By Gloria Stravelli
TRENTON – Anticipation is high among federal, state and labor union officials as the date approaches for the first joint New Jersey/New York offshore wind lease auction.
On Feb. 23, the U.S. Interior Department Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will hold an online auction for six ocean areas totaling more than 480,000 acres off New York and New Jersey, according to a joint press release issued by Gov. Phil Murphy’s office and BOEM.
According to BOEM, 25 developers, who put down deposits of $5 million, will bid online for of fshore wind lease areas that would have the potential to generate up to seven gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy – enough to power close to 2 million homes.
The leases will generate revenue streams for developers and state governments and lift vulnerable groups through job creation and training, all while mitigating climate impacts caused by fossil fuels, according to the state.
This is the third round of leasing for oceanic wind turbines – the first under the Biden-Harris administration – with over 2.8 million acres already leased.
“Offshore wind opportunities like the New York Bight present a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fight climate change and create good-paying, union jobs in the United States,” said Deb Haaland, U.S. Secretar y of the Interior, Jan. 12. “We are at an inflection point for domestic offshore wind energy development. We must seize this moment – and we must do it together.”
Murphy said the wind turbines would help mitigate climate change, spur economic growth and boost job creation. According to a press release, New York and New Jersey collectively have set the nation’s largest regional offshore wind target of installing over 16 GW of offshore wind by 2035.
The U.S. offshore wind industry “represents a $109 billion opportunity in revenue to businesses in the supply chain over the next decade,” according to the governor’s office.
In addition, there is a shared vision among the stakeholders around developing a “robust” domestic supply chain for offshore wind facilities that will create jobs and provide training for residents of the region.
Some are not sure the government should be moving so quickly, even if it is for climate change mitigation.
All six lease areas up for auction are located in the New York Bight, a coastal ocean area that stretches from the eastern coast of New Jersey to Long Island and is considered ecologically vital – and vulnerable – by local ocean advocates.
Clean Ocean Action (COA) has its roots in the New York Bight, which was a dumping ground for sludge and noxious waste prior to the nonprofit being formed in 1984.
Cindy Zipf, COA founder and current executive director, began a successful campaign to end the ocean dumping and launched annual Beach Sweeps cleanups that same year.
In a recent inter view, Zipf and Kari Martin, advocacy campaign manager for COA, reiterated their concerns about the impacts of the wind turbines – and the construction necessary to install them – on the Bight and the ocean wildlife that lives in the area.
In a Feb. 7 inter view, Martin again expressed skepticism about the process for evaluating the environmental impacts of the wind turbines.
“They did a draft environmental assessment and it said there are no major impacts to warrant further investigation by way of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
“So they did the bare minimum and we found the environmental assessment to be lacking because there are going to be significant impacts (on the Bight),” Mar tin said. “The environmental impacts study for the 480,000 acres should have been done.”
She said instead there will be a project-by-project environmental study as leases are finalized. But once a company has a lease and has invested time and significant money, “there’s no indication that any leases will be pulled” based on environmental findings, she noted.
“(The government) would say they did their homework through the environmental assessment. We would say they didn’t do enough.”
According to Martin, some companies have made construction plans public but she said many questions still remain, especially for the ocean’s area stakeholders.
“I think a lot of the fishing community felt frustrated because they’ve been involved in this whole process and they’re feeling like they’re being ignored,” Martin added.
She admitted the issue is “very complex.”
To involve as many invested groups in the process as possible, according to Haaland, several stipulations have been incorporated into leases designed “to enhance engagement with Tribes, the commercial fishing industry, other ocean users and underserved communities,” including incentives to encourage sourcing major components domestically and ensure projects are union-built.
To advance environmental justice and economic empowerment goals, the sale notice requires lessees to identify those groups affected by offshore wind development.
Further, the Interior Department has made it a priority to hold leaseholders accountable for “improving engagement, communication and transparency with these communities.
“These additions are intended to promote offshore wind development in a way that coexists with other ocean uses and protects the ocean environment,” according to Haaland, “while also facilitating our nation’s energy future for generations to come.”
According to BOEM, the scope of the lease area was scaled back from over 1.7 million to the current 480,000 to be more in line with input received from impacted stakeholders “to avoid conflicts with ocean-users and minimize environmental impacts.”
Martin said that isn’t really enough.
“There are fishing community liaisons that have been appointed. Then there are also fisheries folks that are paid by the companies to do the work and the amount of dollars going to research the impacts of of fshore wind as it moves for ward are not independent,” she maintained. “They’re paid for by developers, so they’re not a fair assessment.”
“One of the biggest things we have a problem with,” Martin continued, is we’ve got these fuel companies getting their hands on a piece of the ocean to make as much money as they can. But at the same time there’s no evidence that shows that by putting the wind farms out there we will be taking gas pipelines and these fossil fuel projects offline.”
The lease area is one of six projects proposed to provide wind energy to New York and New Jersey. According to BOEM, the federal agency has 18 commercial offshore wind leases on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf and has plans to hold up to seven new offshore wind lease sales by 2025.
This article originally appeared in the Feb. 10-16, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
