Article
Something fishy about those wind feds
Ocean City Today|Dianna Harris|August 4, 2023
Does anyone else find it interesting that the Federal Agencies charged with leasing our ocean to foreign companies seeking to construct offshore wind power plants is ladened with former employees of one of, if not the largest, lobbying firm for offshore wind developers, Latham & Watkins? ...With all of the information available regarding the devastating affects offshore wind electrical power plants have on the environment and coastal economies, does anyone else find it curious those who have spent years representing and profiting from offshore wind construction companies have now found their way into government agencies responsible for approving the projects?
Does anyone else find it interesting that the Federal Agencies charged with leasing our ocean to foreign companies seeking to construct offshore wind power plants is ladened with former employees of one of, if not the largest, lobbying firm for offshore wind developers, Latham & Watkins? ...With all of the information available regarding the devastating affects offshore wind electrical power plants have on the environment and coastal economies, does anyone else find it curious those who have spent years representing and profiting from offshore wind construction companies have now found their way into government agencies responsible for approving the projects?
Does anyone else find it interesting that the Federal Agencies charged with leasing our ocean to foreign companies seeking to construct offshore wind power plants is ladened with former employees of one of, if not the largest, lobbying firm for offshore wind developers, Latham & Watkins?
Mr. Tommy Beaudreau, the principal deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management, Ms. Laura Daniel-Davis, who signs the Bureau of Ocean & Energy Management’s record of decisions, and most importantly, Liz Klein, the director of BOEM.
I find this particularly disturbing as I read the latest press release from BOEM announcing plans to lease another 356,550 acres of the Atlantic Ocean off of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. These lease …
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Does anyone else find it interesting that the Federal Agencies charged with leasing our ocean to foreign companies seeking to construct offshore wind power plants is ladened with former employees of one of, if not the largest, lobbying firm for offshore wind developers, Latham & Watkins?
Mr. Tommy Beaudreau, the principal deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management, Ms. Laura Daniel-Davis, who signs the Bureau of Ocean & Energy Management’s record of decisions, and most importantly, Liz Klein, the director of BOEM.
I find this particularly disturbing as I read the latest press release from BOEM announcing plans to lease another 356,550 acres of the Atlantic Ocean off of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. These lease areas flank our fishing canyons.
The Danish company Ørsted and the Italian company US Wind, (collectively, the developers) in their documents, under “Unavoidable Adverse Impacts of the Proposed Action” state in bullets: “Loss of employment or income due to disruption to commercial fishing, for-hire recreational fishing, or marine recreation business. Hindrances to subsistence fishing due to offshore construction and operation of the offshore wind facilities.”
Additionally, these OSW Power Plants will be “no fly zones” for boats during construction and as we are learning from Europe, during operations as well, which will increase a trip to the canyons by nothing less than 30 nautical miles round trip.
The three Wind Energy Areas, or WEAs, total about 356,550 acres. The first WEA (A-2) is 101,767 acres and is 26 nautical miles (nm) from Delaware Bay. The second WEA (B-1) is 78,285 acres and is 23.5 nm offshore Ocean City. The third WEA (C) is 176,506 acres offshore and is about 35 nm offshore of the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia.
Areas E and F could put six species of Pterodroma Petrel in peril, per the Audubon Society.
Per the Fisheries Survival Fund: The cumulative impacts of offshore wind arrays on the local maritime ecosystem are far more pervasive than previously understood.
All of Areas A (scallop and surfclam, summer flounder and black seabass, B (dredge fishery, pot and trap, gill net and trawl), and C (surfclam, pt, and squid/butterfish/mackerel trawling) because of high fisheries interactions.
There will be a high economic fisheries exposure risk from wind development for small coastal communities.
With all of the information available regarding the devastating affects offshore wind electrical power plants have on the environment and coastal economies, does anyone else find it curious those who have spent years representing and profiting from offshore wind construction companies have now found their way into government agencies responsible for approving the projects?