Chair C.T. Wilson (D-Charles) and Vice Chair Brian M. Crosby (D-St. Mary’s) will introduce a bill later this week to buttress USWind, the one company fully committed to building wind installations in federal waters near Maryland, and encourage more players to enter the marketplace.

“If you want to be a good partner and move in the direction that Maryland wants to move in, we want to help,” Wilson said in an interview Tuesday.

The state has ambitious goals to generate 8.5 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power almost 3 million homes, from offshore wind sources by 2031. But late last month, Ørsted, one of two companies that had won leases to build wind farms off the coast, announced it was “repositioning” its plans, pulling out of its agreement with the state and seeking alternative financing.

Although Ørsted is the biggest developer of offshore wind in the world, and was an early entrant into the still developing U.S. market, some of its American projects have struggled of late, due in part to inflation and worldwide supply chain issues for the industry. Last fall, the company abandoned two proposed developments off the New Jersey coast altogether.

That was a warning signal to Wilson, whose committee moved complicated legislation last year to expand the offshore wind industry in Maryland.

“We saw the writing on the wall when Ørsted pulled out of the New Jersey projects,” he said.

Read the full article at Maryland Matters

BOEM Seeks Input on Draft Environmental Analysis for Additional Site Assessment Activities on Proposed Wind Energy Project Offshore Massachusetts

February 3, 2024 — The following was released by BOEM:

On Feb. 2, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will publish in the Federal Register the “Notice of Availability (NOA) of a Draft Environmental Assessment (Draft EA) for Additional Site Assessment Activities on Beacon Wind, LLC’s Renewable Energy Lease OCS-A 0520,” opening a 30-day public comment period that ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on Mar. 4, 2024. BOEM invites public comment on the Draft EA for additional site assessment plan (SAP) activities in the Beacon Wind lease area offshore Massachusetts.

The Draft EA analyzes the potential environmental impacts of proposed site assessment activities which consist of 35 deployments and removals of a single suction bucket foundation at 26 locations within the lease area to gather information to support the engineering design of wind turbine and offshore substation foundations that would potentially be installed within the lease area for a future Beacon Wind project.

On Nov. 7, 2023, BOEM published a “Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Assessment for Additional Site Assessment Activities on Beacon Wind, LLC’s Renewable Energy Lease OCS-A 0520.” The amended SAP and Draft EA can be found on BOEM’s webpage.

Virtual Public Meetings 

Two virtual public meetings are proposed during the 30-day comment period for the Draft EA. All times are Eastern:

  • Friday, February 23, 2024; 1 p.m.
  • Wednesday, February 28, 2024; 5 p.m.

How to Submit Comments 

  • Through the regulations.gov web portal: Navigate to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket No. BOEM-2024-0006 to submit public comments and view supporting and related materials available for this notice.  Click on the “Comment” button below the document link.  Enter your information and comment, then click “Submit Comment”; or
  • By 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, Mail Stop VAM-OREP, Sterling, VA 20166.

BOEM seeks comments on important resources and issues, impact-producing factors, and potential mitigating measures analyzed in the Draft EA. The public comments will help inform BOEM’s decision on whether to approve the site assessment plan amendment. Following the comment period, BOEM will review the comments received to include information for consideration in the Beacon Wind Final EA.

More information, including registration for the virtual public meetings, can be found on BOEM’s website.