Harnessing the wind offshore has grown from a niche industry to big business.
Tim Johnson

Vineyard Wind Federal Review Is Back on Again

The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it would heed Vineyard Wind’s plea to resume review of its massive infrastructure project, jump starting the country’s first utility-scale offshore wind-farm after it appeared dead in the water only months earlier.

The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it would heed Vineyard Wind’s plea to resume review of its massive infrastructure project, jump starting the country’s first utility-scale offshore wind-farm after it appeared dead in the water only months earlier.

A press release from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the federal agency responsible for the project’s review, placed offshore wind firmly at the center of President Biden’s green infrastructure agenda on Wednesday.

“In support of the Biden administration’s goal to address climate change and promote offshore renewable energy production, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced . . . that it intends to resume the environmental review of Vineyard Wind’s proposed offshore wind project,” the release said.

The decision comes less than two months after Vineyard Wind — a joint energy consortium of Avangird Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Projects — pulled its construction plan and requested BOEM halt review.

A decision in the federal register noted that review had been terminated, signaling that the permitting likely would have to begin from scratch.

Federal review of the project — which calls for an 800-megawatt wind-farm 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard — had languished for more than two years.

Then last month after President Biden took office, Vineyard Wind rescinded its prior request to halt review, betting on more favorable treatment under the incoming Department of the Interior.

The political maneuvering now appears to have paid off.

In the release Wednesday, the new BOEM director Amanda Lefton said review would resume promptly and would include development of the long-awaited environmental impact statement — a necessary final step in the permitting process.

“Offshore wind has the potential to help our nation combat climate change, improve resilience through reliable power, and spur economic development to create good-paying jobs,” Ms. Lefton said. “BOEM is committed to conducting a robust and timely review of the proposed project.”

Ms. Lefton, a former first assistant secretary in the New York state office of Energy and the Environment under Gov. Andrew Cuomo who previously worked as an executive with The Nature Conservancy, was tapped by President Biden to head BOEM on Tuesday, one day prior to the announcement. The appointment did not need U.S. Senate confirmation.

A spokesman for Vineyard Wind hailed the decision in an emailed statement to the Gazette.

“We look forward to working with the agency as we launch an industry that will create thousands of good paying jobs while also taking meaningful steps to reduce the impacts of climate change,” the statement said in part.

Not all stakeholders were as excited about the move. The project has faced considerable local backlash from independent fishermen who have raised concerns about its impact on prime fishing grounds south of the Island.

A spokesman for the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, a fishermen’s advocacy group, questioned the review process and called for reopening public comment.

“RODA reaffirms our concerns about the flawed process for offshore wind leasing and development in U.S. waters, and hopes BOEM will capitalize on this opportunity to improve public engagement,” a statement from the group said. “Given the complexity of the leasing process, the fact that the public was informed that the review had been terminated, and renewable power goals have increased since the initiation of the review, the re-initiation merits additional opportunities for public comment.”

Vineyard Wind hopes to reach financial close by the second half of 2021, and be online by 2023, a spokesman said.

Other offshore wind projects, including the neighboring Mayflower Wind development, are set to follow closely on Vineyard Wind’s heels, as a once-niche offshore wind industry continues to proliferate.

Comments

R Scott Patterson Edgartown

NIMBY! How about we set an good example and stop trying to block anything positive because you may have to look at it once in a while?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 02/04/2021 - 06:54

Permalink

Jared Edgartown

After the wind turbines have reached their life span, how will the blades be disposed of? Will the blades be buried on the island or will the blades be sent to Casper, Wyoming, to become their problem. With a life span of 25 years on land, you can expect that to be decreased by the exposure to the sea, what will become of all the turbines in the future?

Carol formerly Chilmark

Jared, are you asking that because you really didn't know that metal is easily recyclable, with healthy markets for all metals? (I was a controller at a steel casting company.) Of course they will be recycled, hopefully into new turbine blades.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 02/04/2021 - 07:28

Permalink

Island parent

This is not so simple. Being for offshore wind does not automatically make you an ally of the environment. There is well documented evidence that these wind farms turn the ocean into a dead zone. Please protect our fragile ocean and do not support this!!!

Robert Skydell Granada, Nicaragua

This is a patently false statement. In fact, the opposite is true since the underwater structure has been shown to act as an artificial reef. What has destroyed the ocean environment is climate change, factory fishing, acid rain and an enormous amount of plastic garbage.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 02/04/2021 - 07:34

Permalink

Sam Metcalfe West Tis

Stop industrialization of the oceans or get ready to see many dead sea birds on South Beach from collisions with the mills' massive blades.

Robert Skydell Granada, Nicaragua

Another verifiable false statement. Large scale rotor blades pose a negligible hazard to birds as has been shown in studies in Europe since the birds have the ability to detect and avoid them, even at night.

nonsense summer mvy

I just shovelled 26 inches of 'climate change' off my driveway on the mainland. Its been the coldest I can remember. And lets not forget that we were told that the next ice age was coming by the media in the mid 1970s. Sure feels like its here this week. And my electric bill proves it.

Ron Dagostino West Tisbury

I appreciate when someone can admit they were wrong. Thank you, Scott!

I would like to think if we all keep that in the back of our minds — we could be wrong! — it will keep us humble, tone down the level of acrimony and defensiveness, and create a healthier community.

Kelce OB

Yes they are. No to Stop and Shop VH, No to a new school in VH, No to electric busses, No to new athletic fields, No to a cell tower on Chappy. It goes on and on. The buggy whip crowd is a vocal one here.

Jared Edgartown

Where and how will the blades be disposed of after its short life span? The turbines are so costly and produce so little power, that they will never pay for themselves during its life span,(that's a proven fact) numbers don't lie, unless you want them too.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 02/04/2021 - 09:59

Permalink

TisKid VH

If it were really about green energy we could import enough hydro power from Canada to light up the entire northeast and we could have done it a very long time ago.

Bob Edgartown

Spot on TisKid and also natural gas is not that bad when you look at the entire picture and not through a narrow mind. The gas infrastructure is here and does not need to be built. Right there we are keeping green. Why try to kill something that is working?

Add new comment

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.