By MONICA SAMAYOA/Oregon Public Broadcasting
The Oregon coast is inching closer to generating renewable electricity using floating offshore wind turbines, although any construction is still years away.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, announced it finished an environmental assessment. The assessment looked at potential impacts from issuing leases to develop floating offshore wind in the region. BOEM is the federal agency tasked with identifying, proposing and leasing the ocean areas.
But residents and fishery groups say their requests to pause and delay these leases are falling on deaf ears. That has led Coos County commissioners to ask voters in November to decide whether to actively oppose the development.
In February, BOEM proposed two locations off the coast of Coos Bay and Brookings, totaling nearly 195,000 acres of potential wind development.
Shortly after, BOEM announced it was preparing to accept proposals to develop in those areas, but first needed to finalize the environmental assessment. The agency has concluded, after a public comment period, that issuing leases in mid-October will have “no significant impacts to people or the environment.”
The assessment only reviews the process of issuing a lease. It does not allow construction, and does not assess environmental impacts of developing offshore wind projects.
“BOEM relies on the best available science and information for our decision-making regarding offshore wind activities,” BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein said in a statement.
The agency said it worked with state government officials, community members and tribes to gather input on how to shape its environmental analysis and is committed to ensuring any offshore wind development in “Oregon is done in a way that avoids, reduces, or mitigates potential impacts to ocean users and the marine environment.”
As the demand for more renewable energy increases nationwide, there is pressure to utilize ocean winds to generate more power and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. BOEM estimates Oregon’s coast could have the potential to power more than one million homes with wind energy.
Still much opposition
But the push for floating offshore wind has driven residents, commercial fishing groups and tribes in the region to call on federal regulators to halt the leasing of the areas until there is a better understanding of environmental and cultural impacts.
Last week, Coos County commissioners unanimously voted to put a non-binding question on the November ballot asking voters whether the commissioners should oppose floating offshore wind development.
Though the vote would not have any weight on BOEM’s decision to lease the areas, it could be symbolic, said Heather Mann, executive director of Midwater Trawlers Cooperative, a Newport-based commercial fishing trade association.
“I think they’re desperate to say, ‘Look, nobody’s listening and we have a responsibility to our communities, to our coastal economies, to our constituents and they are telling us no one’s listening to us,’” she said.
Mann, who worked with an informal group to develop a state roadmap defining standards for offshore wind energy, said BOEM continues to rush the process. The fishing industry and others have called for a halt numerous times. She said people have sent in hundreds of comments asking for more information regarding the environmental and coastal impacts of offshore wind, as well as what will happen to the ocean’s ecosystem.
“We’re moving to a place now where we are considering coming out and just saying no to offshore wind rather than being willing to work through a process, because that process is stalled,” she said. “BOEM is moving forward regardless, and we feel that our livelihoods, but also the ocean, is imperiled from this type of activity. So I think people are outraged at the speed with which this is moving.”
She said a full stop would allow for the remapping of the entire Oregon Coast and a look at ocean depths deeper than 1,300 meters. Mann said there is much less fishing activity beyond that point and less disruption to current activities.
“If that were to happen, we would be willing to stand down and participate in that process,” she said.
But Mann cautioned if BOEM does not slow down, Oregon could see the same potential impacts New England is experiencing now — such as a July 13 blade failure that led to thousands of fiberglass shards and pieces washing up ashore. Federal and state officials are currently working on how to safely remove the damaged blade and other remaining turbine parts from the ocean.
“It’s mind boggling that people aren’t saying hold on a minute after what just happened, we need to slow down, not speed up this process,” she said.
BOEM said it is preparing a final sale notice and inviting qualified participants for a lease auction of the proposed areas in mid-October.
- This story originally appeared Aug. 13, 2024 on Oregon Public Broadcasting.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, they want ot put these up and down the coast but choose this area because of fewer residents . This is a boondoggle that will have lasting effects on our marine environment. Just follow the money, we are paying for this crap in our increased electric rates.
Given the well documented effects of fossil fuel burning on our climate and year after year of record heat globally, I continue to be amazed at the largely unsubstantiated criticism of offshore wind power. I have yet to see convincing evidence of any significant long-lasting effects on the marine environment, especially compared with the globally documented changes in ocean temperatures and circulation associated with global warming, and the related changes to marine life. It’s like quibbling that the lifeboat is uncomfortable while the Titanic is sinking.
They have already proven that this does damage to the ocean and marine life. I am not a fan at all of these and would vote no on having them. Huge mistake.
This alternative energy approach is a hugely profitable enterprise for green industry companies who are building mammoth wind energy machines. Like any new industry, time and caution are required to reduce negative outcomes. Legacy fossil energy industrial giants like BP and Chevron-Texaco are heavy investors in Green Energy projects too. The implementation off of the east coast has been catastrophic for hundreds of whales that have died and suffered injury as a direct result of wind turbine construction. In Rhode Island meanwhile “thousands of pieces of fiberglass shards and green and white foam have washed up on south coast Nantucket beaches [after a hundreds of feet long turbine blade shattered]. The debris has forced swimming closures and affected local businesses, as concerns persist about environmental and economic impacts [potentially for years]. The event caused federal officials from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to issue a suspension order for Vineyard Wind, until the cause of the damage could be determined.” The article quoted from is linked in this article above, context supplied by me in brackets].
We need to slow down the rush to build towering off shore wind farms. Let’s collect data from existing ones, learn and apply lessons learned and prioritize marine life, the coastal environment, and people over profits of green energy startups. In the meantime, let’s conserve more and waste less.
I agree that we should move more cautiously. I hear about this catastrophe from friends and family in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Here’s a story from my home state, Rhode Island, regarding the turbine pieces: https://rinewstoday.com/tempers-flare-in-newport-turbine-debris-found-on-long-island-vineyard-winds-suspension-order/
The assertion that hundreds of whales have died due to wind turbine construction is completely false and utter nonsense. I am not aware of a single whale death attributed to wind turbine construction.
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/new-england-mid-atlantic/marine-life-distress/frequent-questions-offshore-wind-and-whales
“In the period from 2007 to 2023, 60% of total whale mortality along the east coast from Maine to North Carolina occurred after 2015 (n=470 of 788 whales). This represents a 48% increase in whale deaths overall. In several states where OSW activity was significant, the percent increase in mortality was well over 60%.!The increase in whale deaths and NOAA’s declarations of unusual mortality events correlate directly with the increase in OSW activities within federally leased areas.
Vessel track data show whale deaths occurring within the same timeframe as the OSW sonar surveys and in proximity to the sonar activity. As the amount of OSW activity increased within an area, so did whale deaths. Shortly after pile driving to install wind turbines was initiated in late spring 2023 for the Vineyard Wind 1 and South Fork Wind facilities, additional whale deaths were observed in southern New England.”
Billions of dollars in investment money, including by legacy fossil fuel giants BP and Chevron-Texaco are helping to fund media and research orgs to sell the public on ocean wind farms. They claim that the unprecedented die-off and injury to whales, happening precisely where huge ocean-going wind farms have been built, is nothing more than an ecological mystery. This is a case of big business not wanting to halt their enormous investments. To ensure that nothing gets in the way of profitability, they hide the facts from investors, and they provide massive research grants to ensure that the proper narrative is published so that eager green new deal supporters are firmly in support of building new wind farms, regardless of the inconvenient facts.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56a45d683b0be33df885def6/t/65a988ee8562bc2b0db067e5/1705609463637/EP_SRW_report_FINAL+2023-11-30.pdf