Tag Archives: northeast

Doomed to Fail: In the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, a quiet reckoning over offshore wind

Crippling European electricity prices, soaring Northeastern heating bills, looming diesel-fuel shortages, and OPEC+ drama have captured headlines for months. More quietly, offshore-wind energy developers are discovering their projects’ economic infeasibility, undermining states’ offshore-wind goal of generating 40,000 MW by 2040. The Biden Administration must recognize this is a pipe dream, or it will cost Americans billions trying to salvage an industry doomed to fail. October brought the first sign of troubles,,, Massachusetts’ Commonwealth Wind, Mayflower Wind project, New Jersey Ocean Wind.  All three project developers originally negotiated prices far above wholesale market prices. All three qualified for a production tax credit and additional offshore-wind state tax credits. All three will qualify for a new 30 percent offshore wind investment tax credit which was not available when they made their initial bids. Yet this federal and state largesse has still failed to keep the projects afloat. >click to read this< 18:17

Lobster gear change enforcement delayed because of supply change issues

NOAA said Wednesday morning that it will use a “graduated enforcement effort” until the supply issues have been resolved. The regulations require lobstermen to splice NOAA-approved weak rope or weak plastic links into the lines they use to connect buoys to traps on the ocean floor. But the approved gear has been in short supply as manufacturers struggle to produce enough to outfit the weak rope or weak plastic links fishing fleets. The regulations are intended to prevent whales from becoming entangled in fishing gear, which can result in grave injury or death. >click to read< 13:49

Susan Collins – Scarcity of required gear is making it extremely difficult for lobstermen to meet the May 1st deadline>click to read< 14:48

Northeast Fishermen thank Senators Mikulski, Shelby for including $150 million in fishery disaster assistance in a recent appropriations bill.

seacoastonlinelogoThe House must still approve the allocation, would be split between the Northeast, Alaska and Gulf Coast fisheries. Last year, the House stripped an identical funding amount out of a different bill. more@seacoastonline 08:06

Our View: Disaster relief — so close and yet so far

sct logoThe list of fisheries disasters grew last week with the addition of Florida’s oyster industry, blamed mostly on diminishing freshwater flow into Apalachicola Bay due to drought. You could plug in “groundfish,” “Massachusetts” and “warming ocean” into the news reports and hardly tell the difference. The Northeast, Alaska and Mississippi all joined the list last year, but budget talks couldn’t get $150 million in disaster funds through for the fisheries because of Republican opposition. more@southcoasttoday01:55:47

BREAKING – Northeast, two other U.S. fishing areas declared disasters. Including Alaska, and Mississippi

“Fishermen in the Northeast are facing financial hardships because of the unexpe,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,also declared in Alaska, because of low returns of Chinook salmon in some key regions, and Mississippi Read More

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/13/us-usa-fishing-disasters-idUSBRE88C17P20120913