Fishermen Wary as Number of Offshore Wind Projects Grows

by Laurie Schreiber

PORTLAND, ME—The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has issued 15 commercial wind energy leases in the Northeast region, and an additional lease sale is expected to be announced soon for the New York Bight Area.

The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) heard an update on the projects at its June 11 meeting.

“A lot of these projects are poised to hit the water in the next few years,” said NEFMC consultant Heather Deese.

But fishermen expressed concerns about the projects.

Ron Smolowitz, with the Fisheries Survival Fund, asked NEFMC if states have discussed a ratepayer fee for research on the impacts of offshore energy on fisheries.

“That’s very important,” Smolowitz said. He noted that existing proposals for research depends on the wind companies themselves.

“That’s a very bad position to be in,” he said. “The magnitude of offshore wind energy development is almost incomprehensible, and the impacts on fisheries, both recreational and commercial, will be huge. We have no way to fund research on how to address these impacts. We can monitor them, but then what? You can’t do anything about it. So I hope everyone here with state authorities works toward getting their states to put together a ratepayer fee to address the impacts of offshore energy production.”

New Hampshire fisherman David Goethel wanted to know how NEFMC and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) interact with the proposals.

“My concern has been that we have a number of highly migratory fish species in the leased areas” that will be migrating through electromagnetic fields generated by cables connecting the offshore wind projects to the shore. “You’ll have all these cables leaking voltage coming to shore,” he continued. We don’t know what’ s going to happen to all the species that migrate through that area, as they home toward their natal rivers. How is that issue going to be addressed?”

NEFMC Fishery Analyst Michelle Bachman said that NMFS, as a cooperating agency with BOEM on the projects, will consult on issues and concerns about the projects. NMFS itself, she said, has identified concerns with some of BOEM’s information and some of the rigor of its analyses.

“The question goes to, whatever we’re doing at this point, is based on the information we have,” said Jon Hare, the science and research director of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC). “There certainly are a lot of scientific questions around the response of fish and shellfish to cables and electromagnetic diffusion from those cables. It’s an issue of using the information we have now to make the best decisions, but also how do we do the research now and into the future.”

Goethel said it’s one thing to study the impact of one wind project. But he wanted to know if analyses will be set up to study cumulative impacts.

“Maybe we can get away with one electric cable coming to shore, but what happens when there are seven of them?” he said.

Bachman said the projects are required to do cumulative impacts analyses.

Bachman presented related information on fishing effort in the Northeast. A dynamic model that incorporates fishing effort is based on logbook and survey data and estimates data like number of fishing events, tows with mobile gear or set/hauls with fixed gear, gear length, and gear width for each gear type, she said.

“It’s important to determine where fishing activity generally occurs,” she said.

Next steps include updating the model with new effort and habitat data. The model will be used to inform stock assessments, she said.

David Frulla, with the Fisheries Survival Fund, noted the model is also relevant to management agencies as they “try to understand where they want to put these wind energy areas that they insist no one fishes in.”

Among the current leases, BOEM has approved seven site assessment plans in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York, said Deese.

Construction and operations plans (COPs) for four projects – Vineyard Wind, Bay State Wind, South Fork, and Skipjack – are under various stages of review and implementation. COPs for seven additional projects are expected to advance within the next 12 months. More proposed projects are likely.

Overall, the projects in the pipeline are:

Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind
Vineyard Wind
South Fork
Ocean Wind
Bay State Wind
U.S. Wind (MD)
Revolution Wind
Skipjack Windfarm
Dominion Commercial Lease
Empire Wind
EDF Renewables
Kitty Hawk

The winning bids for an 800-megawatt wind project off New York and a 1,100-megawatt project off New Jersey are expected to be announced this summer, Deese said. Massachusetts in May issued a request for proposals for an 800-megawatt project, and it’s expected that selection will be made this fall, she said.

Connecticut and Maryland have pending legislation to increase their offshore wind energy procurement goals, for an increase of 2,000 megawatts in Connecticut and 1,200 megawatts in Maryland.

The Vineyard Wind project, off Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, is on schedule to start construction onshore in 2019 and be operational in 2021, she said. A request for proposals has been issued for real-time acoustic monitoring for North Atlantic right whales, in relation to the project. There will be additional opportunities to provide recommendations for habitat conservation and NOAA will provide more comments on a monitoring plan. NOAA is reviewing a Vineyard Wind application for the incidental take of marine mammals during construction.

Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts have asked BOEM to form a Gulf of Maine Task Force, she said.

In the meantime, there are several research and monitoring efforts occurring around the burgeoning offshore wind industry. They include:

• Responsible Offshore Science Alliance (ROSA), which is planning an in-person meeting this summer

• A research partnership announced by Ørsted & Rutgers University

• The U.S. Department of Energy’s award of $8 million for research into lightweight, high-efficiency turbines, with a goal to reduce cost of wind generation by 10-25 percent; the department’s solicitation for $28 million in wind energy research and development; and a solicitation regarding wind-wildlife interactions

ROSA is a collaborative effort among fishing industry representatives, offshore wind developers, and state and federal government agencies that formed to advance regional research and monitoring of fisheries and offshore wind, according to an April press release on ROSA’s website. Its goals are to collect and disseminate data on fisheries and wind development and to increase the understanding of the effects and potential impacts of wind energy development on fisheries and the ocean ecosystems. The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance was a partner in forming ROSA.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) supports the development of a regional science and monitoring framework through ROSA, according to the ROSA release. NMFS is the federal agency charged with stewardship of living marine resources, including fisheries and associated fishing communities.

“America’s offshore wind energy future is dependent on scientists, fishermen, and energy officials uniting under a common goal: safeguarding our invaluable marine resources,” NMFS Assistant Administrator Chris Oliver said in the release. ROSA’s funding is derived from contributors that include including wind energy leaseholders.

Deese said larger projects are on the horizon. AnbaricEnergy Center at Brayton Point, in Somerset, Mass., is installing a 1,200-megawatt high-voltage direct current converter, estimated to cost $250 million, to serve offshore wind, and is also starting development of 400 megawatts of battery storage, estimated to cost $400 million, she said.

In the meantime, workforce development initiatives are underway. They include a partnership between the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MCEC) and Vineyard Wind.

MCEC has provided $720,000 in training grants to:

• Bristol Community College for basic safety training and basic technical training

• Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA) for basic safety training and an “Intro to offshore wind” course for MMA cadets.

• University of Massachusetts/Amherst for an offshore wind professional certificate program

• Pile Drivers and Divers Local 56 to for sponsorship of trade union members for basic safety training at Massachusetts Maritime Academy

• Cape Cod Community College for courses to introduce students and workers to careers in offshore wind

• Adult Continuing Education on Martha’s Vineyard to provide on-island courses and training

Vineyard Wind provided $200,000 of the training funds.

In addition, a group of U.S. senators, including Susan Collins, have introduced legislation to create a grant program for offshore wind career training and education.

“Within 50 miles of the U.S. coast, there is enough offshore wind capacity to power our country four times over,” Collins said in a press release. “Thanks to UMaine’s leadership in offshore wind energy research through Aqua Ventus, a project I have strongly supported, Maine is particularly well-suited to benefit from the growth of this industry, which has the potential to support more than 2,000 good-paying jobs in our state.”

The legislation would direct the U.S. Department of Energy to work with stakeholders to identify gaps in the offshore wind industry’s workforce development before setting up a grant program to address those needs. The grants could be used for a variety of activities, including current worker training, training in conjunction with an apprenticeship, individual tuition assistance for a postsecondary credential, or other activities to address the workforce needs of the offshore wind industry. The grant program would be authorized at $25 million per year from fiscal year 2020 through 2024.

The Department of Energy has found that the United States could install a total of 22,000 megawatts of offshore wind projects by 2030 and 86,000 megawatts by 2050, creating tens of thousands of jobs in coastal communities along the Atlantic Coast, according to the release.

See British wind farm video by Fisheries Survival Fund at fishermen voice.com