A plan backed by the Biden administration to OK several wind farms off Rhode Island has prompted every member of the state’s fisheries regulatory board to resign.
The entire Rhode Island Fishermen’s Advisory Board stopped en masse Friday to protest the 84-turbine Sunrise Wind project after the state Coastal Resources Management Council approved the third offshore wind farm in two years off Ocean State waters.
The project falls under President Biden’s executive order authorizing his Interior Department to double US offshore wind capacity by 2030. With the project’s approval, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is on track to complete reviews for 16 wind farms by 2025.
But opponents including the fishing board say Sunrise’s plan ignores environmental regulations and anglers’ concerns
In a letter addressed to CRMC Executive Director Jeff Willis, the nine-member fishing panel said its regulatory role has been reduced to “political theater,” as the state continues to defer to developers such as Danish wind giant Orsted.
Meghan Lapp is a former member of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Advisory Board who quit along with every one of her colleagues to protest the approval of the 84-turbine ocean windmill project.WJAR
“We will not allow our names to be connected in any way to the Council’s approval of what now amounts to wholesale destruction of the oceans,” wrote board members Lanny Dellinger, Christopher Brown, Michael Marchetti, Greg Mataronas, Chris Lee, Brian Thibeault, Meghan Lapp, Richard Hittinger and Rick Bellavance.
“Rhode Island should be the Ocean State, not the Windmill State.”
The board said it drew particular attention to the project’s violations of state environmental protection requirements, as well as warnings from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration about its impact on Atlantic cod.
Fishermen’s advisory board claims offshore wind project ignores environmental regulations and fishermen’s concerns. Doug Kuntz
A letter addressed two days earlier to Willis from another board member, who also chairs the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association, raised concerns about the impact on recreational tuna fishing in the region.
“Our members are shocked at the scale of the current development that is now happening in their fishing grounds but have been told that the authorization is complete and there is no way for them to have input at this late date,” Hittinger said.
He added that a “biased push by developers” ensures that environmental considerations will continue to be ignored, calling the decision, “effectively a rubber stamp of Washington, DC’s political will,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Post.
The board drew particular attention to projects that allegedly violated state environmental protection requirements, as well as warnings from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.Getty Images
CRMC officials responded by saying board members had “provided valuable information and insight” but that their resignations would not prevent the project from fulfilling its federal mandate under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972.
“CRMC remains hopeful that Rhode Island’s fishing community will continue to participate in the public process to review offshore wind energy projects, as well as any other projects that affect the State’s fisheries resources,” representatives said in a statement.
Rhode Island approved Sunrise Wind just weeks after the Biden administration gave final approval to the 65-turbine Revolution Wind project after a permit from the CRMC. In April, the administration also approved the 12-turbine South Fork Wind project after CRMC gave its signature to that project as well.
In a letter addressed to CRMC Executive Director Jeff Willis (pictured here), the nine-member panel said their regulatory role had been reduced to “political theater.” RI Coastal Resource Management Council
All three projects are joint ventures between Orsted, one of the world’s largest offshore wind developers, headquartered in Denmark, and New England utility Eversource.
The approval rate has alarmed fishermen as well as local environmental groups, who say the renewable energy initiative will eventually build about 1,000 turbines in Rhode Island’s southern waters covering about 1,400 square miles — larger than the Ocean State itself.
The first offshore wind farm in the US was built off Rhode Island’s Block Island in 2016.Getty Images
The projects would cause major disruptions to commercial and recreational fishing, said one of the groups, Green Ocean, pointing to one of BOEM’s own assessments.
The agency’s draft environmental impact statement for the Revolution Wind project states that there is “no measurable influence on climate change” either.
The first offshore wind farm in the US was built off Rhode Island’s Block Island in 2016 and has also been linked to a spike in whale deaths.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s draft environmental impact statement for other wind projects states that there is “no measurable influence on climate change.” Newsday via Getty Images
Through increased boat traffic due to construction, as well as high-decibel sonar mapping, whales appear to be struck and killed by ships or disorientated and driven from feeding grounds.
Other groups such as the Save Right Whales Coalition have noted contributions from Orsted to several state environmental groups and other institutions.
In 2020, the Orsted project and Revolution Wind donated $1,250,000 to the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut to fund a pro-offshore wind exhibit, the group said in a report.
Between December 1, 2022 and August 25, 2023, at least 60 species of whales have been found dead on the East Coast.
In 2017, NOAA declared an “unusual mortality event” for humpback whales but did not link any deaths to wind farm construction.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
