Wind

'Rubber stamp' | US fisheries body quits en masse over offshore wind project approval

Rhode Island advisory body members called regulator's process for approving Orsted-Eversource Sunrise Wind array 'political theatre'

Block Island.
Block Island.Foto: Recharge/Stromsta

All nine members of a fisheries advisory board for Rhode Island coastal development regulators quit over offshore wind development this week.

The Fisheries Advisory Board (FAB) advises the state Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) on development activities in the Ocean State, including offshore wind.

FAB members said in their joint resignation letter addressed to CRMC executive director Jeff Willis that: “The Rhode Island CRMC has made deference to offshore wind developers its top priority regardless of the requirements of the Ocean SAMP [special area management plan], the cost to the environment, or the impacts to Rhode Island’s fishing industry.”

“The Ocean SAMP process has been reduced to mere political theater, to which we refuse to lend any further credence by our presence,” the letter added.

It was signed by all nine members of the FAB, including Meghan Lapp, general manager of Rhode Island-based fish processor Seafreeze Shoreside.

Lapp is a vociferous critic of the offshore wind sector and has been a guest of former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson. She is party to a lawsuit sponsored by conservative think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation challenging the approval of Vineyard Wind 1, the nation’s first commercial scale array.
Rhode Island is home to the nation’s first offshore wind development, the 30MW Block Island array, and has another 400MW contracted in the Revolution Wind project under development by the joint venture (JV) of Orsted-Eversource.
The mass resignation stems from CMRC’s approval of the Orsted-led JV’s 920MW Sunrise Wind project for New York.

Sunrise is in federal waters around 17 miles (27 km) south of Block Island in the Massachusetts and Rhode Island wind energy area (WEA). The project will install up to 84 Siemens Gamesa 11MW turbines and a substation.

Its proximity to Rhode Island and potential impact on the state’s fisheries require it to gain the state’s approval.

In a separate letter, Richard Hittinger, vice president of the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association and the board’s lone representative for recreational fisheries, complained that CRMC failed to adequately assess usage of areas of importance for recreational and commercial fisheries, particularly Cox Ledge, spawning ground for numerous species including codfish.

Hittinger called the approval process “a rubber stamp of the political desires of Washington, DC”.

The Biden administration is calling for 30GW of offshore wind capacity in US waters by 2030, although most analysts are forecasting far less.

The move is the latest in what seems to be an escalation of opposition to the industry in its Northeast homeland.

The ongoing whale strandings on US East Coast shores – more than 60 animals have died this year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – has been blamed on offshore wind, galvanising opposition by energetic activists.

Recent attempts at contract renegotiations in key states have likewise strained confidence in the industry, with the Wall Street Journal calling it a “green energy bailout” in a recent editorial.

(Copyright)
Published 6 September 2023, 22:34Updated 15 October 2023, 11:54
AmericasUSRhode IslandBlock Island Wind Orsted