Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Fighting for fishing grounds in face of wind farms

June 1, 2021 — For almost a half century, Angela Sanfilippo has spearheaded campaigns to protect the physical and economic health of commercial fishermen, their families and the communities in which they live.

The longtime president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association waged battle with energy behemoths while opposing two live natural gas pipeline terminals within about a dozen miles of Gloucester’s shores.

She fought foreign encroachment into U.S. fishing grounds and wrestled with fishing regulators over onerous fishery management regulations that have shrunk access to the rich fishing grounds that surround Cape Ann.

Now Sanfilippo is saddling up one more time to try to prevent the inexorable march of offshore wind projects in Massachusetts waters from blowing away elements of the Bay State’s historic and productive fishing industry.

“We are not crazy enough to think we’re going to stop this massive thing now,” Sanfilippo said at the beginning of an extended interview following the federal government’s final approval on May 10 of the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind project, located south of Martha’s Vineyard. “But we want to be at the table.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

REP. BILLY BOB FAULKINGHAM: Time to hit the brakes on offshore wind

June 1, 2021 — In 2017, offshore wind generation appeared to be a dead issue in Maine. The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) had just completed an extensive study that deemed it too expensive for ratepayers. Now it is moving again at the speed of light.

In 2019, eighty percent of Maine’s electricity generation came from renewable energy sources. Maine leads New England in wind power generation. We rank sixth in the nation and wind provides 24 percent of our net generation. I point this out to say that Maine is a leader. I see many people advocating offshore wind development portraying Maine as being in the back of the pack on renewables, which is far from the truth.

What I would like to know is, why haven’t we started an independent study on the environmental impacts of offshore wind development? We have been told that we need to move quickly given the Governor’s ambitious goals. I have heard this repeatedly and from many people in the Legislature, the bureaucracy, special interest groups and from high-paid lobbyists working for foreign corporations. Where did these goals come from, and why are we using these goals as a target?

Read the full opinion piece at the Mount Desert Islander

South Fork Wind Farm to reduce turbines but fishing group has ‘serious concerns’

June 1, 2021 — Developers of a planned offshore wind farm to power the South Fork have agreed to reduce the number of turbines for the LIPA-contracted project to 12 from 15, but Rhode Island fishermen offered a $12 million compensation package say the turbine reduction won’t help and the package is inadequate.

Orsted and Eversource, partners on the $2 billion-plus project set to be built off the coast of Rhode Island and Massachusetts by 2023, disclosed the change last week before a Rhode Island coastal commission that is considering whether to issue a permit for the project.

In a statement, the companies said they will “move forward with the reduction of the project’s total turbines from 15 to 12,” while offering a compensation package for Rhode Island fishermen. The $12 million, if accepted, would cover lost earnings, among other things, for those kept from fishing either by construction or placement of the turbines themselves.

Read the full story at Newsday

NOAA FY 2022 budget advances America’s response to the climate crisis

June 1, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA:

From the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean and in communities from coast to coast, NOAA’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 budget request delivers the science, data, and services Americans need to address the climate crisis.

“This historic increase in NOAA’s budget will put American businesses, workers, and communities in a better position to respond to the climate crisis,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo. “Our economic competitiveness relies on our communities’ resilience and our ability to make informed decisions, especially when it comes to climate change and extreme weather. For decades, NOAA has provided critical weather and climate guidance that supports our economy, infrastructure, and security, and this historic investment will enable NOAA to deliver on its mission.”

For FY 2022, NOAA proposes a budget of $7.0 billion in discretionary appropriations, an increase of $1.5 billion from its enacted FY 2021 budget. NOAA provides 24×7 actionable information about climate change through a complex suite of oceanic, atmospheric, and space-based observing tools, using ships, planes, satellites and autonomous aerial and undersea vehicles. This budget increase will accelerate NOAA’s efforts to research, adapt to, and mitigate the impacts of climate change, in support of the Administration’s efforts to tackle the climate crisis at home and abroad, through $855.1 million in targeted investments in the following areas:

  • Research ($149.3 million increase): NOAA will strengthen core research capabilities for improved climate forecast products and services. These improved products and services will help communities prepare for and adapt to impacts of extreme weather and climate disasters that have become much more frequent and costly in recent decades.
  • Observations and Forecasting ($368.2 million increase): NOAA will expand its delivery of the best available climate observations and information (physical, biological, social, economic) to understand, prepare for, and adapt to future conditions and support job creation in frontline and underserved communities that are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
  • Restoration and Resilience ($259.3 million increase): NOAA will invest in ecological restoration and community resilience, and address an increasing demand for NOAA’s science and services needed to enhance natural and economic resilience along our ocean and coasts through our direct financial support, expertise, robust on-the-ground partnerships, and place-based conservation activities. NOAA will support the president’s goal to conserve at least 30 percent of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030 and through the Civilian Climate Corps.
  • Offshore Wind ($20.4 million increase): NOAA will further the Administration’s goal to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind in the U.S. by 2030, while protecting biodiversity and promoting ocean co-use in our nation’s Blue Economy.
  • Equity ($57.9 million increase): NOAA will enhance its integration of equity across the organization, from management, to policies, to service-delivery. NOAA will cultivate a more diverse, climate-ready workforce of the future that builds upon NOAA’s long history of investments in graduate and postgraduate training, fellowships, and extension programs, an enterprise which already has an alumni base numbering in the thousands.

Communities across the country are struggling with the effects of extreme events like hurricanes, floods, droughts, wildfires, and fisheries collapse. In 2020, a record-setting 22 weather and climate disasters each caused over $1 billion in damage in the United States, including the worst wildfires in California history and several major hurricanes in a season that saw a record 30 named storms. With 2021 bringing massive, unprecedented winter storms to several southern states and predictions for another above-average hurricane season, investments in climate research to understand extreme events and provide services to help communities and businesses make smart climate resilience, adaptation, and mitigation decisions are more important than ever.

“NOAA is the nation’s 24×7 provider of trusted and life-saving environmental information. From your daily weather forecast to decades of climate monitoring, NOAA is always on call,” said Ben Friedman, acting NOAA Administrator. “NOAA’s focus on equity inside and outside the agency positions us well to increase our support for vulnerable communities, and ensure that we are helping all Americans better prepare for and respond to the increasing impacts of climate change and extreme weather.”

The FY 2022 budget also strengthens investments in NOAA’s vessels, aircraft, and satellites — the observational platforms vital for measuring and monitoring our environment — as well as space weather observation and prediction services that protect critical infrastructure such as the electrical grid, aviation, and satellite communications:

  • Fleet Support ($101 million increase): NOAA will invest in key components of the nation’s environmental at-sea observation platforms and facilities, by enabling a single-phase mid-life maintenance on the NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown and construction of a dedicated marine operations facility (Pier Romeo) in Charleston, South Carolina – homeport for NOAA Ships Ronald H. Brown and Nancy Foster.
  • NESDIS ($2.029 million ): NOAA will make crucial, timely investments to ensure that the Nation’s next-generation satellite systems not only improve existing services, but that they also expand delivery of essential climate, weather, atmospheric, and oceanographic information to meet the needs of the American public. In support of Executive Order 14008, NOAA’s data and information infrastructure will expand the use of the best available observations, from NOAA and partner satellites and systems, to enhance the understanding of climate change-related trends and patterns, and deliver essential products, information, and climate services to inform decision makers.
  • Space Weather ($5 million increase): NOAA will continue to build towards a space weather prediction capability that will ensure national and global communities are ready for and responsive to space-weather events.

Headwinds: Offshore wind will take time to carry factory jobs to U.S.

May 28, 2021 — When U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration approved the country’s first major offshore wind farm this month, it billed the move as the start of a new clean energy industry that by the end of the decade will create over 75,000 U.S. jobs.

Industry executives and analysts do not contest that claim, but they make a clarification: For the first several years at least, most of the manufacturing jobs stemming from the U.S. offshore wind industry will be in Europe.

Offshore wind project developers plan to ship massive blades, towers and other components for at least the initial wave of U.S. projects from factories in France, Spain and elsewhere before potentially opening up manufacturing plants on U.S. shores, according to Reuters interviews with executives from three of the world’s leading wind turbine makers.

That is because suppliers need to see a deep pipeline of approved U.S. projects, along with a clear set of regulatory incentives like federal and state tax breaks, before committing to siting and building new American factories, they say – a process that could take years.

“For the first projects, it’s probably necessary” to ship across the Atlantic, said Martin Gerhardt, head of offshore wind product management at Siemens Gamesa, the global offshore wind market leader in a comment typical of the group.

Read the full story at Reuters

Biden administration unveils offshore wind plan for California

May 27, 2021 — The federal government plans to open more than 250,000 acres off the California coast to wind development, the Biden administration announced Tuesday, as part of a major effort to ramp up the nation’s renewable energy and cut its climate-warming emissions.

Under the plan, the administration would allow wind power projects to be built in federal waters off the coast of Central California northwest of Morro Bay, as well as at a second location west of Humboldt Bay. Officials estimate that the two areas combined could generate 4,600 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 1.6 million homes.

The government’s plans represent a “breakthrough,” said Gina McCarthy, President Biden’s senior climate change advisor. “It’s an announcement that will set the stage for the long-term development of clean energy and the growth of a brand-new made-in-America industry.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom praised the plans, noting that California had spent years trying to advance offshore wind power under the Trump administration, with no success. The state, he said, will accelerate its own environmental review process in order to speed up the projects, which he estimated would be built at least 20 miles offshore with enough space for roughly 380 wind turbines.

Although there has been no shortage of interest from wind farm developers in sites along California’s coast — particularly off the Central Coast and Humboldt Bay — efforts have been stymied by regulatory obstacles, engineering challenges created by the Pacific Ocean floor’s steep drop-off, and concerns about the impact the infrastructure could have on migratory birds, marine life and fisheries.

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times

Offshore wind pushes West without fisheries input, stakeholders say

May 27, 2021 — The Interior Department announced on Tuesday, May 25, that two areas off the California coast would be targeted for wind energy projects, including a nearly 400-square-mile wind farm in Morro Bay.

“The offshore wind industry has the potential to create tens of thousands of good-paying union jobs across the nation, while combating the negative effects of climate change,” U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a press release.

Commercial fishermen on both coasts continue to be concerned about what the federal push for offshore wind projects means for their jobs. Fishing groups say their feedback has largely been ignored.

“The fishing industry has been told these areas work best for offshore wind developers; but no one has asked us what areas would work best for us,” said Mike Conroy, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association, in a statement released on Tuesday.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Rhode Island Fishermen Also Peeved With South Fork Wind

May 27, 2021 — In a virtual meeting of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council on Tuesday night, members of its fisheries advisory board strongly objected to the council’s conclusion that the South Fork Wind Farm’s new “minimization alternative” — 12 wind turbine generators instead of 15, reducing its footprint — and a $12 million fisheries compensation package, are consistent with the state’s Ocean Special Area Management Plan.

The advisory board also took exception to the state council’s inclination to issue “conditional concurrence” pursuant to federal regulations. The project needs the council’s approval, along with that of a host of other state, federal, and local authorities.

The wind farm as first proposed called for a 15-turbine, 90-megawatt setup. Advances in technology have allowed instead for a 130-megawatt installation, using no more than 15 turbines. The South Fork Wind Farm will now have 12 wind turbine generators, its developers having entered into a contractual obligation with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy for 11-megawatt turbines.

The developers, Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind and Eversource Energy, have also modified the layout, to a one-by-one nautical-mile grid.

Read the full story at The East Hampton Star

California and US agree to allow big offshore wind farms

May 27, 2021 — California and the U.S. government announced an agreement Tuesday to open up areas off the state’s central and northern coasts to the first commercial wind energy farms on the Pacific Coast.

The pact that would float hundreds of turbines off the coast of Morro Bay and Humboldt Bay was touted as a breakthrough to eventually power 1.6 million homes and help the state and federal government reach ambitious climate change goals through clean energy production.

“California, as we all know, has a world class offshore wind resource, and it can play a major role in helping to accelerate California’s and the nation’s transition to clean energy,” National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy said.

The plan includes floating 380 windmills across a nearly 400-square-mile expanse of sea 20 miles northwest of Morro Bay. The site could be finalized next month and could be put up for lease next year.

The announcement is part of President Joe Biden’s plan to create 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030.

The new projects — if approved and built — would provide a major expansion of offshore wind power in the U.S. Currently, there are just two working offshore wind farms — off Block Island in Rhode Island and off Virginia — but more than two dozen others are in development.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Santa Monica Daily Press

California and US agree to allow big offshore wind farm

May 26, 2021 — California and the U.S. government announced an agreement Tuesday to open up areas off the state’s central and northern coasts to the first commercial wind energy farms on the Pacific Coast.

The pact that would float hundreds of turbines off the coast of Morro Bay and Humboldt Bay was touted as a breakthrough to eventually power 1.6 million homes and help the state and federal government reach ambitious climate change goals through clean energy production.

“California, as we all know, has a world class offshore wind resource, and it can play a major role in helping to accelerate California’s and the nation’s transition to clean energy,” National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy said.

Fishermen, however, are concerned that construction and operation of projects on this scale could disrupt the ecosystem and that they were not consulted on the impact the locations could have on their industry.

“We feel we’ve not been invited to have a seat at the table. We feel we’re on the menu,” said Mike Conroy, executive director of The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations.

Read the full story at the Associated Press