Saving Seafood

Wind power project in New Jersey would be among farthest off East Coast, company says

October 2, 2023 — A proposed wind energy project off New Jersey would be among the farthest from land on the East Coast, the New York-based development company said Monday.

Attentive Energy released new information on the project, which will be 42 miles (67 kilometers) off Seaside Heights and provide enough energy to power 600,000 homes. State regulators did not identify the company when bids were received in August — one of four received as the state pushes to become the East Coast hub of the nascent offshore wind industry.

Wind power developers have struggled to make progress, however, due to supply chain issues, higher interest rates, and a failure so far to garner enough tax credits from the federal government.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

NOAA Weighs Cod Research Near Offshore Wind Projects

October 2, 2023 — An area south of the Island near where several offshore wind energy companies have secured leases could soon be studied due to the potential adverse effects on cod spawning grounds.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is considering creating a “Habitat Area of Particular Concern” designation for the area in and around offshore wind farms in southern New England, including Cox Ledge. The designation was recommended by interstate fishing officials to mitigate the environmental impacts of new wind farm projects.

Read the full article at the Vineyard Gazette

NEW JERSEY: Another New Jersey survey shows sharp plunge in support for offshore wind

September 29, 2023 — A new Stockton University Poll shows New Jersey public support for building offshore wind turbines took a steep dive over the past four years, especially among residents in areas along the ocean and bays – where the plans for wind power once enjoyed 77 percent support.

Today that support has plunged to 33 percent among the latest poll respondents in coastal areas, the Stockton pollsters reported this week.

The findings follow months of intense news coverage about whale strandings on Jersey Shore beaches, and furious campaigning from offshore wind project opponents who say construction will damage the fishing industry. Another big worry is how visual impact of turbines seen from the beach could hurt property values and the summer tourism economy.

Overall support among New Jersey residents still favors offshore wind energy development, with 50 percent in favor of the state’s plans to for building turbines arrays and 33 percent opposed, leaving 16 percent were unsure.

Yet statewide, “the results reflect a drop of 30 percentage points from the findings of a September 2019 Stockton Poll that asked an identical question,” noted pollsters with the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton. “In 2019, 80 percent of adult New Jersey residents supported offshore wind farms.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

RHODE ISLAND: RI Energy hopes to build 1200MW offshore wind farm

September 29, 2023 — Despite the Ocean State’s largest utility company pulling out of another offshore wind project earlier this year, Rhode Island Energy is still interested in developing clean energy projects of its own.

The company announced Thursday that it will issue an official request for project proposals to build a 1200-megawatt offshore wind farm in October.

The McKee administration said submissions to the RFP will likely be due in early 2024 and will be evaluated by Rhode Island Energy, the Office of Energy Resources, and the Division of Public Utilities and Carriers.

Read the full article at WPRI

Federal government completes environmental review of Dominion’s offshore wind project

September 29, 2023 — Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, which when built will be the largest offshore wind farm in the U.S., drew one step closer to construction after the federal government completed an environmental review of the plans Monday.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s issuance of the final environmental impact statement means the 2.6 gigawatt project continues to be on track for construction to begin early next year, with a completion date in late 2026. The last federal regulatory approval needed for work to start is BOEM’s record of decision, which is expected to be issued this fall.

“The completion of our environmental review marks another step towards a clean energy future — one that benefits communities and co-exists with other ocean users,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein in a statement. “The best available science and knowledge shared by Tribes, other government agencies, local communities, ocean users, industry, environmental organizations and others informed the analyses contained in this document.”

Approved in August 2022 by Virginia’s utility regulators, the State Corporation Commission, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project (CVOW) would consist of 176 wind turbines and three offshore substations located 27 miles off Virginia Beach. It is expected to produce enough electricity to power 1 million homes.

Read the full article at Virginia Mercury

Fifth Circuit postpones federal ruling on offshore lease sales in Gulf of Mexico

September 28, 2023 — Last week a federal judge ruled the Biden administration must go through with offshore lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico by Sept. 27 as originally planned and under original conditions. One week later, the Fifth Circuit amended the ruling, pushing back the lease sale date to Nov. 8.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, who sued over another restriction imposed on the industry, said the ruling was “a major win not only for the rule of law, but also for Louisiana jobs and affordable energy. At a time when working families are being squeezed by unaffordable Bidenomics, I am glad to deliver yet another victory defeating overreaching bureaucrats.

“Congress is clear: lease sales must take place; so we are grateful the Judge cut through the noise and upheld the law,” Landry added. He also said “our fight is far from over,” the initial ruling granted relief “against the President’s latest attack on reliable and affordable American energy.”

The U.S. oil and natural gas industry, led by the Gulf states of Texas and Louisiana, have set records in petroleum exports and led in exports of liquified natural gas in the first half of 2023. The industry has also provided a “lifeline” to European countries reducing reliance on Russia and suffering from failed “green energy” policies, according to data previously reported on by The Center Square.

Read the full article The Center Square

 

Threat to whales cited in wind project appeal

September 27, 2023 — A group of Nantucket residents opposed to an offshore wind installation that is nearing completion want another round in their long-running legal fight.

The Nantucket Residents Against Turbines organization, which refers to itself as ACK RATS, late last week filed an appeal challenging a federal judge’s ruling in May that effectively dismissed the group’s prior complaint against the Vineyard Wind project.

Plaintiffs continue to argue that federal regulators including the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management failed to consider risks the wind turbines pose to North Atlantic right whales, an endangered species with only a few hundred animals remaining in the wild. Citing the threat of vessel strikes and whales experiencing hearing loss from turbine pile-driving and operation, the group alleges that allowing Vineyard Wind to proceed will push the whales closer to a “watery grave.”

Read the full article at WWLP

Nantucket group files appeal in lawsuit against wind turbine farm off Martha’s Vineyard; alleges right whales in danger

September 27, 2023 — A group opposing an offshore wind farm being built south of Martha’s Vineyard has appealed a ruling that dismissed its lawsuit to halt the project, arguing that a “gravely flawed environmental review” failed to consider the dangers the turbines pose to the vulnerable North Atlantic Right Whale population.

Nantucket Residents Against Turbines filed its appeal last week in the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, after US District Court Judge Indira Talwani in May dismissed its lawsuit, records show.

The defendants are the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Marine Fisheries Service, US Interior Secretary Debra Haaland, US Commerce Secretary Gina M. Raimondo, and wind farm developer Vineyard Wind 1 LLC, according to court records and the group’s lawyer, Thomas Stavola Jr.

Read the full article at the Boston Globe

California takes big first step toward floating offshore wind

September 27, 2023 — California has a goal of building gigawatts of wind power off its coast by the end of the decade. To meet that goal, it has to create a floating offshore wind industry from scratch.

Last week, state lawmakers took a key step in that process: passing a bill that would help California kick-start its nascent offshore wind industry by purchasing massive amounts of power from early-stage projects that might be too big or too risky for other potential buyers.

The passage of AB 1373, which Governor Gavin Newsom (D) has pledged to sign into law, is just the first in a series of steps needed to build the massive offshore transmission lines, port facilities, turbine manufacturing capacity and extensive supply chains needed to reach its goals. But energy industry groups agree that without the central procurement mechanism the bill aims to create, California’s offshore wind ambitions won’t become reality.

“This was the tip-of-the-spear issue,” said Molly Croll, director of Pacific offshore wind at American Clean Power, a clean energy trade group. ​“It doesn’t provide complete market certainty — but it provides much more market clarity than we had before.”

If signed into law, AB 1373 would allow the California Public Utilities Commission to authorize the California Department of Water Resources, which operates dams and aqueducts across the state, to sign contracts committing to purchase gigawatts’ worth of generation from yet-to-be-built offshore wind farms and then pass the costs on to all Californians.

Read the full article at Canary Media

NOAA could designate cod habitat around Cox Ledge, wind power sites

September 27, 2023 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is considering whether to outline a “habitat area of particular concern’ in and around offshore wind lease areas off southern New England.

The proposal, originated by the New England Fishery Management Council over concerns of how wind development will affect essential fish habitat, would include Cox Ledge, an important bottom area for cod spawning. NOAA, the Bureau of Offshore Energy Management, fishermen and wind power developers have grappled for years over how to build turbine arrays while protecting cod habitat in the region.

The often-bitter debate was one factor in the Sept. 1 mass resignation of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Advisory Board, whose members charged the state Coastal Resource Management Council is too deferential to wind development interests at the expense of habitat and fisheries impacts.

NOAA Fisheries on Sept. 26 published the proposal for a formal habitat of particular concern (HAPC) designation around Cox Ledge and wind energy leases in the Federal Register, opening a 30-day public comment period.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman