A crane hangs over the first jacket support structure installed to support a turbine for a wind farm in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean off Block Island, Rhode Island July 27, 2015. Deepwater Wind, a planned five-turbine, 30-megawatt wind farm off the coast of Block Island, would be North America’s first offshore wind farm, a milestone the company says could pave the way for an industry long established in Europe but still struggling with opposition in the United States. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File PhotoRead
By Nichola Groom, Reuters
July 28 (Reuters) – The Biden administration is considering ways to ensure the U.S. commercial fishing industry is paid for any losses it incurs from the planned expansion of offshore wind power in the Atlantic Ocean, according to state and federal officials involved in the matter.
Discussions between state and federal officials, which participants described as being at a very early stage, are aimed at addressing the top threat to President Joe Biden’s efforts to grow offshore wind – a centerpiece of his clean energy agenda to fight climate change.
Commercial fishing fleets have vehemently opposed offshore wind projects, labeling them a significant threat to catches of crucial stocks including scallops, clams, squid, and lobsters, by interfering with navigation and altering ecosystems.
That opposition has contributed to delays in permitting the nation’s first commercial-scale projects and is among the reasons the U.S. has lagged Europe in offshore wind development. Minimizing those conflicts could speed the lengthy federal permitting process as Biden seeks to add 30 gigawatts of offshore wind to the nation’s waters in just nine years.
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U.S. government researchers estimate that offshore wind projects could displace some commercial fisheries by as much as a quarter.
The administration’s new effort was prompted in part by a letter to Biden from nine coastal states last month urging the federal government to lead the way in crafting “mitigation frameworks for demonstrated negative impacts” on fisheries from offshore wind projects, according to the officials.
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“Building on the request made in the multi-state Governor’s letter, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has had preliminary discussions with counterparts in other signatory states on engaging the federal government to advance an equitable mitigation framework for potential impacts to the commercial fishing industry from offshore wind projects,” the state said in an emailed statement. “While in early stages of development, NJDEP anticipates more to be shared in the coming months.”
The United States has yet to install a major offshore wind farm, yet developers pursuing those projects have spent years hashing out potential fishing industry compensation schemes with states and the fleets. Until now, the federal government has not pursued a federal approach.
Brian Hooker, a marine biologist with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), said at a June meeting of a regional fishery management body that “compensatory mitigation is something that we’re taking a very serious look at” and cited the June letter from states as a reason, according to a recording of the meeting reviewed by Reuters.
The June 4 letter to Biden was signed by the governors of New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maine, Connecticut, Virginia, Maryland and New Hampshire – all states with sizable fishing fleets.
