The Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership claims that the 84-turbine offshore wind project soon to be developed by Vineyard Wind lacks scientific backing and will inevitably harm the local ecology and way of life for fishermen and boaters.

Impact on Wildlife Offshore Wind Massachusetts

Vineyard Wind says it will adopt research measures recommended by a local university to monitor the effects on fisheries of the 84-turbine offshore wind farm.

Impact on Wildlife USA Massachusetts

In a March 15 letter, Michael Pentony, the head of the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, warned that the report on Vineyard Wind completed by the U.S Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in December included conclusions that were not well supported by data and needed additional analysis of several key angles of impact.

Impact on Wildlife Offshore Wind USA Massachusetts

Brady said the Block Island Wind Farm, owned by Deepwater, is only five turbines, tiny by comparison to Vineyard. Yet charter fishermen, who traditionally operate south of the wind farm from January through April, reported a dismal fishing season: the once bountiful cod had disappeared. Ørsted Energy, the parent company of Deepwater, like the owners of the Vineyard, have a practice of paying off fishermen whose livelihoods are damaged by the wind farms.

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Economy Massachusetts

While the newly discovered right whale gatherings have attracted scientists studying population trends, food sources and more, the information arose because state offshore wind energy officials want to answer some basic questions. The four-year study sets baseline data about marine wildlife in the lease areas, and that information could be used in federal and state environmental permitting in the future, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center Offshore Wind Director William White said.

Impact on Wildlife Massachusetts

Federal agencies violated Endangered Species Act and must go back to the drawing board to evaluate impacts and protection measures for birds and right whales. ...The plaintiffs have long argued that Nantucket Sound is the wrong place for this project.  The court's decision requires the federal government to go back to the drawing board to take the required hard look at the impacts that make Cape Wind's proposal so harmful for the environment.

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Birds Massachusetts

With planes and underwater recordings, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center has been cataloguing which marine mammals and turtles pass through two offshore areas set aside for wind turbine development. The survey aims to paint a full picture of the underwater residents of these energy areas in order to make sure the whales, dolphins and turtles are not disturbed by any turbines that will be driven into the seabed.

Impact on Wildlife Massachusetts

The technology lets researchers track all of the tagged birds on one frequency but identify them separately, including 600 birds and bats tagged by other researchers in the Gulf of Maine. ...The Nantucket Sound pilot project is designed to help researchers figure out what marine and coastal birds are doing and where they are doing it offshore, said Caleb Spiegel, a biologist with the wildlife service, which is supporting the work.

Impact on Birds Impact on Bats Impact on Wildlife Massachusetts

EAST SANDWICH - The view from Spring Hill Beach includes pieces from a complicated puzzle: large wind turbines, tiny birds and David.

Impact on Birds Impact on Wildlife Massachusetts

As the permitting process for a wind turbine at Mass Audubon's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary is about to begin, I still can't connect the dots with regard to common sense here. ...Seems so hypocritical to me since, according to its website, Wellfleet Audubon's woodlands attract a wide variety of wildlife, especially songbirds and shorebirds. But apparently a wind turbine isn't in conflict with nature? Really?

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Landscape Massachusetts

The whales have also caught the attention of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is overseeing wind farm lease areas off the Vineyard and Rhode Island, and has commissioned the New England Aquarium to do an aerial survey, according to Tim Cole, a research fisheries biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Impact on Wildlife USA Massachusetts

Environmental advocates and wind energy companies in New England said Thursday they are working on an agreement to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale during offshore development in New England - the same day that 15 of the rare mammals were spotted near Wellfleet.

Impact on Wildlife Massachusetts

Bird deaths by the town's wind turbines are causing concern among local birders even though some favor alternative energy. Photos of dead birds were taken by Windwise, which opposes the turbines, and e-mailed to the Advocate. On Tuesday, Windwise member Ken Pottel said someone from the state environmental police is looking into it.

Impact on Birds Impact on Wildlife Massachusetts

With fewer than 500 known individuals, North Atlantic right whales are the most endangered of the great whales in the North Atlantic. The death of even one whale from human causes sets back the recovery of the species, especially if the lost whale is a female.

Impact on Wildlife Massachusetts

A study by Jason Horner in the Journal of Wildlife Management revealed that rather than flying through the turbines the bats hung around to forage. The study in Alberta revealed that 90 percent of the dead bats at the base of the turbines had severe lung damage with no external injuries. ... Bats in the Northeast have an even bigger problem - the fungal disease known as white nose syndrome.

Impact on Bats Impact on Wildlife Massachusetts

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's approval of the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm this week prompted a wave of legal threats from opponents who argue the decision violates the Endangered Species Act and other laws. One possible suit even contends the project could hurt endangered right whales. That suit, however, is only one of several possible challenges to the plan by Cape Wind Associates to build 130 wind turbines in the Sound.

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Landscape USA Massachusetts

There was elation and dejection on the Cape yesterday over Secretary of the Interior Kenneth Salazar's approval of the Cape Wind project. But there was also some consensus - a rare thing for this controversial proposal - that the road to federal approval was long and hard. That was especially true among people who have been part of the debate from the beginning.

Impact on Wildlife Energy Policy Impact on Landscape USA Massachusetts

Lawsuits will be filed on behalf of a coalition of environmental groups - including the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, Three Bays Preservation, Animal Welfare Institute, Industrial Wind Action Group, Californians for Renewable Energy, Oceans Public Trust Initiative (a project of the International Marine Mammal Project of the Earth Land Institute), Lower Laguna Madre Foundation - against the federal Fish and Wildlife Service and Minerals Management Service for violations of the Endangered Species Act. ..."It is a shame that the Obama Administration chose political expediency over developing a project in an environmentally responsible place that can actually be built," said Parker.

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Landscape USA Massachusetts

A group of environmental organizations and opponents of wind energy projects say they likely will file suit if the federal government approves the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm. A 60-day notice of violations of the Endangered Species Act was sent this week to Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin and to the U.S. Interior Department and other federal agencies that have reviewed Cape Wind's plan to build 130 wind turbines in the sound.

Impact on Birds Impact on Wildlife USA Massachusetts

Cape Wind critics threw up an eleventh-hour roadblock this week, accusing two U.S. government agencies that approved portions of the proposed offshore wind energy project of violating federal laws. "We put them on notice," said Lisa Linowes, executive director of the Industrial Wind Action Group, which tracks the benefits of wind energy projects. Her group and eight others filed a 60-day notice of violations with U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Impact on Birds Impact on Wildlife USA Massachusetts