Tag Archives: offshore wind
Wind farm critics step up efforts – Citizens for the Preservation of Wainscott launch website, wainscott.org
In the Town of East Hampton’s easternmost hamlet, Montauk commercial fishermen say the proposed South Fork Wind Farm may destroy their livelihood, citing potential disruptions to fish populations and migration patterns as well as the danger to navigation represented by its 15 turbines, each of them hundreds of feet tall and driven deep into the ocean floor. At the other end of the town, many Wainscott residents are upset that Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind has identified the ocean beach at the end of Beach Lane as the preferred site to land the wind farm’s export cable. A group called Citizens for the Preservation of Wainscott has launched a website, wainscott.org, which lays out a mission statement, action plan, and petition opposing the site. >click to read<15:52
New York’s Prized Sea Scallop Faces Off Against Offshore Wind
Developers pushing to install massive wind turbines in the waters off New York and New Jersey have run into a delicate yet mighty foe: the Atlantic sea scallop.,,, “It’s an insane amount of ocean to occupy, and it will leave a trail of destruction,” said Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association. >click to read<14:19
New York’s energy policy depends on an impossible fantasy
Last Wednesday, the Cuomo administration blocked construction of the proposed Northeast Supply Enhancement project, a 24-mile gas pipeline that would run from New Jersey across New York Bay to near the Rockaways.,, was cheered by environmental groups,..Wind-energy projects, too, are facing fierce opposition.,,, What about offshore? Cuomo wants 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind installed in New York waters by 2035. But the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association and other fishing groups are adamantly opposed,,,In short, renewables can’t replace natural gas. >click to read<20:58
They’re just pouring money into it -“A Big Fugazi”: Why Fishermen Still Can’t Get Behind Offshore Wind
“This is going to affect every fisherman and fishes around these windmills,” Schneider says. “These crabs, these lobsters, seismic activity bothers them I believe and it’s not benefiting any one of us except a foreign company.” Schneider’s not alone. Fisherman along the Rhode Island and Massachusetts coast fear they could lose a significant portion of their catch. This is especially true for squid fishermen because the wind farm area will be constructed near their fishing grounds.,,,Dr. Kevin Stokesbury is a professor of fisheries oceanography at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. He says the wind farms will be installed in a fairly large homogenous environment in the sea floor, which will change the environment. >click to read<13:29
‘It’s Infuriating Us’: New Bedford Fishermen Oppose Vineyard Wind’s $10 Million Compensation Offer
Vineyard Wind CEO Lars Pedersen offered New Bedford fishermen $10million, which includes a direct payout that will be made in annual installments over the next 30 years and a $1 million trust for potential future costs.,,, Daniel Farnham, a New Bedford fisherman, says the proposal doesn’t truly reflect the economic value of the industry. “It’s not just a person catching fish, and selling it and taking that money home. We’re supporting ice houses, fuel barges, packout workers, an entire community is based around this industry and it’s hard to just see that may be taken away and then be offered pennies on the dollar for it and that is what is infuriating to us.” >click to read<11:54
Offshore Wind: California’s New Gold Rush
When it comes to States promoting renewable, non-fossil electricity generation, California surely leads the list, from utility-scale regional grids to individual rooftop solar panels. In fact, a December 2018 update from the California Energy Commission (CEC) estimates the state may already have exceeded an initial renewable generation goal of 33% by 2020..,,, CA’s offshore process started in earnest three years ago when a wind energy company then called Trident Wind – now Castle Wind – submitted an unsolicited request to BOEM (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) to lease a site in the Pacific near Morro Bay (about half-way between LA and San Francisco). >click to read<10:30
N.E. Fishery Management Council Hosts Offshore Wind Session; Discusses EBFM, Commercial eVTRs, and Research Set-Aside Program Review
Council Hosts Offshore Wind Special Session; The Council reaffirmed its commitment to stay engaged in tracking ongoing offshore wind developments and will continue to provide comments during appropriate opportunities along the way. All presentations and documents are available – Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management (EBFM), Commercial Electronic Vessel Trip Reporting (eVTR), ResearchSet-Aside (RSA) Program Review, lots of links! >Click to read the various details of these issues.<13:18
An April Fools Day Prank and a Hack!
Yesterday was April 1st commonly known as April fools day, a day when people pull pranks for whatever reason suits them. Fisherynation published an April Fool prank claiming that President Donald Trump had announced a complete moratorium of the planning, development, and construction of Offshore Windfarms. If you just read the first paragraph of the article you believed that it was true. If you did read the whole article you would discover that it was a prank and you felt cheated, even mad that someone could pull the wool over your eyes like that, because if you are a fisherman this was your most fervent hope because only the president has the power to stop this outrageous boondoggle at this time. The article was by Boris Badenuff which should have tipped you off. [Rocky and Bullwinkle, Russian collusion?] ,,, The point of the prank,,, >click to read<07:36
President Trump Announces 12 Year Ban On Offshore Wind Power Development
April1st – Early this morning President Donald J. Trump announced a total moratorium on the
planning, development, and construction of offshore windmills for the next twelve years. The President
cited numerous reasons for his decision and declared “This part of the Green New Deal is dead, the only
thing green about offshore wind is the money being thrown around of which the taxpayers and
electricity users will be forced to pay back in excessive electric rates and subsidies.” By Boris Badenuff>click to read<21:15
NOAA, BOEM, Fishing Industry Sign New Memorandum of Understanding
NOAA Fisheries, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), and the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) signed a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding that brings local and regional fishing interests together with federal regulators to collaborate on the science and process of offshore wind energy development on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf. >click to read<12:52
NOAA official talks ‘damage’ to scallop industry from offshore wind
Michael Pentony’s initial comments came when asked in an editorial board meeting if offshore wind gives the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cause for concern about the sustainability of the scallop industry, particularly with regard to wind turbines off New York. He began,”I think it’s difficult to say that we have concerns about the sustainability of a three- to five hundred million dollar a year fishery.,,, >click to read<10:07
Windmills On The Best Fishing Grounds? Let’s stand up for our fishing resource, a nationally vital food supply.
First of all, why in the hell would anyone want to plant complex machinery, such as wind turbines, in an offshore marine environment in over 100 feet of water …if there were any alternative sites at all? It makes no sense. Only if, perhaps they are so repugnant that on land they will not be tolerated within sight of civilization. So put them “Safely out to sea” and out of sight! This push for offshore wind on the best fishing grounds is motivated by irresponsible and mindless greed! It is not cost effective, not a good long term business plan. And it is certainly not healthy for the ocean ecosystem, or for food security. >click to read<20:11
Offshore wind developers court recreational fishing community
Offshore wind energy developers are courting recreational fishermen in the New York Bight, who could gain dozens of new fishing spots around turbine towers, but worry about impacts of the massive projects on traditional fishing grounds. “Obviously the hot button for us is access,” said charter captain Paul Eidman of Anglers for Offshore Wind Power, a project of the National Wildlife Federation, which hosted the meeting in Toms River, N.J., on Wednesday along with the American Littoral Society for offshore wind companies and recreational fishermen. >click to read<09:31:04
Governor Baker touts promise of wind power, new technology
New York recently set a long-term goal of generating 9,000 megawatts of energy from offshore wind power, while New Jersey plans to build 3,500 megawatts. But Massachusetts is seeking to produce just 1,600 megawatts, a target critics say is too modest. Some environmentalists had hoped that Governor Charlie Baker would announce a loftier goal Wednesday at a forum in Boston about the future of offshore wind power.,,, Baker also spoke of the need to ensure that wind farms don’t place an undue burden on the region’s fishing industry. >click to read<13:38
Vineyard Wind, Con Groups Reach Historic Agreement to Protect Right Whales
Vineyard Wind and the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation, and Conservation Law Foundation today entered into an unprecedented agreement to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. Under the historic agreement, Vineyard Wind will institute a variety of protective measures to keep right whales safe while installing and operating turbines at its proposed 84-turbine project off the coast of Massachusetts. Harnessing offshore wind is a key step in transitioning the nation away from dirty, polluting fossil fuels to a clean energy economy. (Plenty of Fraudsters here!) >click to read<13:55
New Jersey: Offshore-wind developers and officials won’t reveal key details of proposals
There’s a lot at stake for utility customers who may end up subsidizing projects to the tune of billions of dollars. Three developers are vying to build offshore-wind farms aimed at achieving the Murphy administration’s goal of building 1,100 megawatts of capacity off the Jersey coast in a process that is emerging as increasingly opaque. Details of the projects, to be subsidized by potentially billions of dollars from electric customers in New Jersey, were not forthcoming from either the state Board of Public Utilities nor the developers. The lack of transparency about the offshore-wind projects is not a new development. >click to read< 14:22
Europeans Sweep Record US Offshore Wind Auction
A U.S. government auction for three wind leases off the coast of Massachusetts ended on Friday with record-setting bids totaling more than $400 million from European energy giants including Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Equinor ASA. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced the sale’s three winners – Equinor Wind US LLC, Mayflower Wind Energy LLC, and Vineyard Wind LLC, at the conclusion of the two-day sale that attracted 11 bidders and lasted 32 rounds. Mayflower is a joint venture owned by Shell and EDP Renewables, a division of Portugal’s EDP. Vineyard Wind is a joint venture between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Inc, a division of Spain’s Iberdrola SA. Equinor is the Norwegian company formerly known as Statoil. Equinor and Mayflower each bid $135 million for their leases, while Vineyard Wind bid $135.1 million, BOEM said. >click to read<21:57
BOEM elaborates on map for New York Bight areas for offshore wind
Walter Cruickshank, the acting director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, provided some details to an otherwise ambiguous map the agency released last week for potential offshore wind sites along the New York Bight Call area. The map featured four sections of land off the coasts of Long Island and New Jersey and included shaded areas deemed as “primary recommendations” and “secondary recommendations.” The labels left commissioners at the Port Authority confused. >click to read<13:43
Vineyard Wind loses backing of a fishing board, decision may have serious consequences for proposed offshore wind farm
The Fishermen’s Advisory Board, which advises the Coastal Resources Management Council on fishing issues related to offshore wind, voted unanimously Monday to deny its support out of fear that the layout of the project’s 84 towering wind turbines in Rhode Island Sound would close off fishing grounds that are considered some of the most productive for the state’s commercial fleet.,,, The disagreement could have broader implications for the offshore wind industry and its relations with fishing communities all along the Northeast coast that are already fearful of being shunted aside in the interests of new energy development. >click to read<20:53
New Bedford Port Authority to become fisheries rep to offshore wind
The New Bedford Port Authority has reached an agreement with all offshore wind developers operating in the Massachusetts/Rhode Island market to serve as the designated Fisheries Representative of the commercial fishing industry to each of the development companies, according to a news release. Under federal guidelines issued by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management offshore wind developers must establish a fisheries representative to be the fishing community’s primary point of contact for communicating project-related concerns to the developer. >click to read<14:13
The Frightful Cost of Virginia Offshore Wind
On November 6, Virginia’s State Corporation Commission (SCC) regulatory agency approved a project to construct wind turbines near Virginia Beach. The plan calls for construction of turbines 27 miles off the coast,,, The project, named Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW), will be the first offshore wind project in the mid-Atlantic.,, The wholesale price for electricity in Virginia is about 3 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh).,,The electricity produced from the two offshore turbines will receive 78 cents per kWh, or a staggering 26 times the wholesale price. >click to read<21:36
Commercial Fishermen, Sport fishers Divided on Plans for More Offshore Wind
Commercial fishermen say the wind-energy projects planned for southern New England, such as the South Fork Wind Farm, are the latest threats to their income after decades of quotas and regulations “I don’t like the idea of the ocean being taken away from me after I’ve thrown so many big-dollar fish back in the water for the last 30 years, praying I’d get it back in the end,” said Dave Aripotch, owner of a 75-foot trawl-fishing boat based in Montauk, N.Y. Dave Monti of the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association said the submerged turbine foundations at the Block Island Wind Farm created artificial reefs, boosting fish populations and attracting charter boats like his. >click to read<10:07
BOEM requires transit corridors for offshore wind energy areas
The federal Bureau of Offshore Energy Management is requiring offshore wind energy developers to set aside vessel transit corridors, amid intense discussions with the commercial fishing industry. In a notice published Friday in the Federal Register, the agency announced it would offer an additional 390,000 acres south of Massachusetts for lease on Dec. 13.,,, Critics of offshore wind, including a number of commercial fishing groups, urge the Trump administration to put the brakes on development and take a slower approach. But Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke has emerged as a strong advocate off building a U.S. offshore wind industry. >click to read<14:58
Facing the Wind – A fisherman’s take on offshore wind
Local fishermen are on the verge of forever losing local fishing grounds to wind power as California trades one renewable resource (seafood) for another (electricity). The state of California and its citizens are on the front line of the efforts to convert our energy use from the burning of fossil fuels (oil and gas) to renewable sources of power — solar and wind. The latest move toward this conversion is for the sale of offshore ocean leases to wind power companies for the development of “at sea” wind farms with the ocean area off of Eureka and Trinidad as the prime first sites. >click to read<08:55
Scientists say black Sea bass behavior could be affected by offshore wind
Scientists from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center say that offshore wind energy construction could affect the behavior of Black Sea Bass. Black Sea Bass live up and down the east coast from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico, providing a significant ecological and economic importance. The fish are also attracted to structurally complex habitats, often found around rocky reefs, mussel beds, cobble and rock fields, and artificial habitats like shipwrecks. Scientists, commercial and recreational fisherman have expressed their concerns about how the sounds that come with the development of offshore wind energy overlapping with the natural habitats of Black Sea Bass. >click to read<09:37
Long Island turbine siting – ‘You’re impacting the whole resource’
Fishermen and city officials raised the alarm Tuesday about potential wind turbines in prime fishing and scalloping grounds south of Long Island. About 55 people attended a meeting with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to discuss the agency’s evaluation of possible offshore wind locations within a 2,300-square-mile portion of the New York Bight, between Long Island and New Jersey. Scalloper Eric Hansen said 40 to 50 percent of the scalloping grounds fished by New Bedford scallopers is within the area the federal government is considering leasing to wind developers, and if fishing there becomes dangerous, people will fish harder in the remaining places. “You’re impacting the whole resource,” he said. >click to read<13:35
Faith Leaders Bless Block Island Wind Farm, Call For More Offshore Wind
On Monday, more than 110 people of faith from New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Maryland stood silently as Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Ethical Culture Society leaders took turns offering reflections, readings from sacred writings and blessings during a ceremony at the Block Island Wind Farm. The ceremony was part of Trek to the Turbines, an educational ferry tour of the U.S.’ first offshore wind farm, located off the coast of Block Island, R.I., and developed by Deepwater Wind. The event was organized by interfaith environmental organization GreenFaith and the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), along with support from Jersey Renews. >click to read>09:15
New York’s RE Debacle Deepens: Offshore Wind Power All-at-Sea Without Massive Subsidies
Where the cost of onshore wind power is staggering, the cost of offshore wind power is astronomical. Of course, in either case, in the absence of massive and perpetual subsidies, there would never have been a single turbine constructed on land or at sea, ever, period. New York State’ Governor, Andrew Cuomo is just the latest in a long line of politicians in bed with crony capitalists the wind and solar ‘industries’. His obsession with wind power is sending New York’s power prices into orbit. And his plan to spear thousands of turbines off the New Jersey coast has incensed local fishermen who are literally told developers to get f*%#@d: Deepwater in Deep Trouble: Fishermen Tell Off-Shore Wind Farm Developers to F@*#K Off. >click to read<07:50
Bay State Wind alters proposal to allow more distance between turbines
According to Lauren Burm, the head of public affairs for Bay State Wind, after speaking with “key stakeholders including the fishing community,” the company altered its proposal in terms of spacing between turbines to a nautical mile in rows running east to west.. “Based on their helpful feedback we have adjusted our layout to better accommodate fishing patterns and vessel transiting through the wind farm, while also maintaining efficiency and maximizing power production,” Burm said. Those within the industry disagree that the adjustment by Bay State Wind, a partnership between Orstead and Eversource, helps fishermen navigate.“There’s no way a mile spacing would result in a safe transit,” New Bedford scalloper Eric Hansen said. >click to read<08:48
Raimondo looks to further offshore wind, to fishermen’s dismay
Governor Gina Raimondo is promising a “greener” Rhode Island with at least 5,000 new jobs by expanding offshore wind initiatives if she’s reelected. “High-end, high wage jobs – Rhode Island ought to be the Silicon Valley of offshore wind,” said Raimondo. Raimondo eventually wants factories in Rhode Island to manufacture the equipment instead of outsourcing it. She plans to further invest in the state’s ports so they can handle the work on a larger scale. For Spencer Bode, a local commercial fisherman, this is a race he wants no part of. Bode hasn’t been impacted by the five turbines off Block Island, but the dozens more set to be built halfway between the island and Martha’s Vineyard are another story. >click to read<09:25
