BY DANA TIMS/YachatsNews
An influential group charged with helping manage West Coast fisheries is asking the federal government to completely start over with plans for floating offshore wind energy development.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council, meeting recently in Seattle, cited fishing sustainability concerns in approving a resolution asking that two “call areas” already approved off the southern Oregon coast be scrapped.
A motion calling for the process to be started anew passed unanimously with abstentions cast by the state representatives for Oregon, Washington and California.
It remains unclear how the resolution might affect the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s plans to fast-track planning and installation of towering wind turbines that the Biden administration hopes will create 30 gigawatts of electricity-generating capacity through offshore wind by 2030.
Groups supporting a process restart have criticized what they call the government’s use of an imprecise mapping tool for siting floating wind platforms.
“The Council’s action sends a strong signal to BOEM that fisheries leaders do not want to risk losing our productive fisheries, the scientific surveys on which our fisheries management depends, or the health of our ocean ecosystems due to offshore wind,” said Susan Chambers, co-chair of the Council’s marine planning committee. “The California current is one of the most productive ecosystems in the world. We need to get this right.”
Heather Mann, executive director of the Newport-based Midwater Trawlers Cooperative, agreed.
“We hear the climate crisis is so severe that collateral damage to birds, whales, the California current ecosystem, food security, even to fisheries, fishermen and rural community economies is an accepted part of the transition to cleaner energy,” Mann said in her testimony to the Council. “That is an unacceptable premise to me, and I hope it is to you as well.”
To date, BOEM has identified two call areas, totaling 1.1 million acres, that could be candidates for future offshore wind energy leasing. The areas are in waters off Coos Bay and Brookings.
Four companies have already expressed interest in participating with wind-energy development off the Oregon coast, said Kerry Griffin, staff officer with the Pacific Fishery Management Council.
If federal officials ignore the restart request, the next step would involve narrowing down the call areas to so-called wind-energy areas. Leases for developing the sites could follow soon after.
What about the future when the windmills on the ocean are no longer useful, for whatever reason. Will the wind energy people remove them, or leave them to rust in the ocean? Also, how will this impact the whale migration? Can the windmill towers benefit the fisheries in any way?
Once again, the fishing industry is hyperventilating over windmills at sea without presenting any evidence whatsoever about what harm they could cause. I remain completely unconvinced until I see some evidence. And as I mentioned in a previous comment, the New York Times recently revealed that anti-wind energy efforts by the fishing industry in the Northeast were secretly backed by oil and gas money. I wonder if that is happening here.
The time to examine proper evidence would be before the wind energy rigs are constructed. Our coastal eco-system supports sea life and a multi-billion dollar fishing industry that is crucial to the economic well-being of the PNW. A rushed process is more likely to cause harm than a delayed one in this instance. While big oil is strategizing today how to navigate competition by alternative energy suppliers in the next decade, they’re going to end up investing in the exploitation of our oceans (be it wind, wave, or drilling) sooner (as in Europe) or later. So, their purported opposition to coastal wind farms is immaterial to the question of whether or not we should support thorough research into this consequential area. The health of our nearby ocean and the continued viability of commercial and recreational fishing is too important to get distracted by polemics designed to keep the masses paralyzed.