Some CT lawmakers worried offshore wind turbines affecting birds and marine animals

HARTFORD — Members of the legislative Environment Committee last week told top officials from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection that they are concerned that the development of offshore wind farms might adversely affect Connecticut's struggling fishing industry, so they support establishing a fund requiring developers to help with programs including job retraining.

But DEEP officials oppose the committee bill, stressing that similar measures are being adopted by a group of officials from 11 states planning ways to deal with potential disruptions to wildlife and fisheries.

Rep. Patrick Callahan, R-New Fairfield, who led the argument with DEEP officials including Mason Trumble, deputy commissioner, noted that there is bipartisan support on the committee for the pending legislation.

"DEEP is against that, saying there is enough research looking into this," Callahan said near the beginning of the day-long hearing on a variety of legislative proposals. "I'm hearing the opposite from the fishing industry: that it is having a severely detrimental effect."

"We work with the commercial fishing industry on a regular basis," said Trumble. "It's certainly an industry we support. We've worked closely through the (energy) procurement process to develop standards and compensatory mitigation for the fishing industry as well as wildlife impacts throughout these procurements." He noted that Connecticut-based fishing companies also work in the waters off of New York and Rhode Island, which are members of the regional effort.

Justin Davis, the DEEP bureau chief for natural resources, told the committee that the nearly dozen states tackling the nascent wind-power industry on the eastern seaboard are developing a unified plan for industry support.

"I think the agency feels like the most beneficial use of our resources and time is to focus on regional efforts along those lines," Davis said, stressing that the multi-state and federal collaboration dates back to 2021. He said that the 2023 offshore-energy procurement procedure contained "pretty robust" measures for possible mitigation for affected fisheries and wildlife, including a requireme3nt for developers to make "substantial" contributions above and beyond existing federal requirements.

"The stance of the agency is that working through these regional efforts — the federal permitting process, our state energy procurement process — is doing a good job of ensuring that there's going to be appropriate mitigation in place for impacts to fisheries," Davis said.

"To me it sounds like if they put up enough money toward mitigation that's enough," Callahan countered. "Are you saying that offshore wind doesn't have an impact on the marine fisheries?"

"The general framework is that we first need to seek to avoid impacts whereever possible," Davis said. "First, we're trying to do everything we can to avoid impacts to fishing activity happening off the coast. For those impacts we can't avoid, we need to find ways to minimize the impacts, so things like ensuring appropriate transit lanes that minimize disruptions to fishing activity in the area; (and) ensuring that turbines are marked appropriately so fishermen can see them on their radar. Financial mitigation is a last resort. The overall impact is uncertain."

Trumble said climate change is resulting in more warm-water fish being caught here. "Many folks here are familiar with the decline of the lobster fishery in Connecticut," he said. "That's basically because the waters in Long Island Sound have warmed."

"I'm in favor of this bill because what I'm hearing is yeah, there is some impact and yeah it does affect marine life but we need to study it further," Callahan said, saying that the offshore wind farms between Nantucket and Block Island have caused a "massive" impact, including whale strandings. "These wind farms absolutely have an impact on that and I don't think that's acceptable. Just because you put up enough money to study mitigation doesn't mean it's not doing damage now."

In written testimony submitted to the committee, Joe Gilbert, owner of the Stonington-based Empire Fisheries, warned that avoiding harm should be paramount, with compensation only as a "last resort." He said that limits on decibel levels during turbine construction are important.

"The failure of the spring squid run last year, likely due to disruptions from wind power development, was a stark reminder of how immediate and profound these impacts can be," Gilbert wrote. He said retraining programs for the fishing industry could lure workers away from a business that already struggles to find them. "The goal should be to create opportunities in fishing to replace those that are lost due to offshore wind development."