Saving Seafood

You Asked, We Answered: Are Offshore Wind Developers Responsible For Fishing Gear Damaged In A Wind Farm?

July 26, 2019 — Our first offshore wind question is from Samual Freeman: Why are offshore wind developers allowed to destroy commercial fishing gear and not be responsible for the cost to find and replace this? 

So, there’s a lot going on in this question. Fishermen are worried that wind farms are going to bull-doze their way into their territory and destroy their livelihoods. But here’s what we know: if a fisherman can prove that gear is damaged as the result of a wind farm, the wind developer will be responsible for compensating the fisherman for the cost of the gear and any potential lost income.

Every developer has a slightly different process in how they handle these claims. But in the end, if a fisherman’s claim is found to be valid, the developer must pay for the damage. It’s the law.

What else are wind developers doing to compensate fishermen for any potential lost or damaged gear?

So, Vineyard Wind — which is expected to build the country’s first large scale offshore wind farm — has setup a compensation plan for Rhode Island and Massachusetts fishermen which includes a trust fund to pay them for any unexpected expenses like damaged fishing gear.

Fishermen say the fund doesn’t have enough money in it to truly compensate fishermen in the event of an accident. But Vineyard Wind has told me there will be no financial limits on valid loss gear claims…even if it exceeds the trust fund amount.

Read the full story at The Public’s Radio

Official: Congress members involved in Vineyard Wind push

July 24, 2019 — Members of Congress have become involved in trying to move Vineyard Wind forward, a top Baker administration official said Tuesday as lobbying intensifies to advance what state officials hope will be the nation’s first commercial-scale offshore wind project.

Energy and Environmental Affairs Undersecretary Patrick Woodcock told members of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center Board Tuesday about the involvement of members of Congress since the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management indicated it would not decide on a key project approval this month, as anticipated.

The 800-megawatt project’s future is pertinent to the center because the project has a lease with the MCEC in New Bedford, Woodcock said.

Read the full story at the Worcester Business Journal

Vineyard Wind wants federal review within 6 weeks

July 19, 2019 — Vineyard Wind has given the federal agency in charge of permits for its offshore wind farm up to six weeks to issue a key environmental review document, after the agency announced last week it would not meet a summer deadline.

“Through all of our communications with government officials, it has been made clear to us that there was no intention to prevent the Vineyard Wind 1 project from moving forward,” the New Bedford-based company said in a statement Thursday.

The company has told the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, though, that for a variety of reasons “it would be very challenging” to move ahead with the 84-turbine project south of the Islands in its current configuration if the final environmental impact statement is not issued within approximately four to six weeks.

The final impact statement is a review of the $2 billion construction of the offshore wind farm and its operation. The statement is a key document but one of a half-dozen federal reviews underway for the project.

In its statement, Vineyard Wind said the federal agency indicated that it understood the reasons for the company’s constraints and that it intended to communicate that to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt. Vineyard Wind said it has communicated directly with Bernhardt as well about its concerns regarding the delay.

“Vineyard Wind notes that it is not unusual for there to be ongoing review of an environmental impact statement as it makes its way through the internal approval process, especially for a project of this significance,” the company said in the statement. “The National Environmental Policy Act requires an environmental impact statement to consider all best available information, which we believe BOEM has done. We are therefore confident that any remaining reviews can be concluded and an FEIS released soon after.”

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Vineyard Wind Officials Concerned with Environmental Review Delay

July 19, 2019 — Vineyard Wind officials are warning federal regulators that further delay without the release of an environmental review could jeopardize the project.

The company has informed the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management that if an Environmental Impact Statement is not issued within the next four to six weeks “it would be very challenging to move forward the Vineyard Wind 1 project in its current configuration.”

In a statement, Vineyard Wind said BOEM has indicated they understand the reasons for this constraint and will communicate the companies concerns to the Secretary of the Interior, who is responsible for the final action on the project.

Vineyard Wind has also reached out directly to the Secretary about its concerns regarding the EIS delay.

The project, which would be located 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, would be the nation’s first large-scale offshore wind facility.

The proposed 800-megawatt wind farm would include more than 80 turbines and generate enough energy to power 400,000 homes.

The EIS is part of the project’s comprehensive public and regulatory review process that involves an evaluation by more than 25 federal, state, and local regulatory bodies.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Baker, Vineyard Wind mum on Feds’ project guidance

July 18, 2019 — The federal government has offered new “guidance” on the Vineyard Wind offshore wind project, Gov. Charlie Baker said, but neither the governor’s team nor project officials will talk about it.

The Baker administration chose Vineyard Wind in May 2018 for the state’s first commercial-scale offshore wind effort under a 2016 clean energy law and state officials are counting on the project to produce 800 megawatts of power and touting its importance to the state’s renewable energy portfolio. In April, state regulators approved long-term contracts between Vineyard Wind and the state’s electricity distribution companies.

But project officials announced last week that the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) was not ready, as Vineyard Wind expected it to be, to complete a critical final environmental impact statement.

A long delay could affect project financing, as well as plans to start construction later this year and become operational in 2021, but questions remain about the federal government’s stance on the project.

In Connecticut on Tuesday, Baker said that his team and project officials have been given a clearer understanding of the issues in play, and are working this month to address them.

“We’ve talked to the federal agencies about this,” Baker said. “They’ve made pretty clear to us that the reason they didn’t render a decision and the reason why they didn’t put a date on rendering a decision was because they wanted to continue the dialogue and the discussion with Vineyard Wind around some of the outstanding issues and they gave Vineyard Wind and us a fair amount of guidance with respect to the things we should focus on and people are going to be focusing on those between now and the end of the month.”

On Wednesday, a Baker spokesman declined to comment when asked about the nature of the project guidance.

A Vineyard Wind spokesman also declined to comment when asked what the feds have told project officials.

Baker, who says Vineyard Wind will be the largest offshore wind project in the country and will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, on Wednesday said he thought the federal government treated offshore wind projects as “standalone, fact specific issues.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Feds share ‘fair amount of guidance’ with state, Vineyard Wind

July 17, 2019 — Days after the Trump administration injected a level of uncertainty into the Vineyard Wind project planned off of Martha’s Vineyard, Gov. Charlie Baker said the federal government has given his administration and the company a “fair amount of guidance” about the decision to delay a key permit.

Baker, who met Tuesday afternoon on the campus of Eastern Connecticut State University with Govs. Ned Lamont of Connecticut and Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island, also said he did not think federal regulators were trying to send any broader message about their approach to offshore wind development.

The Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management notified Vineyard Wind last week that the government was “not yet prepared” to issue a final environmental impact statement for the 800 megawatt wind power project, which the the state is trying to advance in connection with its 2016 clean energy law.

The indefinite delay in the decision, which was expected on July 12, threw a wrench in the project’s tight timeline, which has a construction start date this fall and is scheduled to be operational in 2021.

Baker said he thought the federal government treated offshore wind projects as “standalone, fact specific issues,” rather than trying to send a broader message to the industry by holding up the Vineyard Wind permit.

“There’s no question the fact that the Vineyard Wind one is the biggest project of its kind in U.S. history. It means it’s receiving what I would describe as a significant and probably more significant level of scrutiny, probably appropriately from the federal agencies,” Baker said.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Vineyard Wind Dealt Setbacks By Local, U.S. Regulators

July 15, 2019 — The company hoping to build a planned wind farm off Massachusetts is appealing to the state after the project hit snags with local and federal regulators.

The Edgartown Conservation Commission on Martha’s Vineyard voted this week to deny Vineyard Wind’s application to lay transmission cables that would pass about a mile east of Edgartown.

Separately, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has delayed issuing a final environmental impact statement that would help clear the way for construction of the 84-turbine, 800-megawatt wind farm.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WBUR

VINEYARD WIND: Notice to Mariners and Fishermen No. 15

July 15, 2019 — The following was released by Vineyard Wind:

This notice replaces Notice No. 14. We wanted to let you know that Vineyard Wind will begin geological surveys on July 9th. The estimated duration is approximately 10 days, ending on July 19th (weather dependent). Surveys will take place nearshore in Centerville Harbor. Please see the full notice to fishermen and mariners here.

We encourage fishermen who may be working in the survey area to contact the fishery liaison.

This survey will gather data on the subfloor conditions that will assist in characterizing the subsurface conditions along the proposed offshore horizontal directional drilling (HDD) route.

Vineyard Wind is committed to communicating and working with the local fishermen in the region during all stages of development of the proposed offshore wind farm.

If you have any questions, please contact Erik Peckar, Fishery Liaison via email at erik@vineyardpower.com or via cell phone at 703-244-9585.

Vineyard Wind to request superseding order from MassDEP to avoid project delays

July 12, 2019 — Vineyard Wind says that it will request a superseding order from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) to overturn denial of the project’s application before the Edgartown Conservation Commission. The company announced yesterday that U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management delayed the issuance of Vineyard Wind’s final environmental impact statement.

“Vineyard Wind always places a priority on working with local communities, and was fully responsive to all information requests received from the Edgartown Conservation Commission,” said Erich Stephens, Chief Development Officer for Vineyard Wind. “We are disappointed in the Commission’s decision, which was flawed, inconsistent with the evidence before it, and in contrast to the conclusions of many other regulatory authorities.”

The offshore developer stressed that the project provided the Edgartown Commission with a detailed, comprehensive filing, then responded to all additional requests for information.

Read the full story at Wind Power Engineering & Development

Feds: Vineyard Wind review window ends in 2020

July 12, 2019 — The federal agency evaluating the environmental impact of Vineyard Wind provided no explanation for its decision to extend the time period for review beyond Friday, but noted it has until March 2020 to complete its work, several months after the offshore wind developer had planned to begin construction.

Stephen Boutwell, a spokesman for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, issued a statement Thursday afternoon saying the agency is continuing to evaluate the environmental impact of the project.

“Proposed offshore wind facilities are major infrastructure projects, and BOEM is still within the two-year review window established under Executive Order 13807 to complete its reviews,” the statement said. “When the work has concluded, BOEM will publish its findings and notify all stakeholders.”

The federal agency published a notice of intent to issue an environmental impact statement for Vineyard Wind in the Federal Register on March 30, 2018, which would mean the two-year window would end on the same date in 2020.

The timing is important because Vineyard Wind is operating on a very tight construction schedule calling for work to begin this year and be completed in 2021. A delay of any length could jeopardize that schedule and put the company at risk of missing key milestones in its power-supply contracts with Massachusetts utilities.

Read the full story at The Commonwealth Magazine