Virginia Archives - Page 21 of 66

VIRGINIA: Youngkin administration warns feds new wind areas could hurt commercial fisheries

July 1, 2022 — Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration told federal officials that large areas of ocean off Virginia being considered as potential offshore wind sites could cause “millions of dollars of negative impact to Virginia’s commercial fishing industries.”

“While supportive of the growth of the offshore wind industry and the opportunities for the commonwealth to provide critical support to the offshore wind industry supply chain and become a key hub for future development, we must ensure any future leasing areas do not detrimentally impact or restrict maritime commerce or commercial navigation,” wrote officials in a June 27 letter to the Bureau of Energy Ocean Management.

The letter was signed by Acting Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources, Secretary of Commerce and Trade Caren Merrick, Secretary of Transportation W. Sheppard Miller, Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs Craig Crenshaw and Secretary of Labor Bryan Slater.

The administration’s comments came in response to a BOEM proposal for a 4 million acre Central Atlantic call area where the federal government could auction off lease areas to offshore wind developers. The public comment period on the draft call area closed Tuesday.

The Central Atlantic proposal is far larger than the expansion initially envisioned by former Gov. Ralph Northam. In a November 2020 letter to then-Acting Director Walter Cruickshank, Northam formally requested that the federal agency auction off “two additional 100,000-acre wind lease areas off the coast of Virginia.” The state also sent the federal government two potential scenarios for additional lease areas near the existing ones held by Dominion Energy and the state’s energy agency. One of the proposals was identified as having “the least conflict possible with shipping, fishing or marine mammals,” and the other had “minimal conflicts with military operations and shipping” but some conflicts with fisheries.

Read the full story at the Virginia Mercury

Chesapeake Bay Dead Zone Smaller Than Previous Years Due To Mild May Temperatures

June 29, 2022 — Researchers are predicting this summer’s dead zone in the Chesapeake Bay will be smaller than the long-term average taken between 1985 and 2021, according to environmental staff.

The change in size is due to the below-average amount of water entering the bay from the watershed’s tributaries this past spring, Chesapeake Bay Program staff said.

Program staff made the announcement alongside researchers from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, the University of Michigan, and U.S. Geological Survey.

Decreased nutrient and sediment pollution from jurisdictions within the watershed also contributed to the smaller dead zone, staff said.

The dead zones consist of areas of low oxygen, known as hypoxic regions. This is where there are dissolved oxygen concentrations of less than two milligrams per liter— primarily caused by excess nutrient pollution flowing into the bay, staff said.

Read the full story at CBS Baltimore

Study: Offshore wind development could reduce surf clam catch revenue by as much as 15%

June 28, 2022 — Offshore wind farms could reduce the catch of Atlantic surf clams in the mid-Atlantic, according to a new study from Rutgers University.

The research published last week was funded by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Rutgers associate professor Daphne Munroe found that the leases for wind projects could reduce surf clam revenue by 3-15% in the area from Virginia to Massachusetts. The fishery is worth more than $30 million annually.

The study did not include Maine, but adds to a sparse but growing body of research about potential conflicts between offshore wind and fishing.

Read the full story at Maine Public

As feds eye more wind leases off Virginia, fishing industries fear losses

June 23, 2022 — Today, two wind turbines turn off Virginia’s coast. But by the middle of the next decade, hundreds more may have joined them.

With a major push underway by President Joe Biden’s administration to develop 30 gigawatts of offshore wind as a way to reduce U.S. reliance on fossil fuels, federal officials are looking to dramatically expand the areas where wind farms can be built in U.S. waters.

Virginia is an epicenter of interest: Of 4 million acres of ocean identified as potential wind energy areas in a new Central Atlantic call area, most lie off the Virginia coast.

For the commonwealth’s fishing industries, already wary of what their business will look like once Dominion Energy’s 176-turbine Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is constructed, the prospect of a much more expansive buildout of wind power throughout the rich fishing grounds off Virginia is sparking fears that the new industry will drive out the old.

“We know that when these lease areas are built out, it is going to be displacing fishermen, who are then going to be working smaller and smaller areas with more and more boats, which is going to lead to localized depletion,” said Tom Dameron, government relations and fisheries science liaison for Surfside Foods, a New Jersey-based commercial clam fishing company that last year landed roughly 10 percent of the East Coast’s entire surf clam harvest in Cape Charles.

Read the full story at the Virginia Mercury

A shifting climate may be bringing a new commercial fishery to the Mid-Atlantic

June 10, 2022 — Whenever a new commercial fishery starts up anywhere in the USA – it is news!

With green-tail or white shrimp (Litopenaeus setiferus) moving north into Virginia and Maryland waters, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) and Maryland’s state legislators are cautiously laying the groundwork to establish commercial shrimp fisheries in areas of the bay and waters of the two states.

Virginia has had an experimental ocean shrimp season since 2017 and in 2021 VMRC approved regulations to establish an official season from Oct. 1st to Jan. 31st off Virginia Beach; established the fishing grounds out of Virginia Beach from Cape Henry Lighthouse south to the North Carolina line and eastward to the Three Nautical Mile Limit; set catch and size limits, reporting requirements, and approval of gear used to harvest shrimp.

There are currently 12 licensed watermen working in the Atlantic Ocean off of Virginia Beach. Information from the Eastern Shore of Virginia has been limited and as such remains under an experimental permit presently with four participants.

Maryland’s 2021 legislature is in the process of creating a shrimp fishery through state Senate Bill 537 sponsored by state Sen. Mary Beth Crozza and House Bill 1149 sponsored by Delegate Jay Jacobs. The general assembly has approved legislation that allows the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to establish parameters for a shrimp fishery “pilot program” for certain commercial licenses. It is hopeful that a pilot program will be in place by July 1, 2022. The Maryland Waterman’s Association is endorsing the legislation, said MWA president Robert T. Brown. “They are already doing it down in Virginia and it looks like it is working down there,” says Brown.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

At Dominion wind hearings, continued disputes over ratepayer protections

May 20, 2022 — After two and a half days of testimony in Richmond, consumer protection advocates continue to disagree with Dominion Energy over whether regulators should require further safeguards for ratepayers as the utility seeks approval for its plans to build a massive wind farm off the coast of Virginia Beach.

“There is no blank check for this project,” said Joseph Reid, an attorney from McGuireWoods who represented Dominion in the case before the State Corporation Commission, on Tuesday.

But Senior Assistant Attorney General Meade Browder told the SCC that the office’s Division of Consumer Counsel remains concerned that customers face significant risks from the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.

“Our position is that approval should come with meaningful protections that mitigate the risk to ratepayers, who are currently set up to bear the financial risk if the CVOW project proves to be more costly to construct and operate than is projected or if the performance of the project does not meet the level projected by the company,” he said.

If built, CVOW will be the largest wind farm in the United States, producing 2.6 gigawatts of power — more than what is generated by the state’s nuclear units and its largest gas plant combined — from 176 turbines sunk into the Atlantic Ocean 27 miles off Virginia Beach.

The project is both a key component of Dominion’s plans to decarbonize its fleet by midcentury in line with the Virginia Clean Economy Act and, with an estimated price tag of $9.65 billion, the most expensive endeavor the utility has undertaken to date. If approved by regulators, the average residential customer, defined as someone who uses 1,000 kilowatts of power every month, would see their monthly bill initially rise by $1.45. SCC staff have estimated that figure could rise to $14.21 by the time the project enters operation in 2027.

Read the full story at the Virginia Mercury

VIRGINIA: Dominion makes its case to SCC for $9.65 billion from customers to build wind farm

May 18, 2022 — Acknowledging the risk of cost overruns but saying it doesn’t anticipate any, Dominion Energy made its case Tuesday to state regulators for approval of $9.65 billion from its Virginia customers to build the country’s largest offshore wind farm.

Dominion representatives touted the project’s job creation and reduction in carbon emissions. They promised in a hearing before the Virginia State Corporation Commission to promptly notify the commission if costs are expected to exceed current estimates.

The attorney general’s office, the advocacy group Clean Virginia and others told commissioners they’re concerned about the potential for even higher costs on such a large construction project and in an economy with supply chain disruption and inflation.

No party in the case, in which the SCC is considering approval of the 176-turbine project and its costs, asked the commission to reject the request. A 2020 state law essentially directs the commission to approve the project if Dominion meets certain parameters, which the company said it had.

Dominion’s $9.65 billion capital cost estimate was down from a previous $9.8 billion estimate, which itself was up from an earlier estimate of $7.8 billion.

Read the full story at the Richmond Times-Dispatch

COVID-impacted landings data could have major consequences for Virginia’s menhaden fleet

May 2, 2022 — Action the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is set to take this week regarding menhaden allocations at its annual spring meeting could have a significant impact on some members of the fishery based on how they responded to the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago.

On the agenda for the commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board session on Tuesday afternoon is a discussion about whether to adjust or remove 2020 landings data when considering commercial allocations for future years, which are scheduled to take effect next year. The discussion comes after officials in Virginia proposed a change, citing the impact COVID-19 had on the menhaden fishery in the state.

Virginia has, by far, the largest operation within the fishery. In most years, the state accounts for roughly 80 percent or more of commercial landings. However, that number dipped to 75.7 percent in 2020. While that may not seem to be a significant drop, commissions set catch quotas on fish like menhaden based on historical catch data, so a recent dip in the numbers would impact how much operators can harvest in future years.

Ocean Fleet Services Vice President Monty Deihl said the drop was due to menhaden fishing vessels missing out on 59 fishing days due to fishing crews dealing with the coronavirus. And even that number doesn’t truly reflect the situation that Ocean Harvesters, which operates vessels for Omega Protein under the management of Ocean Fleet Services, endured two years ago.

“We had boats that were 15 hours away from our dock, and we hadn’t even started fishing yet,” Deihl recalled. “If a crew member came up with a fever and symptoms, the captain had to turn the boat all the way back around and come back. We couldn’t count that as a COVID day because the boat was away from the dock.”

Compounding the issue for Ocean Harvesters was the fact that each crewmember was needed in order to operate the vessel and harvest menhaden safely.

As a large company with a union workforce, Deihl said Ocean Harvesters had to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to the letter. That included quarantining crew members for days until test results came back negative. Smaller operators and family run outfits, Deihl said, had an easier time working in those guidelines and still fish.

Last year was a different story for Ocean Harvesters, thanks to the development of effective COVID-19 vaccines. Deihl said 100 percent of the company’s crew members got their shots.

“COVID was just as bad in the summer of 2021 as it was in 2020 as far as in the communities, but we never lost one single fishing day for COVID,” he said.

It appears fishery officials understand the situation. In a memo earlier this month, the Atlantic Menhaden Plan Development Team (PDT) told the management board that it recommended removing the 2020 data from allocation consideration and adding the 2021 totals, which are expected to be finalized later this year, in its place.

The memo stated that other options are on the table, but the PDT advised that they would either push implementing the new allocations beyond 2023 or rely on old data.

“By adding 2021 to the time series, it would alleviate the concerns the PDT has with only dropping 2020 data by allowing an additional year of data in the analysis that better reflects current fishing activity,” the memo stated.

But there’s still a chance the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board could opt against that recommendation and factor 2020 data into future allocations. Deihl said that could have a tremendous negative impact on jobs.

Ocean Harvesters and Omega Protein operate out of Reedville, Va., a rural community at the neck of the Chesapeake Bay 75 miles east of Richmond. The menhaden plant in the small town employs about 260 workers, and Deihl said a similar number of people work as contractors.

A reduction in allocation by as little as 3 or 4 percent could impact dozens of workers. And while that may not seem significant, Deihl pointed out it could be devastating in a small community like Reedville.

“They already had to fight through COVID, being quarantined and all that,” he said. “When you’ve worked there 20 or 30 years, and your family has worked there for three or four generations, and you lose a job to another state, it just seems extremely unfair.”

Wind turbines still on track east of Virginia Beach

April 25, 2022 — Wind turbines are among the technologies driving the development of renewable energy at the large scale, with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel power plants and slowing down planetary warming. Onshore turbines are already common from Texas to Iowa, as winds are reliable on the Plains throughout most of the year.

That’s generally not the case in Virginia and the Middle Atlantic states, especially during the doldrums of July and August. But several miles offshore, it’s a different story, which makes wind turbines more practical.

Offshore wind has already scaled up quickly in western Europe, and appears to be on the verge of rapid growth on this side of the Atlantic. But for the moment, there’s not much.

Read the full story at The Roanoke Times

Virginia AG: Costs high, benefits uncertain from Dominion wind proposal

March 30, 2022 — The Virginia Attorney General’s Office in a new filing says Dominion Energy’s proposal for a large offshore wind farm is not needed for the utility’s capacity, costs two to three times more than solar energy, and that the company has overstated the project’s economic benefits.

The Friday filing was made at the Virginia State Corporation Commission by the Attorney General’s Division of Consumer Counsel, which represents consumer interests before the commission. The commission is considering Dominion’s plan for a $9.8 billion wind farm with about 180 turbines off the coast of Virginia Beach.