Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Liasion picked for wind farms, fishermen

November 21, 2018 — The New Bedford Port Authority will serve as the designated fisheries representative for offshore wind developers in the Rhode Island and Massachusetts markets.

The Port of New Bedford announced the agreement Tuesday, saying the authority will fill a role that’s required under federal guidelines issued by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

The port authority will serve as the fishing community’s primary point of contact for communicating project-related concerns to the developers, port officials said.

Vineyard Wind and Orsted are pursuing commercial energy projects in the waters off Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

According to the port authority, it will act as a clearinghouse for information, facilitate talks between fishermen and developers, and advocate for ways to mitigate impacts on commercial fishing from wind turbines.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

Vineyard Wind loses backing of a fishing board, decision may have serious consequences for proposed offshore wind farm

November 21, 2018 — Vineyard Wind is facing an uphill battle to secure a key approval from Rhode Island coastal regulators for its 800-megawatt offshore wind farm after a state fishing board refused to back the $2-billion project.

The Fishermen’s Advisory Board, which advises the Coastal Resources Management Council on fishing issues related to offshore wind, voted unanimously Monday to deny its support out of fear that the layout of the project’s 84 towering wind turbines in Rhode Island Sound would close off fishing grounds that are considered some of the most productive for the state’s commercial fleet.

The proposal is now set to go before the coastal council on Nov. 27, with what’s known as a “consistency certification” on the line. Vineyard Wind has asked for a stay in proceedings, but CRMC executive director Grover Fugate made it clear at the meeting on Monday that the current layout doesn’t fit within the Rhode Island policy that guides offshore development.

“Because of the [Ocean Special Area Management Plan], we’re there to protect the [fishing] industry,” he said. “We’re there to ensure that it continues into the future.”

Even though the Vineyard Wind project would supply power to Massachusetts and be located in federal waters far from the Rhode Island coast, the state has jurisdiction through the consistency process. Under federal law, if a project would impact Rhode Island coastal resources or activities, such as fishing, it must be carried out in a way that is consistent with state policies.

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

 

Fisheries Researchers Map Habitats Ahead of Offshore Wind Development

November 9, 2018 — HYANNIS, Mass. – NOAA Fisheries researchers are helping to inform federal managers and developers on the impacts that construction and operation of offshore wind facilities will have on ocean bottom habitats and fisheries.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center conducted four years of research to build a database of information, including water temperatures, topography, sediments, currents and marine life in the eight Wind Energy Areas authorized by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management along the East Coast.

The designated WEAs encompass just over 4,000 square nautical miles of seafloor from Massachusetts to North Carolina. About 40 percent of the area has actually been leased to date, including the Vineyard Wind project development south of Martha’s Vineyard.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology Seeks Fisheries Input Via Public Workshops

November 6, 2018 — The following was released by Vineyard Wind:

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) will host four workshops with the region’s fishing industry to identify priorities for assessments of impacts on fisheries and ecological conditions that are associated with offshore wind development. These priorities, which focus on effects before, during and after construction, will be used to aid the design of studies of the Vineyard Wind project, which will be the nation’s first utility-scale offshore wind project.

The SMAST studies, which are part of a collaborative agreement between the school and Vineyard Wind, seek to further public understanding about the effects of offshore wind development and inform future permitting and public policy decisions regarding wind energy facility siting. The fishing industry has raised important questions about the impacts of offshore wind development on the marine environment and on sea life. The comprehensive research effort by SMAST will help establish a robust body of knowledge to benefit the American offshore wind industry and the fishing community long after the first Vineyard Wind project is completed.

Information that is collected by SMAST will be publicly available to help inform future offshore wind permitting and public policy decisions.

SMAST’s scoping workshops for the fishing sector are scheduled as follows:

New Bedford, MA; Thursday, November 8th, 6-8 p.m.
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST)
836 South Rodney French Boulevard

Kingston, RI; Thursday, November 15th, 6-8 p.m.
Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island
East Farm Campus Building 61B URI

Chatham, MA; Monday, November 19th, 6-8 p.m.
Chatham Community Center
792 Main Street

West Tisbury, MA; Monday, December 3rd, 6-8 p.m.
West Tisbury Library
1042 State Road

Vineyard Wind was selected in May 2018 to negotiate long-term contracts with Massachusetts’ electric distribution companies (EDCs) for construction of an 800-megawatt (MW) wind farm 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard; these contracts have now been signed and are pending before the Department of Public Utilities for approval. Vineyard Wind remains on scheduleto begin on-shore construction in 2019 and become operational by 2021.

The Vineyard Wind project continues to move ahead with public and regulatory review through more than 25 federal, state, and local approval processes. These include Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (federal Environmental Impact Statement), the Army Corps of Engineers, the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, Massachusetts DEP and CZM, the Cape Cod Commission and local conservation commissions.

Vineyard Wind signs $9 million lease at New Bedford commerce pier

October 24, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — A heavy-lift pier in this South Coast fishing port will see plenty of use as a staging area for the nation’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm.

Vineyard Wind on Monday signed a $6 million annual lease to use the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal for at least 18 months. The total comes to $9 million unless the lease is extended.

The 29-acre marine terminal, owned and operated by the quasi-public Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, was custom-built to support the construction, assembly, and transport of offshore wind components. It is equipped with mobile crane and load features “that rival the highest capacity ports in the world,” and also handles other large marine cargo, according to the agency.

Vineyard Wind in May won a state contest to provide Massachusetts utilities with 800 megawatts of clean power. It has leased a 160,000 acre federal area 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. The company plans an underwater transmission cable that will land on Cape Cod.

Read the full story at MassLive

 

Vineyard Wind Signs Milestone Lease Deal With Massachusetts

October 23, 2018 — Massachusetts’ Baker-Polito administration and Vineyard Wind have announced a lease agreement to use the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal as the primary staging and deployment location for Vineyard Wind’s offshore development.

In May, an 800 MW offshore wind farm proposed by Vineyard Wind, a joint venture of Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, was selected as the winning bid under Massachusetts’ 83C offshore wind solicitation.

Constructed and operated by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal is a 29-acre heavy-lift facility designed to support the construction, assembly and deployment of offshore wind projects, as well as handle bulk, break-bulk, container and large specialty marine cargo. The new agreement between MassCEC and Vineyard Wind represents a commitment to an 18-month lease at $6 million annually.

“By signing this lease agreement with Vineyard Wind, we have achieved another major milestone to secure long-term jobs and economic growth for the people of Massachusetts,” says Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito. “Establishing an offshore wind supply chain in Massachusetts is critical to our mission to strengthen our economy while reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.”

In April, MassCEC released a report on the workforce needs and economic impact of the emerging offshore wind industry. It found that the deployment of 1,600 MW of offshore wind is estimated to support 6,870-9,850 job years over the next 10 years and generate a total economic impact in Massachusetts of $1.4 billion-$2.1 billion.

“The New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal provides Massachusetts with an important piece of infrastructure that will be critical in helping the offshore wind industry to establish operations in this new American marketplace,” says Stephen Pike, CEO of MassCEC.

“Today’s announcement not only cements Vineyard Wind’s commitment to stage the nation’s first industrial-scale offshore wind project from the Port of New Bedford, but it reinforces New Bedford’s leadership position in offshore wind energy,” adds New Bedford’s mayor, Jon Mitchell.

Read the full story at North American Wind Power

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape Cod landing for offshore wind cable approved by Barnstable

October 23, 2018 — If all goes as planned, an underwater transmission cable for the nation’s first commercial-scale offshore wind plant will land at a Cape Cod beach.

Barnstable officials on Thursday agreed to grant Vineyard Wind a power cable easement at Covell Beach in the village of Centerville. The vote followed negotiation of a host community agreement that will pay the town up to $32 million over the next 25 years.

Vineyard Wind, based in New Bedford, says it’s on schedule to build its wind power station 34 miles off Cape Cod and 14 miles from Martha’s Vineyard. The company plans 106 turbines in a $2 billion project, and hopes to be operational in 2021.

The state’s Energy Facilities siting Board will have final say over the cable route, and environmental and fisheries considerations are part of the discussion. Other state and federal permits are still needed.

Vineyard Wind is a 50-50 partnership between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Renewables, and was selected in May by state officials and utility representatives to supply 800 megawatts of renewable power to Massachusetts.

The project will reduce the state’s carbon emissions by over 1.6 million tons per year, the equivalent of removing 325,000 cars, and power 400,000 homes, the company stated.

Read the full story at MassLive

BOEM requires transit corridors for offshore wind energy areas

October 22, 2018 — The federal Bureau of Offshore Energy Management is requiring offshore wind energy developers to set aside vessel transit corridors, amid intense discussions with the commercial fishing industry.

In a notice published Friday in the Federal Register, the agency announced it would offer an additional 390,000 acres south of Massachusetts for lease on Dec. 13. That would extend large areas already leased from Block Island, R.I., to south of Martha’s Vineyard.

The BOEM notice includes a new requirement for planning safe transit lanes through future arrays of turbine towers on the shallow continental shelf.

“The fishing industry has raised concerns with the ability to safely transit the existing and offered leases, particularly with their ability to quickly and safely return to port during inclement weather,” agency officials wrote.

At a Sept. 20 meeting in Massachusetts, Coast Guard officials and fishing industry groups proposed transit lanes through the leases to BOEM and wind developers Baystate Wind, Vineyard Wind and Deepwater Wind (since merged with Norwegian energy company Equinor, formerly known as Statoil).

“Representatives from the squid, groundfish, scallop, and other fisheries agreed that the two nautical-mile-wide transit corridors through the existing leases would provide the ability to safely transit to and from the fishing grounds. BOEM expects these, or similar, transit corridors to be finalized in the near future, and future lessees will be required to incorporate them into their plans,” the lease sale notice states.

Read the full story at Work Boat   

 

RODA Hosts Vineyard Wind Workshop October 31st in Warwick, R.I.

October 22, 2018 — The following was released by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance:

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) will convene a one-day workshop on October 31st, 2018 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick, Rhode Island from 9 am-5 pm. The workshop will have two objectives:

To establish consensus on fishing transit lanes on the Vineyard Wind and adjacent lease sites; and
To provide broad-level input to Vineyard Wind regarding potential fisheries mitigation framework strategies.

This facilitated workshop will include representatives from the affected fishing industry, the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Vineyard Wind, Ørsted, Deepwater Wind, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, National Marine Fisheries Service, and others. We urge all interested fishing industry participants to attend and provide feedback on these critically important issues.

Background

The Massachusetts Fisheries Working Group on Offshore Wind has spent considerable time over the past several months developing consensus on transit corridors through the wind energy lease sites in federal waters off of Massachusetts and Rhode Island that are acceptable to the fishing industry from safety and operational perspectives. The Rhode Island Fisheries Advisory Board has also engaged at length on this issue. At its meeting on September 20th, the Massachusetts group finalized a document that represented broad consensus from fishing industry and other participants. That recommendation is described in the following map:

Since then, certain interests have stated that they will not support the recommendation and there is now a great deal of uncertainty regarding what transit lanes will ultimately be proposed and approved. Therefore, this workshop is intended to consider minor revisions to that recommendation in order to achieve certainty surrounding the transit issue, using the MA consensus document as a starting point for the discussion.

Additionally, Vineyard Wind is in the process of developing fisheries mitigation recommendations for its lease site, which it will finalize in the very near future. This forum will allow an opportunity for the fishing industry to provide general input on elements of a successful mitigation plan for Vineyard Wind’s consideration.

For questions or additional information, please contact Annie Hawkins at annie@rodafisheries.org.

MASSACHUSETTS: Feds see much potential in state’s offshore wind

October 19, 2018 — The federal government plans in December to hold an offshore wind auction featuring 390,000 acres off the coast of Massachusetts, an area that officials say could provide enough power to serve 1.5 million homes.

“The Massachusetts sale has a lot of potential for both energy and economic activity,” Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said in a statement after announcing plans for the Dec. 13 auction while addressing the American Wind Energy Association’s Offshore Wind Conference on Wednesday in Washington.

The federal government has previously leased waters off the coast of Massachusetts for offshore wind development and one of those leaseholders, Vineyard Wind, was selected by state and utility officials to build an 800-megawatt commercial wind energy installation south of Martha’s Vineyard.

On March 30, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced its notice to prepare an environmental impact statement for the construction and operations plan submitted by Vineyard Wind.

Read the full story at The Salem News