Tag Archives: wind farm
Why the fishing industry is against offshore wind farms near Ocean City
Representatives say wind farms could cause harm by driving marine wildlife away, disturbing the ocean environment and making navigation more difficult for fishers and mariners. “Now with the current offshore wind leasing process, we have these fishing grounds being sold right out from under us,” said Meghan Lapp during a recent presentation to the Ocean City Town Council. But marine biologists and wind farm officials say the impact won’t be that severe. “I think they took an emotional approach to the problem. … So there was some degree of misinformation,” said Salvo Vitale, general counsel for U.S. Wind, one of the offshore wind energy companies involved in the Maryland project. The town’s officials feel very strongly that this project was misrepresented to them because the size of the wind turbines has increased since the initial proposal,,, >click to read<10:18
Now We’re Talking!! BOEM dressed down, wind farm companies get an earful at a meeting
Federal officials in charge of leasing ocean bottom land to offshore wind farm companies got an earful at a meeting with commercial fishermen Wednesday – and much of it was R-rated. There isn’t merely significant opposition to offshore wind farms; there is 100-percent agreement among the fishermen that the wind turbines will eventually put them out of business.,, Deepwater Wind, which has a project slated off the coast of Montauk called South Fork Wind and runs the Block Island Wind farm, was the subject of much of the ire and criticism,,, Ryan Fallon said he has spent his life on the water. “Everyone is against [the wind farms]. This is my life, my daughter’s life. I almost brought her here so you could look her in the eyes,” said Fallon, whose father was a commercial fisherman and bought him his first boat. “I’ve been doing this since I was 12. I’ll die before I let you take it away.” >click to read<20:37
First U.S. Offshore Wind Developer Acts on Fishing Gear
U.S. offshore wind developer Deepwater Wind has adopted a first-of-its-kind procedure designed to prevent impacts to commercial fishing gear from its activities. Deepwater Wind’s Block Island Wind Farm is America’s first offshore wind farm, and the company is currently in active development on utility-scale wind farms to serve Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Maryland. The procedure was developed in close coordination with the commercial fishing industry and is based off extensive feedback from fishermen in ports up and down the Atlantic coast. Deepwater Wind believes that keeping fishermen informed is the key to preventing damage to fishing gear. >click to read<18:19
Offshore wind topic blows back onto Ocean City agenda
Offshore wind farms near Ocean City’s coast will again come up for discussion at Monday’s Town Council meeting. Meghan Lapp, a fisheries liaison for Seabreeze Seafreeze Ltd. in Rhode Island, will outline concerns with how wind farms may affect commercial fishing, according to the agenda document. The presentation will also feature local fisherman George Topping. The addition of wind farms could restrict fishing areas, according to the presentation outline in the agenda documents. Deepwater Wind and US Wind received approval in 2017 to construct two wind turbine projects off of Ocean City. >click to read<09:56
Misguided Opposition to Wind Farm? The rambling random notions of an unhinged crack pot.
As we face multiple global ecological crises, magnified by climate change, it is puzzling, even frightening, to see opposition to one of the major and already functioning forms of renewable energy, especially from the marine resources community. One would think that this community was completely ignorant of the proven threats of oil tankers to our fisheries and estuaries, or of the overfishing of food fish, or the destruction of coastal estuaries, the fish breeding grounds, for condominiums, hotels, resorts and other incompatible uses, or the polluting runoff from farms, sewers, cesspools and industry. The commercial fishing community has long sat on the sidelines as environmentalists fought the good fight to preserve ocean life.,, >click to read<10:19
Dutch fishermen to sail fleet into Amsterdam in wind turbine protest
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. >click to read<13:33
Looking for Reasons Why Wind Power Can Never Work? Here’s the Top 21
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that wind power is the greatest economic and environmental fraud of all time. All it takes is a little cognitive power and a sense of inquiry. Once people work out that they’ve been conned, they never turn back. In our travels we’ve met plenty who’ve started out in favour of wind power and turned against it; we’ve never found an example of the reverse. STT dishes up the facts on a daily basis, much to the annoyance of the wind cult. Anyone looking for a solid set of reasons as to why wind power can never work, need look no further than this cracking little list put together by John Droz. >click to read<14:13
Two big wind farms to rise off coast of Martha’s Vineyard
State officials and utility executives Wednesday picked the first company to build a wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts, a project with as many as 100 turbines 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. Vineyard Wind, a joint venture of New England utility Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, beat out a proposal from Bay State Wind, a joint venture owned by Eversource Energy and Danish energy giant Orsted. Meanwhile, the Deepwater project will be known as Revolution Wind and is about 12 miles south of the Vineyard. It would be 10 times the size of Deepwater’s five-turbine project off Block Island, >click to read< 16:50
Andrew Cuomo’s wind farm won’t fly without fracking
New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo led the cheer squad last month when the Interior Department announced it would begin allowing offshore wind turbines to be built in the shallow waters between New Jersey and Long Island. Mr. Cuomo had recently announced a $6 billion plan to build 2,400 megawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030, with the costs passed on to bill payers. But though Mr. Cuomo portrays himself as a champion of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions, his simultaneous opposition to a New York City-area nuclear plant exposes his wind plan as a mere play for progressive prestige. Mr. Cuomo isn’t the only Northeastern governor with windy ambitions. Massachusetts’ Charlie Baker signed a bill in 2016 committing his state to develop 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2027, and New Jersey’s Phil Murphy decreed in January that the Garden State would aim for 3,500 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2030. >click to read<
Barry Richard: Warren and Markey are AWOL from Fishing Issues
A restless waterfront is demanding the attention of elected officials on the state and federal levels, but so far there has been little but lip service. This week, Governor Charlie Baker promised to listen to the concerns of the local fishing industry, as plans proceed for an offshore wind farm that could have grave consequences for the industry if not done right. Industry reps are concerned about the impact such development could have on fish stocks. They also worry that the budding wind industry could crowd them out along the waterfront and pose safety risks,, 10 minute radio call in.>click to read<20:24
Bitter Denunciations at Marathon Meeting on Wind Farm
Opponents and advocates of the proposed South Fork Wind Farm, a 15-turbine, 90-megawatt installation planned approximately 30 miles east of Montauk, spoke for more than three hours at Tuesday’s meeting of the East Hampton Town Board, as commercial fishermen and their supporters railed at a project they fear would result in making fertile fishing grounds off limits.,,, “As a commercial fisherman, we are looking at the industrialization of our oceans,” said Dan Farnham Jr. of Montauk, referring to the hundreds or even thousands of turbines he expects to follow the South Fork Wind Farm. >click to read<20:19
East Hampton Selects Captain Julie Evans to Represent Fisheries on Wind Farm Project
East Hampton Town’s Fisheries Committee has selected Captain Julie Evans, who has worked on commercial and charter boats out of Montauk for decades, to be the Fisheries Representative working for local fishermens’ interests with regard to Deepwater Wind’s proposed South Fork Wind Farm project off the coast of Montauk. Ms. Evans began fishing for striped bass commercially in 1975, but became a charter boat captain after the commercial striped bass fishery was put out of business by PCB contamination, she told the East Hampton Town Board at their March 6 meeting. She has also worked as a journalist and used her background in environmental science to help run ecotours.>click to read<14:54
Wind farm company says no fishing vessel damage – claims by local fishermen are a “complete fabrication”
The head of a company that built the nation’s first wind farm says it hasn’t received any reports of damage to fishing vessels in the area, off the coast of Rhode Island. Deepwater Wind CEO Jeff Grybowski said Thursday he believes any claims by local fishermen are a “complete fabrication.” The Providence-based company and the American Wind Energy Association industry trade group are touting new undersea footage suggesting a vibrant marine habitat growing around the five-turbine wind farm. >click to read< 09:05 
Pushing Propaganda: Underwater video shows marine life growing at wind farm
Offshore wind proponents are touting new undersea footage that suggests a vibrant marine habitat is growing around the nation’s first offshore wind farm — a five-turbine operation off Rhode Island’s waters.,, The brief underwater footage is juxtaposed with longer testimonials from local recreational fishermen and charter boat owners who say the wind farm has been a boon for them since Deepwater Wind opened it more than a year ago. But commercial fishermen are notably absent from the video and it doesn’t acknowledge the experiences of Rhode Island fishermen who have had their trawling gear damaged by buried power cables,,, >click to read< >click to watch video<14:00
Highest Hurdle For Deepwater May Be Winning The Trust Of The Region’s Fishing Community
Deepwater Wind faces two years of review by some 20 state and federal agencies, and millions of dollars in scientific survey work covering hundreds of square miles of the ocean, to answer the questions the agencies will pepper them with about the wind farm’s effect on the ocean around it.,, Part of the federal process that the company must follow, in attempting to show that the 15 wind turbines they want to build in the ocean east of Block Island can coexist with those who make a living at sea, requires that they appoint a “fisheries representative” >click here to read< 09:47
Wind Farm Cable Would Come Ashore In Wainscott; Company Would Fund Fisheries And Scenic Improvements
Deepwater Wind has told the East Hampton Town Board that it has identified Beach Lane in Wainscott as the preferable place for the cable from the 15-turbine wind farm planned southeast of Montauk to come ashore and connect to the South Fork power grid.,,,Additionally, the company is pledging to give the East Hampton Town Trustees $600,000, in two dedicated funds, for improving fisheries habitat and other environmental improvements on Town Trustees-controlled wetlands and bay bottoms. click here to read the story 10:06
Offshore Wind: LIPA Blasted at Meeting
A discussion on Nov. 1 of the proposed South Fork Wind Farm, hosted by the East Hampton Town Trustees’ harbor management committee, was blown off course. The three-hour meeting at Scoville Hall in Amagansett was largely devoted to a presentation by Michael McDonald of the East End Resilience Network. While Mr. McDonald praised Deepwater Wind, the Rhode Island company that hopes to build the 15-turbine wind farm approximately 30 miles off Montauk, he was harshly critical of the Long Island Power Authority and PSEG Long Island, which manages the grid for LIPA.,,, Bonnie Brady emphasized the commercial fishing industry’s opposition to the wind farm click here to read the story 17:18
Deepwater Wind Confronted – Fishermen ask trustees to fight offshore wind farm
A representative of the Rhode Island company that is planning a 15-turbine wind farm 30 miles off Montauk faced sharp questions from fishermen and other residents at the East Hampton Town Trustees meeting on Monday, as well as from the trustees themselves. A lengthy presentation and a subsequent question-and-answer session occupied more than half of the nearly four-hour meeting, as fishermen voiced fears of disruption and even the outright destruction of their livelihood. “Most of fishermen I know, we are against this project from the beginning to the end,” Terry Wallace said to applause. Brad Loewen, chairman of the East Hampton Town Fisheries Advisory Committee, criticized Deepwater’s effort to hire fisheries representatives here. “You can try to buy advice, you can try to buy trawl surveys, you can try to buy scientific data,” he said. “I would suggest . . . that you don’t necessarily listen to somebody that was hired by them,” he told the trustees. “Listen to the people doing the job, somebody actually out trawling, running around that bay, trying to catch fish, and trying to make a living.” click here to read the story 14:18
German company eyes wind farm project off Fire Island
“The idea that you can just show up and stick a flag in the ocean floor and say it’s mine without regard to the fishing community it will displace is unconscionable and un-American,” said Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association.A German renewable-energy company has submitted an unsolicited bid for more than 40,000 acres of water rights due south of Fire Island for the first phase of a wind-turbine array of up to 400 megawatts. Maps submitted with the project indicate it would place 30 to 50 turbines around 600 feet tall in an area that extends from Bayport to Moriches, starting around 12 miles from shore. The project would be east of another wind-energy area that was federally auctioned in December to Norway-based Statoil for $42 million. Both projects, which would require numerous state and federal permits, are in areas considered vital to fishing interests; the Statoil project is already the subject of a federal lawsuit seeking to block it and preserve squid, scallop and bottom-fishing grounds. Called the NY4 Excelsior Wind Park, the latest project is being proposed by PNE Wind, a German developer of onshore and offshore wind projects with a U.S. base in Chicago. (we are opposed) Read the story here 07:54
Fishermen concerned about loss of fishing grounds: Deepwater holds hearing on planned wind farm off Rhode Island
Developers of LIPA’s planned offshore wind farm gave the first glimpse Thursday of the project’s proposed undersea cable route and connecting point in the Hamptons, drawing concern from fishermen who fear loss of fishing grounds. About 75 people showed up for the meeting in East Hampton. Many in attendance were fishermen concerned about the loss of fishing grounds and navigational hazards because of turbine and cable placement. “The cable runs right through the heart of where I fish,” said Montauk commercial fisherman Richard Jones. Al Shaffer said his lobster fishing wouldn’t be impacted, adding that the cable’s placement would mean the end for trawling in Napeague Bay. “This will close it down” he said. (Deepwater chief executive Jeff) Grybowski said trawl fishing, with heavy, bottom dragging nets, could happen around turbines that are expected to be about a mile apart but Montauk fisherman Dave Aripotch said he wouldn’t risk it. “You can’t drag through this,” he said. Video, read the story here 08:30
Alternative Energy Collides With Fishermen’s Livelihood Off Long Island
The federal government on Thursday plans to auction off a parcel of 79,000 acres in the Atlantic Ocean just south of Long Island to build a wind farm over fishing grounds that scallop and squid fishermen say are vital to their trade. Bidders hope to secure a 25-year lease to operate a wind farm, to sell the electricity to energy-hungry Long Island and the New York City region. Offshore wind is a big part of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s plan for New York to get half of its energy from alternative sources by 2030. But the commercial fishing industry opposes building wind turbines on this particular stretch of the Atlantic Ocean, which is sandwiched between shipping lanes into and out of the New York harbor. “We are very afraid we are going to lock up an area of the bottom that is definitely favorable for scallop settlement,” said James Gutowski, a scallop fisherman from Barnegat Light, N.J., and chairman of the Fisheries Survival Fund. Members of the fishing industry say the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management didn’t adequately consider what the impact would have on scallop and squid fishing grounds. Read the story here 08:24
Auction scheduled for lease rights for wind farm, Fishermen seeking to block
The lease rights to develop a wind-energy farm on 79,350 acres of ocean 11.5 miles from Jones Beach could be granted by federal regulators this week. But the online bidding is only the start of a process that could take seven years or more, officials said. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, a division of the Department of the Interior created by President Obama in 2010 to facilitate energy independence and accelerate wind-energy efforts, has said it will start the Thursday auction with an opening bid of $158,700, or around $2 per acre. The long-awaited path to that auction had seemed clear until fishing groups, including the largest commercial fishing association on Long Island, filed suit on Thursday seeking to block it, alleging the project of 194 turbines would hinder access to vital fishing grounds. A hearing on a request for a temporary restraining order and injunction has been scheduled for Dec. 14, a day before the auction, before U.S. District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan. But attorneys for both sides appear to have worked out an agreement that would let the auction go forward but give fishing groups 14 days’ notice before any final lease is executed. It awaits a judge’s approval. Read the rest here 09:02
A massive coastal wind farm off Long Island will please pretty much no one
Election year is the season to channel more money into renewable energy resources because it tends to carry some significant sway with the liberal base. With that in mind, the green light has been given (yet again) to plans for a truly massive “wind farm” in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Long Island. But the usual liberal caveat of NIMBY (“Not in my back yard”) is always in play when such plans come close to fruition and this one is no exception. Some of the chief opponents to this forest of turbine towers are the fishermen who make their living in the targeted waters. Read the rest here 11:05
FRIENDSHIP, Maine – proposed wind turbine farm off Monhegan Island was met with skepticism and outright opposition
The presentation was made by representatives of the University of Maine to about 30 people at the Friendship town office. The wind farm would cover an 8-mile-by-8-mile area off Monhegan. “This would devastate fishing in that area if you do that,” said fisherman Kevin Benner. more@bdn 09:21
COOS BAY FISHERMEN – Wind energy company gears up for public information campaign – I suggest you be there.
COOS BAY — South Coast residents will have at least two opportunities to learn about an 
proposal this month. continued
Anglers debate OC offshore wind farm – Dredging and fishing near turbines could (will)be prohibited
ANNAPOLIS — If a wind farm is ever built off the coast of Ocean City, it could enhance recreational fishing by creating artificial reefs, but hurt commercial fishermen who dredge in the area by taking up valuable bottom with cables and lines. A number of steps still need to be taken before the offshore farm, which could include between 50 and 100 wind turbines, becomes a reality. Still, Catherine McCall of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources said the department is taking steps now to minimize the impact on the fishing community. “The largest impact could occur to gear types that tend to make contact with the bottom, so your trolls or your dredges. The connections between each of the turbines require cables or lines and you don’t want people dredging or trolling over that,” McCall said. McCall said where dredging would be prohibited would be decided during the siting process. Depending on who installs the project, all fishing near the turbines could be prohibited for safety reasons. Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2012 passed through the House of Delegates but never came to a vote in the Senate. The bill is not necessary to build a farm but would encourage construction by requiring that Maryland power suppliers get a certain amount of power from wind. Similar legislation is expected in 2013 as proponents continue to try to jump start wind farming in Maryland.
http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20121005/WCT01/310050009/Anglers-debate-OC-offshore-wind-farm
