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MASSACHUSETTS: Feds hear SouthCoast voices at Vineyard Wind hearing

February 19, 2019 — So many people turned out for Thursday’s hearing on Vineyard Wind — about 140 — that some had to stand where they could not see the presentation.

But no one came for the presentation on the proposed 800-megawatt wind farm south of Martha’s Vineyard; they came to officially register their comments with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and to hear others’ remarks.

The hearing at the Waypoint Event Center was one of five around the region to collect public comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, a required step before the wind farm can win approval.

An emcee from BOEM invited each commenter to sit across from a panel of three BOEM employees at the front of the room. Commenters’ backs faced the audience. A court reporter recorded the entire session.

Vineyard Wind intends to build 84 turbines, but the federal document would allow up to 100, depending on the turbines’ capacity.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Vineyard Wind can seek local permits for cable

February 7, 2019 — Vineyard Wind can now move forward with regional and local permitting for its planned offshore wind farm after receiving a critical certificate from state environmental officials, and regulators on the Cape and Islands say they are ready.

“We’ve looked at cables before,” said Paul Foley, the development of regional impact coordinator with the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

The commission will hold its first public hearing Feb. 21 on Vineyard Wind’s cable-laying plans after receiving a referral from the Edgartown Conservation Commission. The hearing is only on the cables but Foley said he expects community members to be curious about the entire project, which could be the first industrial scale offshore wind farm in the country.

As planned, the two undersea cables would start at an 84-turbine wind farm 15 miles south of the Vineyard and then run north between the Vineyard and Nantucket, in Muskeget Channel, to William H. Covell Memorial Beach in Barnstable, which is the company’s first choice for landfall. The cables would then run underground for about five miles to a new substation off Independence Drive, where they will connect to an existing substation that leads to the regional electricity grid.

Read the full story from the Cape Cod Times at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Vineyard Wind hearing rescheduled for Valentine’s Day

February 5, 2019 — After more than a month’s delay due to the government shutdown, a public hearing on the environmental effects of Vineyard Wind has been rescheduled for Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14.

The hearing in New Bedford is one of five across the region that will address environmental issues in Vineyard Wind’s construction and operations plan. The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is collecting public comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement before the draft is finalized.

As the winner of Massachusetts’ first commercial contract for offshore wind energy, Vineyard Wind intends to build 84 turbines in federal waters south of Martha’s Vineyard. The hearings are a required part of the federal permitting for the 800-megawatt project.

On Friday, Vineyard Wind Chief Development Officer Erich Stephens spoke at a meeting of local business leaders, who have been looking for details about how the money the company has committed for worker training and business development will be put to use.

The New Bedford hearing will take place at the Waypoint Event Center, with an open house from 5 to 8 p.m. and presentation and question-and-answer session at 6 p.m.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Government shutdown delays meetings between fishermen, Vineyard Wind

January 29, 2019 — Despite the partial federal government shutdown ending, public comment meetings led by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management regarding Vineyard Wind’s plan to construct an offshore wind-turbine farm have been indefinitely postponed, according to David Bernhardt, acting secretary of the interior.

Meetings were scheduled Jan. 8, 9, 15, 16 and 17 but were continually pushed back as the government shutdown extended and BOEM workers were forced to stay home. Bernhardt tweeted Jan. 24 that BOEM would “reschedule public meetings for the Vineyard Wind offshore renewable project very soon,” but gave no timeline on the issue.

Despite the delay in public comment meetings, “construction activities on the site will begin by the end of this year” if all permits are secured, Vineyard Wind spokesman Scott Farmelant said. “Every single permit is expected to be getting in by the end of the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter,” he added. Vineyard Wind has a tax credit from the federal government should they begin building in 2019, so the timeline for construction is crucial. “They’re eligible for 12 percent tax credit if they begin construction this year,” Farmelant said. “That program is expiring as of right now.”

Vineyard Wind is confident the project will remain on schedule despite the effects of the shutdown, Farmelant said.

Read the full story at The Brown Daily Herald

Vineyard Wind offers concessions to fishermen, environmentalists

January 25, 2019 — Vineyard Wind officials are not waiting for federal officials to return to their desks: The company has reached an agreement with environmental groups to protect North Atlantic right whales and has offered Rhode Island fishermen a $6.3 million deal to compensate them for any economic damages they may incur from the wind farm’s construction and operations.

“We have not voted yet,” said Lanny Dellinger, chairman of a fisheries advisory board of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council. “We are currently in the process of reviewing (the Vineyard Wind) proposal.”

On both fronts the company’s intention, in part, is to pave a smooth path for the 800-megawatt wind farm project planned south of Martha’s Vineyard, which is on a tight schedule to take advantage of federal investment tax credits that are expiring at the end of the year.

The 84-turbine wind farm is expected to deliver enough electricity to power about 400,000 homes in Massachusetts via an underwater, high-voltage cable that will land on a Barnstable beach, company officials said. As planned, it could be the nation’s first industrial-size offshore wind project.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Massachusetts wind-power project to move forward despite shutdown

January 25, 2019 — The U.S. Interior Department will press forward with a wind power project during the partial government shutdown using money already granted by Congress, its acting head announced Thursday.

The move could assuage Democrats’ concerns about the Trump administration pushing for oil drilling in the Arctic during the shutdown, which has lasted 34 days.

Avangrid Renewables wants to build an 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts near Martha’s Vineyard. Public meetings on the project were canceled during the shutdown and will be rescheduled, according to acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.

Wind is generally viewed as an alternative to fossil fuels that is better for the environment because it is renewable, readily available and does not create air emissions.

Read the full story at Reuters

Wind project partners with environmentalists on rare whales

January 24, 2019 — The developer of an offshore wind energy project is partnering with environmental groups on a plan to try to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

The whale is one of the rarest marine mammals. It’s thought to number only 411 individuals . The animals travel through New England waters every year.

Vineyard Wind, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation and the Conservation Law Foundation announced an agreement designed to protect the whales on Wednesday.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times

No word on extension for input on wind farm south of Martha’s Vineyard

January 23, 2019 — As deadlines near for public comment on state and federal environmental reviews of Vineyard Wind’s proposed offshore wind energy project, the federal cutoff of Tuesday remains up in the air due to the ongoing partial government shutdown.

“The project team hasn’t heard anything from (the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) as the agency remains shuttered,” Vineyard Wind spokesman Scott Farmelant said.

An email to a spokeswoman for the bureau generated an automatic response that she is out of the office and not authorized to work at this time because of the shutdown.

Read the full story at Cape Cod Times

Fishermen: Gov. Raimondo sidelined us from wind-power talks

January 16, 2019 — Rhode Island fishermen are accusing Gov. Gina Raimondo of cutting them out of talks with Vineyard Wind about compensation for lost access to ocean fishing grounds where the New Bedford company plans to install 84 giant wind turbines.

The state’s Fishermen’s Advisory Board, the group convened to represent the commercial and recreational fishing industries in the face of offshore renewable energy development, is set to meet Tuesday to consider a potential payout from Vineyard Wind. Yet, as of late Monday, the board had not received any details of a proposal.

Lanny Dellinger, chairman of the fishermen’s board, questioned why he and other members have been kept in the dark. He also said any negotiations that have taken place have violated state regulations.

“I don’t know why the governor feels it’s more important to benefit Vineyard Wind than our own fishing industry,” he said. “Maybe we’re just small potatoes in their eyes and easy to run over.”

Raimondo spokesman Josh Block said that the governor’s office “has been in contact with Vineyard Wind regarding an economic-development package for Rhode Island if the project is approved,” but he referred questions about compensation to the state Department of Environmental Management, which regulates the fishing industries.

DEM spokesman Michael Healey said the agency’s “only role is developing a science-based estimate of the value of the commercial fishing landings in the proposed Vineyard Wind construction area over 30 years” — the estimated project lifespan.

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

 

US Government Shutdown Slows Progress on Offshore Wind Projects

January 14, 2019 — Vineyard Wind has emerged as the first U.S. offshore wind project to face delays caused by the ongoing federal shutdown.

Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners were due to start building the 800-megawatt wind farm off of Massachusetts this year, but they have already seen postponements to two public meetings relating to the project’s draft environmental impact statement.

The meetings were scheduled for Jan. 8 and 9 with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, an agency within the Department of the Interior. Further public meetings with BOEM on Jan. 15 and 16 seem likely to be pushed back as the partial shutdown continues.

“As far as I’m aware, there’s no clarity on when they will be held,” said Richard Heap, editor-in-chief at the wind industry information service A Word About Wind.

BOEM’s press team was not available to comment because of the shutdown. An out-of-office message confirmed staff are not allowed to work until the federal budget issue had been resolved.

On Jan. 7, Vineyard Wind issued a statement encouraging members of the public to submit comments online to BOEM. “BOEM continues to accept online comments during the shutdown,” Vineyard Wind said.

Read the full story at Green Tech Media