By MONICA SAMAYOA/Oregon Public Broadcasting
The Southern Oregon coast is closer to hosting floating offshore wind energy, after the Biden administration announced it’s preparing to accept proposals for the area. This is the first step in a multiyear process before any wind developer could begin construction.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, proposed an auction for developers seeking floating offshore leases to develop wind energy in two locations off the coast of Southern Oregon. The announcement kicks off two opportunities for the public to comment on the proposal — on the areas that would be developed, and on the federal government’s draft environmental assessment.
Ocean areas approved for wind energy development off the coast of Coos Bay and Brookings, which were finalized in February, total nearly 195,000 acres. There, offshore wind could have the potential to power more than one million homes with renewable energy, according to the federal agency.
But the federal push to advance offshore wind has also prompted concerns from tribal leaders and commercial fishing groups about impacts on the marine environment, and broader concerns along the Southern Oregon coast at the speed of federal action before a state effort to guide offshore wind is in place. Federal officials said development will take years, and there will be time to incorporate Oregon’s roadmap, as long as the state meets its own deadlines.
BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein said the agency will work with government partners and stakeholders.
“We’re excited to unveil these proposed sales and emphasize our commitment to exploring the potential for offshore wind development from coast to coast,” Klein said in a news release.
BOEM is also seeking feedback about several of its drafted lease stipulations, including requirements that offshore wind developers make commitments to union jobs and workforce training, that they engage with impacted communities like tribes and the fishing industry, and that they create a community benefits agreement.
The details of the proposed auction and the draft environmental assessment will be published Wednesday in the Federal Register.
Goals and concerns
Floating offshore wind could potentially help Oregon reach its goal for electric utilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity they provide by 100% by 2040. But the prospect of the new technology has prompted pushback from residents, as well as calls from Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek for more research. The governor and affected communities have asked for more transparency and engagement from the federal government, which has so far shared limited information about environmental impacts.
That pushback was a factor in the passage of state House Bill 4080, which requires Oregon to develop a roadmap, drawing on engagement with impacted communities and tribes, to define standards for offshore wind energy.
A group that included environmentalists, climate advocates, fishing industry representatives, labor unions and city officials helped draft the legislation, which state lawmakers passed in March.
That informal group, working through the facilitator Oregon Consensus, has provided Kotek with recommendations for creating an floating offshore wind energy roadmap. Recommendations include protecting the environment, culturally significant viewsheds and resources important to tribes, and supporting local communities and the fishing industry.
Kotek said the roadmap will be a critical tool to ensure the state is prepared to assess and coordinate offshore wind opportunities with the federal government, “while also ensuring that local communities are at the forefront of economic, workforce, and supply chain development opportunities,” she said in a statement. “I look forward to reviewing the recommendations from the work group.”
Nicole Hughes is the executive director of Renewable Northwest, and was part of the informal group. She said the most important part of getting so many voices from diverse interests together on this issue was to begin to understand the different concerns from each group as well as build relationships with each other to figure out solutions.
“We know we did not get all the issues, we know there’s things that were left out of consideration, we know that not every Oregonian is going to be able to see themselves in the outline that we wrote,” Hughes said. “But we’re hopeful that the work we did just sets the state agencies up for better success in the actual development of this road map, which we hope and are pushing for a much broader formal stakeholder process than we were able to accommodate in our informal working group.”
She said the group spent about nine months working on the recommendations that also includes “exit ramps,” or checks and balances on how a project should move forward and when to reevaluate or pause a project.
“Some of the ways that those can come up, you know, a new environmental situation that hadn’t been identified before, a new economic situation that hasn’t been identified before,” she said. “These are all things that might cause us to rethink the viability of offshore wind or make us go out and do more research to get more answers to questions that hadn’t yet been posed.”
The Oregon offshore wind energy roadmap is set to be completed by fall 2025.
BOEM’s Klein reiterated the federal agency’s commitment to working with Oregon’s roadmap in a letter sent to Kotek Monday. The federal government expects a sale of the proposed areas is expected to occur in October, she said, and that would likely have an effective date of Jan. 1, 2025.
“A lease does not authorize the construction of projects,” she said in the letter.
Once a developer is chosen, they will have up to five years to submit a project proposal, which will undergo an environmental review before final approval. That review, Klein said, could take at least four years to reach completion.
“Therefore, if the state adheres to the current planned roadmap timeline, the roadmap report and resulting formal policy amendments should be completed well before any [Construction and Operations Plan] decisions are made,” she said.
But news of BOEM’s proposed sale lease announcement on Tuesday left people from the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians and some from the fishing industry saying they are disappointed.
Tribal Council chair Brad Kneaper said the federal agency should delay moving forward until more research is available to understand environmental and cultural impacts to the tribes and the fishing industry. He also said offshore wind leasing should wait until the Oregon Roadmap is complete.
“No one, including BOEM, has an understanding on how wind development will impact the fragile marine environment,” Tribal Council Chair Brad Kneaper said. “Commercial fishing interests separately requested such a delay. This only makes sense because the roadmap may be a futile effort without a commitment from BOEM to actually consider the recommendations of the Tribe, the State, and coastal stakeholders.”
According to BOEM’s website about Oregon wind energy, “the environmental impacts of any proposed wind energy projects will be assessed after a lease is issued and before BOEM decides whether or not to approve any lessee’s project construction and operations plan.”
Heather Mann, who is the executive director of the Newport-based Midwater Trawlers Cooperative and worked on creating and collaborating with the informal group, said BOEM is rushing the process. She is also considering switching her views to oppose offshore wind.
“BOEM does not care about the Oregon Roadmap process, instead they are rushing to meet a political and electoral deadline,” she said in a statement. “Just because BOEM claims they worked collaboratively with stakeholders doesn’t make it true.
Mann said BOEM’s announcement is undermining the work the informal group has done to work with different interests and to provide recommendations on how to move forward.
Has anyone discussed drilling into the fault lines here? I’m assuming they will have to drill into the earth to anchor the windmills. When I assume things, I’m usually wrong. What are “floating windmill platforms? Who has the right to sell, or lease the ocean? If it ends up being built, I think the fisherman who make their living here, & the tribes impacted should receive shareholder status.
We have already had windmills on the Oregon coast and it was a money losing disaster, also the fishing community has suffered enough without these stupid so called green energy ideas in our oceans,
Please back up your statement. I’m not aware of any in windmills having been built previously on the Oregon coast. If I am wrong, please tell me when and where they were constructed and why they lost money. I Googled and could find absolutely nothing on this subject. I am obviously doubtful of your claims, as many arguments against wind energy turn out to be bogus upon close examination.
People along the southern Oregon coast are pretty upset about how the BOEM handled the decision-making process. Comments were ignored, giving a perception that BOEM is intent on meeting political targets without regard for local concerns. They’ve also disregarded requests from local and tribal authorities to delay final decision on location. The map extends along the entire expanse of Samuel Boardman State Park, one of the most scenic Oregon environments and a source of tourism. It covers a major Dungeness crab fishing habitat and important salmon fishing waters. It is along the path of the annual whale migration. It could be in the way of navigation that the port of Coos Bay is hoping to draw. And, as previously mentioned, is smack on top of the fault which produced the largest historical tsunami in Oregon history. The BOEM blithely ignored all this.Their salve of “thousands of jobs” is unsubstantiated. The workers, especially union workers, will likely be drawn from experienced crews the contractors are used to employing. Many others will come from outside our area, exacerbating housing shortages. Moreover, I suspect the power will be sold to the highest bidder. That means it’s likely to benefit the Portland and tech industry. Any temporary benefit to the South Coast will be at an outrageous long-term cost to our environment and traditional economy.
I’m not sure exactly what these “Environmentalists” and “Climate Activists” are after except perhaps raw political power. Pushing environmentally destructive “renewable energy” projects so as to support the environmentally destructive EV’s few people want is not exactly environmentally or climate friendly, so what is it that theses people are after? Also, it is telling that the Biden Administration is refusing to share environmental impact studies on these projects.
Once these off shore windmills are constructed the Oregon Coast will not be “natural” ever again. Gov McCall is given credit for keeping the Oregon Coast “for the people”. The beaches are for all people. Tourists come here not to see man made monsters when they look out into the ocean. They want to see mother nature as it should be…undisturbed. The Pacific Ocean off the Oregon Coast should be made a National Park as far as the eye can see.
I grew up in North Bend/Coos Bay. I firmly oppose this project.
The article contained several passages regarding the environmental and fishing impacts, yet didn’t describe any actual impacts. Europe had had ocean wind power for decades, so there must be some indication of wind power problems. Why continue to push the idea that wind power is so cutting edge that no research had been done in the area of impacts? Propagating fear isn’t a great way to reduce climate change. How about simply asking fearful organizations for specifics of their concerns?