Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: MONTIGNY SECURES BIPARTISAN PROTECTIONS FOR COMMERCIAL FISHING

June 15, 2018 — The following was released from the office of Massachusetts State Senator Mark Montigny:

Senate Assistant Majority Leader and Rules Committee Chairman Mark Montigny (D-New Bedford) secured bipartisan legislation today to ensure protections for commercial fishing interests prior to any future increased offshore wind procurement.

His amendment to S2545, An Act to Promote a Clean Energy Future, will require commercial fisheries impacts to be studied and considered prior to any increased offshore wind procurement.

In 2016, the legislature directed the procurement of 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind by 2027. Last month, the Baker Administration announced the first round selection of 800 megawatts of offshore wind development south of Martha’s Vineyard.

Throughout the process, commercial fishermen have raised concerns regarding offshore wind’s effect on navigation and fisheries habitat.

While federal guidelines require input from the fishing industry for offshore wind development, thus far fishermen have raised concerns that those federal guidelines lack specifics. Efforts are now underway through the Massachusetts Fisheries Working Group to build consensus and a detailed study plan.

In the meantime, Montigny’s latest efforts will require the Commonwealth to identify and consider offshore wind effects on commercial fisheries prior to any procurement beyond 1,600 megawatts. It further stipulates that any plan to increase procurement must also identify measures to mitigate fisheries impacts. Montigny filed the amendment, entitled Offshore Wind Effects on Commercial Fishing, to the omnibus energy bill S2545. Working with Senator Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester), Montigny secured the amendment with the support of the bill’s sponsor, Senator Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton) and bipartisan coalition of Senators.

“Offshore wind presents significant economic opportunities for New Bedford and the Commonwealth,” said Senator Montigny, key Senate supporter of the 2016 offshore wind legislation. “However, we must be certain that fishermen who have relied on our oceans for generations to earn a living are heard and that their concerns are seriously and adequately addressed. This decades-old billion dollar industry provides serious job creation and economic output that we must not forget. I look forward to these two industries thriving together along our unique working waterfront in the years to come.”

Read the full release at WBSM

Administration looks offshore for wind energy boom

June 14, 2018 — The Trump administration is “bullish” about offshore wind, working with governors in the Northeast to transform what was once a fringe and costly investment into America’s newest energy-producing industry.

“When the president said energy dominance, it was made without reference to a type of energy,” Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told the Washington Examiner in an interview. “It was making sure as a country we are American energy first and that includes offshore wind. There is enormous opportunity, especially off the East Coast, for wind. I am very bullish.”

On a recent tour of coastal states, Zinke found “magnitudes” more interest in offshore wind than oil and natural gas drilling.

Facing widespread opposition from politicians in states fearful of oil spills along their tourist-drawing coasts, Zinke is likely to scale back a draft plan to open nearly all federal waters for drilling, which he says has attracted “modest interest at best.”

But the Atlantic Ocean is open for business for offshore wind, and developers are paying up, with the support of governors such as Republicans Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Larry Hogan of Maryland, and Democrats Andrew Cuomo of New York and Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island.

Read the full story at the Washington Examiner

Connecticut joins the offshore wind rush

June 14, 2018 — Connecticut has officially entered the offshore wind energy world.

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Wednesday awarded its first offshore wind project to Deepwater Wind for a 200-megawatt installation in the area it owns about half-way between Montauk, N.Y. and Martha’s Vineyard. It could begin providing electricity to the state by 2023 – enough to power about 100,000 homes.

The renewable and clean power solicitation also awarded fuel cell and anaerobic digester projects totaling about 50 megawatts. But it’s the prospect of offshore wind that created the most excitement and anticipation not only for its renewable energy, but also for the economic development potential that comes with it.

“Connecticut today is showing the region that it wants to participate in the budding offshore wind market and will share in the benefits of being an early mover in adopting this technology,” said Emily Lewis, a policy analyst at Acadia Center in a statement released by multiple environmental groups and unions. Acadia has been advocating for offshore wind for several years. “We hope the state continues to build on this commitment by setting an ambitious offshore wind mandate that creates a sustainable offshore wind industry and continued economic growth.”

Read the full story at the Connecticut Mirror

Connecticut Taps First-Ever Offshore Wind Power Among Clean Energy Projects

June 11, 2018 — The Malloy administration on Wednesday directed the first-ever purchase of offshore wind power as part of more than 250 megawatts of clean energy projects.

The state also made a commitment to fuel cells, welcomed by one of two fuel cell manufacturers in Connecticut.

Six projects selected by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection include 200 megawatts of offshore wind from Deepwater Wind, which is harnessing wind off Block Island and Long Island. The Connecticut project will contribute to 400 megawatts selected by Rhode Island.

The Malloy administration also directed that 52 megawatts of fuel cell energy be generated, including projects in Colchester, Derby, Hartford and New Britain.

In addition, 1.6 megawatts of of energy will be generated by an anaerobic digestion project in Southington. The process uses microorganisms that break down biodegradable material.

“We have an obligation to our children and grandchildren to invest in energy projects that reduce the impacts of harmful emissions,” Malloy said. “That’s why Connecticut is making investments in the technologies of the future, not of the past.”

The selections in this procurement are equivalent to about 5 percent of Connecticut’s load, or the amount of electricity that Connecticut consumes. Selected projects will now enter negotiations with Eversource and United Illuminating, the state’s two regulated utilities, to reach agreement on 20-year contracts.

Read the full story at The Hartford Courant

ZINKE IS ‘VERY BULLISH’ ON DEVELOPING OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY

June 13, 2018 — The Trump administration is working with northeastern states to build offshore wind farms in the Atlantic ocean, the Washington Examiner reported.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has received significant pushback from officials in the Northeast over a plan to open the East Coast to offshore drilling. Wind energy is much more popular with the local residents and lawmakers, though.

“When the president said energy dominance, it was made without reference to a type of energy,” Zinke told the Washington Examiner. “It was making sure as a country we are American energy first and that includes offshore wind. There is enormous opportunity, especially off the East Coast, for wind. I am very bullish.”

Massachusetts and Rhode Island recently signed off on a 1,200 megawatt wind farm to be built off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. The wind farm could be the largest constructed in the U.S. Massachusetts awarded a contract to Vineyard Wind to supply 800 megawatts of power to the state, and Rhode Island commissioned another 400 megawatts from Deepwater Wind.

“Market excitement is moving towards offshore wind,” Zinke told the Washington Examiner. “I haven’t seen this kind of enthusiasm from industry since the Bakken shale boom.”

Read the full story at The Daily Caller

Dutch fishermen to sail fleet into Amsterdam in wind turbine protest

June 5, 2018 — The Netherlands may be the land of the windmill, but fishermen are planning a major protest on Saturday against the Dutch government’s latest wind turbine construction in the North Sea, with an armada of fishing boats sailing into Amsterdam.

After alighting from at least 15 boats at the back of Amsterdam’s central station, it is understood that hundreds of fishermen will march to the capital’s Damrak canal, where they will upend bags of small fish deemed too small for sale by the EU, and cover them with red dye.

Fishing community leaders say they are being crowded out of their waters and that the towering turbines damage fish stocks and deafen and displace the local porpoise populations.

The Dutch government has announced plans to build three more windfarms off the Noord-Holland coast and north of the Wadden Islands, in addition to five new windfarms already agreed upon, at a cost of €20 billion (£17.5bn).

It is claimed by local fishermen that 25% of Dutch fishing waters will be covered with turbines by 2025 and made out of bounds for larger fishing vessels.

A Dutch energy network is additionally drawing up plans for an island of wind turbines on Dogger bank, a patch of shallow fishing waters 78 miles off the east Yorkshire coast frequented by Dutch, Danish and UK fishermen.

Read the full story at The Guardian

 

New York: Possible wind farm sites 17 miles off Hamptons identified

December 11, 2017 — A federal agency has identified a swath of the South Shore 17 miles off the coast of the Hamptons as a potential area for new offshore wind farms.

If selected, the site would encompass 211,839 acres of ocean waters 15 nautical miles from land, from Center Moriches to Montauk.

After a decade of slow progress in U.S. offshore wind, interest in the waters around Long Island and the Northeast has been heating up in recent years.

LIPA has approved a 90-megawatt project off the coast of Rhode Island, New York State has a plan to inject 2,400 megawatts of offshore wind into the state grid, and Norwegian energy giant Statoil has a lease for more than 70,000 acres 15 miles from Long Beach for an offshore wind farm that could be completed by 2024.

A Dec. 4 presentation by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management says a “call for information and nominations” is about to begin for several large areas off the South Shore for wind farms.

The agency will accept information and site nominations before a 45-day public comment period about the sites. Once the agency formally identifies areas for wind farms, it could be months before a bidding process begins for all, some or possibly none of the sites.

Stephen Boutwell, a spokesman for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said the East End site and three others listed on a map with the presentation were not yet “formal” call areas. The process of identifying those will begin early next year, Boutwell said. No cost estimates have been made.

The agency held an online conference earlier this month to “help inform what will be included in the draft call for information and nominations,” Boutwell said, an “early step in the process to solicit input from stakeholders” to “identify future potential wind-energy areas.”

Read the full story at Newsday

 

Fishermen Worry Wind Farms Could Damage Business

November 17, 2017 — Fishermen are worried about an offshore wind farm proposed 30 miles out in the Atlantic from Montauk, NY, the largest fishing port in the state. They say those wind turbines – and many others that have been proposed – will impact the livelihood of fishermen in New York and New England.

Scallop fisherman Chris Scola fishes in an area 14 miles off of Montauk. He and his two-man crew spend 2 ½ hours motoring there, then 10 more dredging the sea floor for scallops before heading back to port.

“We have this little patch that’s sustained by myself and a few other boats out of Montauk and a couple of guys from Connecticut also fish down here,” Scola said.

Scola – like many fishermen – is concerned about state and federal regulations. But his big concern is the prospect of hundreds, and perhaps even thousands, of giant wind turbines spread out in the New York Bight, an area along the Atlantic Coast that extends from southern New Jersey to Montauk Point. It’s one of the most productive fishing grounds on the Eastern Seaboard.

“To me, building windfarms here, it’s like building them on the cornfields or the soyfields in the Midwest,” he said.

Scola belongs to the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, which is run by Bonnie Brady, the wife of a longtime Montauk fisherman. She’s an outspoken critic of the windfarms.

Brady sums up plans by New York authorities to site 240 turbines in the Atlantic like this: “A really bad idea that’s going to make some hedge funders a nice big chunk of change and then they can move on to their next prey.”

Read the full story at New England Public Radio

 

The Future Of Offshore Wind Farms In The Atlantic

November 13, 2017 — Fishermen are worried about an offshore wind farm proposed 30 miles out in the Atlantic from Montauk, New York, the largest fishing port in the state. They say those wind turbines – and many others that have been proposed – will impact the livelihood of fishermen in New York and New England.

Scallop fisherman Chris Scola pulls out of a Montauk marina at 2 a.m. and spends the next two-and-a-half hours motoring to an area about 14 miles out into the Atlantic. Then, with the help of his two-man crew, spends about 10 hours dredging the sea floor for scallops before heading back to port.

“We have this little patch that’s sustained by myself and a few other boats out of Montauk and a couple of guys from Connecticut also fish down here.”

Scola gives me an earful about state and federal regulations, but the thing that really has his dander up these days is the prospect of hundreds, and perhaps even thousands, of giant wind turbines spread out in the New York Bight, an area along the Atlantic Coast that extends from southern New Jersey to Montauk Point. It’s one of the most productive fishing grounds on the Eastern Seaboard.

“To me, building windfarms here, it’s like building them on the cornfields or the soyfields in the Midwest.”

Scola belongs to the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, which is run by Bonnie Brady, the wife of a longtime Montauk fisherman. She’s an outspoken critic of the windfarms.

Read the full story at WSHU

 

Can Offshore Wind Power Revive U.S. Ports?

June 19, 2017 — This salt-caked fishing port has been flush with wind prospectors ever since Massachusetts legislators passed a law for massive wind development in the shallow waters south of Martha’s Vineyard.

Ed Anthes-Washburn, a local port official, estimates he gives five harbor tours a month to wind industry representatives. Planning for the industry’s arrival now occupies much of his time, alongside proposals to redevelop several old industrial sites and a Seattle-style fish pier.

“It started Aug. 8, the day the governor signed the bill,” Anthes-Washburn said, gazing out over the harbor here, where a mass of fishing trawlers, scallopers and clam boats formed a rocking forest of rigging and nets. “It’s been pretty consistent since then.”

States up and down the Atlantic coast are rushing to become the capital of America’s burgeoning offshore wind industry, hoping the massive turbines will breathe new life into ports mired by a shrinking fishing industry and a flagging industrial base.

Maryland officials last month approved renewable energy credits for two developments totaling 368 megawatts off their shores in a bid to transform Baltimore and Ocean City into the industry’s manufacturing and maintenance hub in the Mid-Atlantic (Climatewire, May 12).

Lawmakers in New Jersey are counting down the days until Gov. Chris Christie (R) leaves office early next year, when they plan to restore their own credits for offshore wind developments (Energywire, June 9).

In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) wants to bring 2,400 megawatts of wind power online by 2030 (Energywire, Jan. 11).

But few places are betting on offshore wind quite like New Bedford.

Read the full story at the Scientific American