Tag Archives: Ocean Wind 1
Charges Dropped Against Wind Farm Protesters in Ocean City
Charges against six wind farm opponents arrested in a rally last September in Ocean City were dropped this week and their records were expunged. About 60 protesters attended the rally with the goal of stopping workers from drilling holes in the street in an early step in Orsted’s proposed Ocean Wind 1 project. When police asked protesters to relocate about 10 feet from the site, many did. Six others didn’t. After they laid down in the street, they were arrested and charged with two disorderly persons offenses, failure to disperse and obstruction of highways or public pathways. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 15:52
Against the wind
Visiting southern New Jersey this summer, I kept seeing yard signs that read “Stop the Windmills—Save Our Coast.” The posters were rallying opposition to the massive Ocean Wind 1 power project 15 miles off the Jersey shore near Atlantic City. That constellation of 853-foot-high wind turbines is supposed to start construction any day now, although delays and financial uncertainties have hampered the project. Ocean Wind 1 is planned to be one of more than two dozen huge wind projects off the East Coast from South Carolina to Maine. If it ever gets built. Which it won’t if the residents of South Jersey have anything to say about it. >>click to read<< 08:56
Ørsted shares fall 25% after it reveals troubles in US business
Shares in the world’s largest offshore wind company tumbled by nearly a quarter on Wednesday, after it said it may have to write down the value of its US portfolio by nearly £2bn. Ørsted said it had been hit by a flurry of setbacks in its American business, triggering a rapid sell-off in its shares, listed in Copenhagen. In their haste to dump the stock, investors had cut the notional value of the business by nearly £7bn by the time the market closed on Wednesday. It pointed to significant problems in the supply chain that are likely to affect Ocean Wind 1, Sunrise Wind, and Revolution Wind, planned windfarms off the eastern seaboard of the US. >>click to read<< 13:32
Orsted hit with lawsuit over ‘$1bn unconstitutional giveaway’ for giant US offshore wind farm
Orsted’s gigascale Ocean Wind 1 offshore wind project is under threat from a lawsuit filed by opponents in the US state of New Jersey who claim the proposal has benefited from an “unconstitutional $1bn giveaway”. Legal counsel for opposition groups Protect Our Coast NJ and Defend Brigantine Beach said they filed the suit in the state’s Superior Court last week. Orsted’s gigascale Ocean Wind 1 offshore wind project is under threat from a lawsuit filed by opponents in the US state of New Jersey who claim the proposal has benefited from an “unconstitutional $1bn giveaway”. >click to read< 11:21
Weekend event to challenge wind farm plans up and down shore
Offshore wind power opponents scheduled a waterfront protest starting at 11 a.m. Saturday, with plans for participants to gather on beaches throughout South Jersey. Some have posted plans to gather in Ocean City, Wildwood Crest, on Long Beach Island and on Atlantic County beaches. “This is not just an Ocean City event. This is all New Jersey beaches and beyond,” said Adrienne Possenti, a Vineland resident who is helping organize the Ocean City gathering. But she said the Ocean City gathering is particularly urgent as the plans call for cables to pass under the city to bring offshore wind power to the grid. “If we can stop that, we stop the rest of the project,” Possenti said Wednesday. >click to read< 09:38
Wind Farm Protesters to “Link Hands” on Beaches – Opponents of a proposed wind energy farm off the South Jersey coast will link hands on the beaches Saturday in a protest symbolizing their unified fight against a project they believe will be an environmental and economic disaster. Photos, info, >click to read< 11:30
Biden-Harris Administration Approves Third Major Offshore Wind Project in U.S. Waters
The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today announced it has approved the plan for construction and operations of the Ocean Wind 1 project offshore New Jersey. Located about 13 nautical miles southeast of Atlantic City, the project will have an estimated capacity of 1,100 megawatts of clean energy – capable of powering over 380,000 homes – and is expected to create more than 3,000 good-paying jobs through development and a three-year construction cycle. >click to read< 07:30
Not So Fast, Orsted
Three groups have filed suit in Superior Court challenging New Jersey DEP’s approval of the Ocean Wind 1 project consisting of nearly 100 turbines to be located 15 miles off New Jersey’s busiest beach communities. In papers filed in New Jersey’s Appellate Division, Save LBI, Defend Brigantine Beach and Protect Our Coast NJ said that the turbines, at least 906 feet in height (with their blades, nearly as tall as the Empire State Building), will be fully visible from New Jersey’s beaches and will crush and destroy the seabed, each tower weighing up to five million pounds. >click to read< 07:59
Wind Farm Opponents to Host Fundraiser For Legal Defense Fund
For nearly four years, opponents of a proposed offshore wind farm that they say could negatively affect marine life, tourism, the commercial fishing industry and wildlife have held protests and signed petitions calling for a halt to the project by Danish energy company, Orsted. Protect Our Coast NJ founder Suzanne Hornick, of Ocean City, said the time is now to stop offshore wind farm projects to protect the environment. “Protect Our Coast NJ is fighting to protect our coastal community and our ocean from the extreme industrialization currently planned for our shores,” Hornick said. “We know that the proposed projects which could see thousands of gigantic turbines and substations off our coast will destroy our community, quality of life, economy, ecosystem, food supply, national security, and more.” >click to read< 07:55
Offshore wind moves forward amid calls for marine life studies
The offshore wind sector is taking shape every day in New Jersey while calls continue for a pause in activity to learn more about whether any of the work is connected to whale and dolphin deaths along the state’s beaches. “Today’s actions by NJDEP represent significant milestones and critical steps that are needed to advance the state’s first offshore wind project and bring clean, reliable energy and the associated economic benefits to the region,” said Maddy Urbish, Ørsted’s head of government affairs and market strategy, New Jersey. Ocean Wind 1 still needs additional state and local approvals, as well as clearance from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, before construction can begin. So far, the work has centered on ocean floor mapping using sonar technology. Those calling for the pause point to this work as a potential link, saying that the sonar can disorient marine life. >click to read< 11:31
Wind project scope ‘staggering’
It wasn’t “until the whales and the dolphins started washing up that people’s attention was able to focus” on the offshore wind farms, according to Cindy Zipf, and when people looked beyond the whales, they realized what is happening is “staggering.” “I don’t think ever in the history of mankind have we proposed to industrialize an ecosystem this fast and at this magnitude,” she said. Zipf is executive director of Clean Ocean Action, a coalition of groups dedicated to protecting the ocean. Zipf acknowledges the pace at which the plans are moving forward is making efforts to slow or stop them difficult. “It’s challenging considering how fast-tracked everything is and how limited the permitting process is. It’s kind of under the jurisdiction of two people to make it happen, President Biden and Gov. Murphy,” she said. “Hopefully as more is understood there will be some more caution but as it is right now the (state and federal) agencies are very enthusiastic.” >click to read< 16:29
Wind Farm Public Hearing Draws Passionate Statements
Residents of Ocean City overwhelmingly opposed an offshore wind energy farm during a virtual public hearing Monday night that also included strong support for the project from environmental and labor groups. “I speak for Protect Our Coast NJ,” Ocean City resident Suzanne Hornick said in public comments at Monday’s virtual hearing. “We don’t want this in any way, shape or form. This should be a question and answer. We should be able to ask questions.” The original format for the hearing was to be a question-and-answer session, but Orsted did not respond to comments or questions posed by the public Monday. Instead, Orsted representatives said the company will respond in writing after the end of the public comment period for the project on Nov. 28. Critics angrily accused Orsted of running a “sham” hearing. >click to read< 09:02
The great US offshore wind-power boom has begun to falter
Plans for massive offshore wind farms that President Joe Biden hopes will power as many as 10 million American homes by 2030 are starting to wobble. On Monday, New Jersey utility Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. said it’s deciding whether to pull out of Ocean Wind 1, a proposed project in the Atlantic Ocean that would generate 1.1 gigawatts – enough for 500,000 homes. Less than two weeks earlier, New England utility Avangrid Inc. said its similarly sized Commonwealth Wind project was no longer viable because of higher costs and supply chain woes. Offshore wind projects are “facing a number of headwinds,” Soaring inflation, rising interest rates and supply chain snarls around the world are threatening to hobble the offshore wind boom that both federal and local policy makers have been planning for years off the US East Coast. >click to read< 13:28
Commenter: BOEM report downplays wind farm’s impact on fishing, tourism
The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is downplaying potential adverse effects of offshore wind projects by setting faulty baselines in its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on Ocean Wind 1. That’s the argument by Barbara McCall, a Florida resident who owns property in Ocean City. McCall sent in a 3,500-word response, with footnotes, to BOEM, which is part of the Department of the Interior, during the comment period. She said the politicians and companies behind the projects, including Danish company Ørsted and PSEG, which are teaming up to build Ocean Wind 1, “should not be afraid of being truthful and transparent.” McCall said she has heard the “ambiguous statement” that the majority of people in New Jersey support offshore wind projects, but she doesn’t believe most people know what all the projects entail. >click to read< 09:32
Protect Our Coast NJ cites offshore wind farm’s ‘negative impacts’
Protect Our Coast NJ, a group dedicated to stopping the Ocean Wind 1 wind turbine project, has weighed in on the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement, pointing out the areas the 1,400-page document shows dangers to the region. Meanwhile, Ocean Wind said it is finalizing comments that it plans to publicly release on points the project developers believe should be addressed in the Final Environmental Impact Statement. A statement released Monday said it has already taken steps to minimize the project’s impact. The public comment period on the draft statement, or DEIS, closes Aug. 8. Most commenters either roundly supported the job creation they expect from Ocean Wind 1 and a series of other wind turbine projects off the coast, or they attacked the project for the harm they believe it will cause to marine mammals and the tourism, commercial fishing and recreational fishing industries. >click to read< 09:09
Petition: More Time Needed to Review 1st NJ Offshore Wind Facility
Only 45 days were provided to the public to review a massive 1400+ page Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on “Ocean Wind 1,” Ørsted & PSE&G’s industrial-scale wind energy project just 13 miles off Atlantic City, NJ. That is not enough time for responsible review of the first-ever offshore wind energy project off New Jersey’s coast. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued the bare minimum requirement for public review of the lengthy & highly technical document. It is clear to any reasonable person, the 45-day timeframe is unjust and unrealistic. The public, who is the rightful owner of these underwater public lands, needs more time to review and comment. >Please click to read, and sign the petition< 14:30
New Jersey: Offshore Wind Farm Project Generates Debate
An open house in Ocean City on Saturday to discuss the pros and cons of an offshore wind project, proposed for 15 miles off the South Jersey coast, evoked interest, concerns, questions, opposition and support. Concerns over how the project could affect tourism, the visual impact of the massive wind turbines offshore, and what it would do to marine life, migratory birds and the commercial fishing industry were raised by several speakers. photos, 3:25 minute video, >click to read< 12:01
