• Energy

Trump Extends Offshore Drilling Ban to NC and VA AND Offshore Wind

• drilling ban
• offshore wind
• oil and gas
• renewable energy
• wind power

After reading the fine print, it turns out President  Trump’s memo issued over the weekend extending his 10-year offshore oil and gas drilling ban from Florida all the way up the East Coast to Virginia, contains a poison pill — it also bans offshore wind development.

Why This Matters:  It is disappointing from both a climate change perspective, but also because the offshore wind farm leases were selling for hundreds of millions of dollars all of which would be paid to the government.

• Ocean

First U.S. Offshore Wind Farm In Federal Waters Completed, Ready to Spin

• COVID-19
• Dominion Power
• offshore wind
• renewable energy
• Virginia

On Monday, the state of Virginia and Dominion Energy announced the completion of the second offshore wind facility in the U.S. and the first one in federal waters.  Its two turbines sit 27 miles off the coast and when operational later this summer, will produce enough electricity to power 3000 homes.

Why This Matters:  If the waters off Virginia are suitable for wind farms, with their close proximity to ports, naval facilities, and tourism, then it is hard to imagine why wind power can’t be developed in many other areas along the U.S. coast.

• Energy

Government Continues To Go Its Own Way On Energy — Offshore Oil and Gas But Not Wind

• #climatechange
• conservation
• environment
• offshore wind
• oil and gas leasing
• renewable energy
• science

According to Politico, the Trump administration is preparing to open the Florida coast to oil and gas drilling but will delay an announcement until after the November election because Republicans and Democrats in the state oppose drilling.

Why This Matters:  The Interior Environmental Impact Statement on Vineyard Wind criticizes the project over harm to an extractive industry (commercial fishing) due to the low fish population numbers resulting from climate change and overfishing by the industry.  What?

• Energy

US Coast Guard Backs Wind Developers’ Plan in New England

• Coast Guard
• conservation
• fishing
• ocean energy
• offshore wind
• science
• shipping lanes
• Vineyard Wind
• wind energy

President Trump has slowed the development of offshore wind in the Atlantic, but the U.S. Coast Guard just completed its study of how wind farms in the ocean off New England would impact ports in the region and its recommendations are “largely in line with a proposal that the five developers that hold leases for offshore wind sites off New England made late last year,” according to State House News Service in Massachusetts. 

Why This Matters:  Regional fishers advocated for a grid layout with navigation lanes 4 nautical-miles apart — arguing that wider spacing would be necessary “to preserve safe and efficient passage along the routes most often used by fishermen.”

• Ocean

An Ocean Climate Action Plan For A New Blue Economy

• Blue Economy
• Blue New Deal
• conservation
• environment
• fishing
• ocean
• offshore wind
• ports
• shipping

By David Helvarg and Jason Scorse As we enter another hurricane season in the midst of a global pandemic, there are growing calls to respond to the climate emergency at the scale we’ve responded to COVID-19. Yet many climate solutions being proposed fail to address the 71 percent of the planet that’s blue. In early […]

• Energy

Ohio’s Regulators Deal a Likely Fatal Blow to Lake Erie Wind Project

• offshore wind
• ohio
• wind energy

As Electrek reported, last week Ohio unanimously approved the Icebreaker wind farm, North America’s first offshore freshwater project planned for Lake Erie near Cleveland. However, there’s a rather large hitch that could put an end to the entire project. At the very last minute, the Ohio Power Siting Board ruled on Thursday that the project could […]