A comprehensive report compiled by two federal agencies and the commercial fishing industry raises red flags about the potential impact of Offshore Wind Power (OSW) projects on fishing and the marine environment.
Prepared by the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), and the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance—a coalition of fishing industry groups, the nearly 400-page Fisheries, and Offshore Wind Interactions Report finds that offshore wind projects are outpacing the science.
“An enormous amount of research is still needed in order to understand the impact of OSW on our environment and fisheries, but time is limited,” the report states.
New Jersey Congressman Jeff van Drew, a Republican, has requested a moratorium on development until the science catches up.
“Projects are being approved before we have a clear understanding of how they will impact the marine ecosystem, fishing and tourism industries, and safety of navigation, while NOAA, BOEM, and state governments seem to be fast-tracking their approval,” Van Drew told The Epoch Times.
The report implies that such work should have been done already.
“A timely, productive regional science plan for offshore wind could have resulted in an enhanced ability to understand the environmental interactions resulting from the first large-scale OSW projects, especially on a cumulative scale.”
These concerns mirror those of opponents of offshore wind, including some who blame preparation for offshore wind farms for killing more than 30 whales and a dozen dolphins along the Mid-Atlantic coastline since December.
Staggering Scale
A major concern is the vast scale at which wind farm construction is occurring in the Northeast United States, the report notes.“There is no upper limit to the area that could be leased for development; there is no minimum distance between projects such that large contiguous areas are planned to be developed; the size of turbines is continually increasing; and the potential spatial arrangements of turbines and cables are almost limitless.
“This means the amount of habitat ultimately being shifted from one form to another is unknown.”
Van Drew agrees.
“More than 3,000 of these turbines covering more than 2 million acres are planned for the Atlantic alone,” he explained. “They will be more than 1,000 feet tall. How will they survive a hurricane?”
“The scale is just staggering,” he added.
The report finds that noise, vibration, electromagnetic fields and heat transfer associated with offshore wind farms could alter the marine environment.
It describes sounds emitted from pile-driving during construction as potentially “severe, resulting in mortality or injury of hearing tissues.”
Noise levels from the ongoing operation of the turbines once constructed “are not associated with direct physical injury, [but] long-term exposures may have negative effects on communication, foraging, and predator detection,” the report adds.
Ecosystem Effects
The report explores how physical changes associated with offshore wind will affect the marine environment and the species that live there.“These include construction and operation noise and vibration, electromagnetic fields [EMF], and thermal radiation from cables, as well as secondary gear entanglement,” it states.
“Underwater noise levels generated during pile driving depend on the pile material and size, characteristics of the substrate, penetration of the pile into the seabed, hammer energy used, and water depth.
“Throughout the life of the project, continuous low-level sounds may be generated by each turbine during normal operations, and continuous moderate-level vessel noise will be introduced.”
The report recommends further research to understand the impact of operational noise “with noise abatement systems in place because turbine size and the noise they produce are increasing as technology advances.”
EMFs may impact marine mammals, it concludes.
“EMFs are emitted from subsea power cables transferring the energy from OSW turbines to transmission grids onshore and may disrupt natural electromagnetic cues that receptive animals rely on for ecologically important information.”
“There are presently no thresholds indicating acceptable or unacceptable levels of EMF emissions in the marine environment. Thermal radiation occurs as an emission from subsea power cables and has the potential to increase the temperature.”
Changes to the ecosystem could affect the health of shellfish populations.
“OSW introduces new hard substrate, often in a previously soft or mixed sediment environment, which is important to some shellfish species. To date, no studies have taken place specifically addressing changes in abundance or distribution of clams or scallops relating to OSW.”
A Matter of Timing
The two-and-a-half-year study was released on March 29, the same day that the U.S. Department of Energy introduced its newest strategy to vastly expand the use of offshore wind energy to address climate change.Offshore wind energy is a key component of the Biden administration’s climate agenda.
The administration wants to build 30 gigawatts of fixed-bottom offshore wind energy by 2030—enough to power more than 10 million homes, and another 15 gigawatts of floating wind turbines by 2035, enough to power 5 million homes.
Already, it has announced plans to lease millions of acres of federal waters to wind power developers by 2025, with large-scale wind farm projects planned along nearly the entire coastline of the United States, including the Atlantic seaboard, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific waters off California and Oregon.
Two projects are currently competing to be the first commercial-scale offshore wind project in the United States: the Vineyard Winds project off the waters of Martha’s Vineyard and South Fork Wind off New York.
But a series of lawsuits is currently threatening both projects.
Landowners and fishing groups are challenging the federal environmental permit issued for the 62-turbine Vineyard Wind project.
Plaintiffs argue that the BOEM did not adequately evaluate the potential impact the project might have on local fishermen and the critically endangered North American right whale, among other issues.
The report’s findings may prove favorable to their case.
