UPDATE: US Wind Responds to Concerns Expressed Locally Regarding Planned Offshore Wind Farm Projects
US Wind has responded to concerns expressed about offshore wind turbines. The Talk of Delmarva’s Joe Ciccanti has more…
Regarding the lease area…
Regarding the Incidental Take Authorization…
Dunmyer says that while any whale death is tragic–what happened last year with whales washing ashore if fairly typical–adding that there were 61 whale deaths in calendar year 2023, which is a big number, however he emphasizes that the east coast sees an average of 57 whale deaths per year–going back to 2007.
Regarding concerns about the effect on natural scenery…
Mr. Dunmyer talks about the scenery from his perspective…
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He brought up sea level rise as a much greater and long-term risk if renewable energy isn’t pursued…
As to whether these offshore wind projects will help people save on their bills, Dunmyer explains that it depends on where you live…
Previous Reports:
The controversy over the idea of Wind turbines off the Mid-Atlantic coast continues. The Talk of Delmarva’s Joe Ciccanti spoke at length with Captain HD Parsons at Fisherman’s Wharf in Lewes, specifically regarding the issue of these projects in relation to the health of ocean mammals.
Captain Parsons says that everyone he has talked to about the issue for the most part are very concerned because it’s their livelihood–living near the Delmarva coast.
2/28/24: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) today provided the following information to the Talk of Delmarva:
NOAA Fisheries is dedicated to minimizing the impacts to ocean resources, critical habitats, and fishing opportunities throughout the planning, siting, and development stages. The agency is responsible for several regulatory processes that help reduce impacts to marine animals and their habitats from human activities, including during offshore wind development. More information about NOAA Fisheries’ role in offshore wind and energy development is available here, and information about what we’re doing to protect marine life is here.
As part of the larger interagency effort to promote recovery of endangered species while responsibly developing offshore wind, NOAA and BOEM recently released the joint final strategy to to protect and promote the recovery of endangered North Atlantic right whales while responsibly developing offshore wind energy.
NOAA Fisheries and BOEM are also implementing the Federal Survey Mitigation Strategy to limit the impact of offshore wind energy development on NOAA Fisheries survey activities, including those focused on monitoring North Atlantic right whales.
More information on the steps NOAA is taking to reduce vessel strikes to North Atlantic Right Whales can be found here. Additionally, NOAA recently announced the launch of an interactive dashboard that allows users to explore vessel traffic by speed, season, month, speed zone, and vessel type. The speed zone dashboard enables us to monitor the effectiveness of our vessel speed regulations.
Offshore wind is a new use of our marine waters, requiring substantial scientific inquiry and regulatory review. NOAA Fisheries is committed to careful review and use of the best available scientific information to inform our analysis and decision making for offshore wind energy projects.
Additional information:
- NOAA Fisheries: Offshore Wind Energy
- Frequent Questions—Offshore Wind and Whales
- BOEM Factsheet: Offshore Wind Activities and Marine Mammal Protection. For questions on this resource, please contact BOEMPublicAffairs@boem.gov.
