February 6, 2025 — Lawmakers in the U.S. state of Virginia have introduced a bill to eliminate restrictions on harvesting of blue catfish, an invasive species that has devastated ecosystems in the Chesapeake Bay region.
Since their introduction to the Chesapeake Bay as a recreational fish in the late 1960s, predatory blue catfish have come to dominate waters in Virginia and neighboring Maryland.
February 6, 2025 — Proposals approved so far touch on topics including “virtual power plants,” data centers and environmental justice.
Virginia lawmakers are quickly moving through this year’s General Assembly session.
Tuesday marked “crossover” day, meaning all bills that made it through the House of Delegates are now sent to the Senate, and vice versa.
Dozens of proposed bills impact the future of the Commonwealth’s climate, environment and energy policy. Here’s a (non-exhaustive) look at where they stand.
February 5, 2025 — The utility said the increase of nearly $1 billion is tied to higher costs of required upgrades to the electric grid and onshore electrical infrastructure.
The cost of building the nation’s largest offshore wind farm off the Virginia Beach coast has jumped by nearly 10% since the original budget, Dominion Energy announced this week.
The utility now plans to spend $10.7 billion on the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, up from $9.8 billion in 2021.
Dominion said in a news release the increase is tied to higher costs from building electrical interconnection onshore, as well as network upgrades assigned by the regional electric grid operator.
That operator, PJM Interconnection, coordinates the movement of electricity in 13 states, including Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.
“New electric generation resources constructed within PJM, like CVOW, are assigned costs by PJM that are deemed necessary to effectively integrate these resources and ensure the reliability and stability of the electric grid,” Dominion said in this week’s statement.
February 4, 2025 — The estimated cost of Dominion Energy’s 2.6-gigawatt Virginia Beach offshore wind farm has increased about 9%, which will mean a 43-cent increase on an average monthly residential power bill.
In a Monday announcement, Dominion said the total cost estimate of its wind farm had increased from $9.8 billion to $10.7 billion. The cost increase is due to higher network upgrade costs assigned by PJM, the regional electric grid operator, as well as higher onshore electrical interconnection costs, according to the statement.
“Higher network upgrade cost estimates by PJM reflect the significant increase in demand growth that require incremental generation and transmission resources across the system,” Dominion said in the statement.
January 27, 2025 — President Donald Trump used his first day in office to slam the brakes on the renewable energy industry, issuing an executive order to temporarily halt federal leasing, permitting and approval of both onshore and offshore wind energy projects.
But a Virginia Beach wind farm already under construction will be spared the immediate effects of the order, said environmental experts and Dominion Energy officials. Still, the experts say other Dominion projects could be delayed.
“It will have an effect on any future leases,” said Eileen Woll, offshore energy program director for the Sierra Club’s Virginia chapter.
Under the Monday executive order, the Trump administration will pause all offshore wind leases in federal waters, in addition to halting permitting and approvals for any wind project, both offshore or onshore. The order notes that, “Nothing in this withdrawal affects rights under existing leases in the withdrawn areas.” That includes the 2.6-gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, which began construction off the coast of Virginia Beach last year.
January 23, 2025 — One of President Trump’s first executive orders halted all new federal leases and permits for offshore wind projects.
Hampton Roads has bet big on the offshore wind industry.
Dominion Energy is building the nation’s largest offshore wind farm 27 miles off the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, and has two more leases waiting in the wings.
Local economic development officials have also worked hard to attract related businesses to make southeastern Virginia an offshore wind hub, including a South Korean manufacturer of undersea electrical cables.
President Donald Trump’s administration now threatens to put up a roadblock to further growing Virginia’s industry.
“We are going to have a policy where no windmills are being built,” Trump said recently.
On his first day in office this week, Trump signed an executive order that temporarily halts all new federal leases and permits for wind energy.
January 22, 2025 — President Donald Trump started his second term Monday with a flurry of executive orders, including one that temporarily ceases all federal wind leases under consideration and calls for an “immediate review” of the policies before resuming.
So, what does that mean for Virginia and Dominion Power, which is midway through constructing its $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farm off the coast of Virginia Beach and has purchased two other wind farm leases in the Atlantic Ocean?
The Richmond-based Fortune 500 utility said in a statement Tuesday that it is “confident CVOW will be completed on time, and that Virginia’s clean energy transition will continue with bipartisan support for many years to come.”
January 16, 2025 — The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and William and Mary’s Coastal Sciences school are leading the charge nationwide to clean up discarded fishing gear and “ghost pots” from U.S. waterways.
William & Mary’s Batten School and VIMS, administrators of the National Fishing Trap Removal, Assessment, and Prevention (TRAP) Program, has awarded $1.4 million to fund 11 projects to retrieve derelict lobster and crab traps in 2025. This initial round supports projects in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, New York, Washington and the Pacific Island State of Palau, as well as ongoing efforts by the Virginia Marine Debris Program.
In 2023, using funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Marine Debris Program awarded an $8 million, four-year competitive grant to the Batten School & VIMS to administer the TRAP program. One important feature of the project will be standardizing data collection practices and establishing a national database to evaluate the environmental and economic impacts of these projects.
December 18, 2024 — The following is an excerpt from an opinion piece published by The Virginian-Pilot and the Daily Press. It was written by Monty Deihl, the CEO of Ocean Harvesters, Inc. He is a native of Reedville, where he and his wife raised their family, and a retired Air Force officer.
A guest column published on Dec. 11 (“Menhaden harvesting has an impact on local fisheries”) contained several inaccuracies regarding the menhaden fishery — including Reedville-based companies Ocean Harvesters and Omega Protein — and the state of the Atlantic menhaden population.
Omega Protein neither “farms” fish nor engages in aquaculture. Menhaden used in Omega Protein’s products are harvested by Ocean Harvesters, an independent company that operates a fleet of nine vessels out of Reedville. Omega Protein processes the menhaden harvested by Ocean Harvesters into products that improve the nutritional integrity of foods, dietary supplements, and animal feeds.
The menhaden population is not “dwindling.” The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) reports menhaden populations are abundant and sustainably managed. Menhaden are not overfished and are not experiencing overfishing. The biomass exceeded 4.5 million metric tons in 2022, while total commercial landings amounted to just 195,387 metric tons. The ASMFC says menhaden biomass has been stable since the 1960s.
At the August ASMFC meeting, both the representative from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Maryland governor’s appointee stated there are “no menhaden” in Maryland. Ironically, in October, the Maryland DNR juvenile striped bass survey found that juvenile menhaden abundance in the Chesapeake Bay over the past two years is at the highest level measured since 1990.
The menhaden fishery is certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. This required a rigorous, independent evaluation by third-party auditors confirming a healthy biomass, minimal environmental impact and a robust management system.
Atlantic menhaden is the first U.S. species managed to account for predator forage needs. In 2020, after a decade of work, the ASMFC implemented “ecological reference points.” This was applauded by numerous environmental advocates and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Although some critics in the recreational fishing community claim a distinction between the coast-wide and Chesapeake Bay menhaden populations, no evidence supports this. Menhaden are migratory, naturally moving in and out of the Bay. At a Dec. 6, 2022, meeting, Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) scientists called “localized depletion” claims speculative and unsupported by evidence.
In recent months, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and other groups publicized a controversial study allegedly linking menhaden harvesting and negative osprey reproductive success. At the August ASMFC meeting, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Maryland executive director offered a motion creating a workgroup to consider more precautionary management of menhaden based on the study. But an article in the current Bay Journal highlights criticism from three VIMS fisheries scientists, who questioned the study’s data, methods and conclusion linking osprey nesting issues to menhaden fishing.
Antagonism between commercial menhaden and recreational fishing interests is nothing new. It was first reported in The New York Times in 1895. But recently, threats on social media and physical attacks on commercial vessels escalated to the point that Virginia amended its laws in 2024 to increase penalties for such dangerous actions. We are thankful to the governor, delegates and commercial watermen from other fisheries who worked hard to change the law to increase public safety.
Today, Ocean Harvesters and Omega Protein are the largest providers of union jobs with full benefits, and the largest minority employers in Northumberland County, serving as key economic drivers. My family has worked in the menhaden industry in Reedville for more than 100 years; it clothed and fed me, put me through school, and today employs my children and supports my grandchildren.
For more than a century, those in the Northern Neck’s menhaden fishing industry have defended their livelihoods against unfounded claims that menhaden purse-seine fishing harms recreational fishing. The debate will continue, but it must be based on fact. And the regulation of this job-creating industry must also be based on fact — not politics and unsubstantiated conjecture.
December 18, 2024 — On the largely undeveloped Delmarva peninsula – which is surrounded by the Chesapeake Bay to the west, the Atlantic Ocean to the east and includes portions of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia – local lawmakers are getting ready to take on a major international wind power company in an effort to save its crucial commercial fishing industry.
The Worcester County Commissioners in Maryland approved a resolution on Tuesday to acquire two properties in West Ocean City Harbor through eminent domain, which US Wind plans to develop into an operations and maintenance facility as it constructs a wind farm off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland. The action was taken in an effort to protect the county’s historic commercial and sport fishing industries.
The commissioners passed the resolution as US Wind, a subsidiary of Italian-based Renexia SpA, plans to construct a 353-foot-long-by-30-foot-wide concrete pier at the harbor to service vessels used to construct a proposed wind farm consisting of up to 118 turbines at least 15 miles off the coast of Ocean City. Along with the pier, the company plans to install 383 feet of bulkhead.
The two properties the county plans to acquire are currently being used by Southern Connection Seafood and the Martin Fish Company, which are the only two commercial seafood wholesalers in the area where watermen can offload and sell their catches.
The county’s plans for the two properties include developing a long-term lease with the existing owners, allowing them to continue serving the needs of the commercial fishing industry, according to the resolution that was passed.
“The commercial fishing industry is an integral and essential part of Worcester County’s economy,” the resolution reads, adding that it, along with the sport fishing industry, are dependent on commercial marine support in and around West Ocean City Harbor.
