The Standing Committee for Offshore Wind Energy and Fisheries today held a virtual public meeting to introduce the Committee to the public and discuss goals with its sponsor, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
Attended by ~300 participants, the meeting began with brief remarks from Chair Jim Sanchirico and a briefing from BOEM Director Liz Klein. Klein highlighted the importance of offshore wind to the administration’s climate and economic goals, as well as the importance of fishing to coastal communities, way of life, and national heritage. In doing so, she said the administration is working to achieve renewable energy goals in a way that fishing can thrive as well as coexist, including through expanding communications with the fishing community through mechanisms such as the Committee.
In terms of Committee tasks, Klein noted that it will serve as an independent and credible forum for (1) discussion on stakeholder concerns and key topics related to offshore wind and fisheries; (2) providing broad stakeholder insight and input; and (3) providing expertise, including scientific and other areas of knowledge, that will help inform BOEM decision-making and potential measures to mitigate impacts. In doing so, she noted the importance of open communication between the Committee and BOEM that will help enable understanding on the Committee insights that might be helpful to BOEM.
BOEM Chief Environmental Officer Bill Brown provided an overview and addressed questions on BOEM’s organizational structure, offshore development programs, environmental program (including the Environmental Studies Program and environmental assessment process), the agency’s tribal program, and coordination and collaboration within and outside of BOEM (including with NOAA and state agencies). He later also noted a recent BOEM request for a National Academies study on the potential effects of the removal of wind energy on ocean circulation, and expressed a desire for the best science possible on basic questions.
BOEM Office of Renewable Energy Programs Chief Karen Baker provided an overview of authorities relevant to BOEM, the administration’s offshore wind goals, BOEM’s leasing process, and an update on BOEM’s offshore wind activities, while also highlighting the importance of engagement with fishing interests (and related BOEM efforts). In doing so, she said BOEM is particularly interested in learning from the Committee on how to better engage fishing interests and receive local knowledge and effectively incorporate that into BOEM models and considerations without drowning communities with data saturation.
During the session, Committee members expressed interest in exploring areas including cumulative impacts of West Coast offshore wind development (including impacts on the ecosystem), with another member inquiring on the extent to which BOEM has reviewed its process for environmental review (including consideration of the potential for additional environmental review prior to identifying siting locations for offshore wind/potential leasing).
In response, Baker said BOEM is always looking to improve the process and avoid/minimize impacts, and underscored that analysis and review under the National Environmental Policy Act is conducted throughout the entire process, with Brown emphasizing that the deepest dive is possible once a lease has been issued. Brown added that BOEM is evaluating the question of whether enough review is taking place up front, with Baker saying that “maybe it’s a topic we take on.”
Follow-up Q&A included discussion on the New York Bight process whereby the programmatic environmental review approach taken included a new regional programmatic environmental impact statement analysis of multiple lease areas, and how that is an example of how BOEM is listening to and addressing stakeholder sentiment. Baker noted that the approach is a pilot and that the question of whether EIS’s will be needed at the construction and operations phase is not yet settled, but that the approach is a “wave of the future” and an example of how BOEM will operate going forward (noting similar conversations underway in California and the Carolinas), and that lessons are being learned from the NY Bight that will be applied elsewhere.
Additionally, another Committee member said that there could be up to ~2,500 wind turbines between southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic Bight that are bigger than any built to date in Europe or the United States, noting that incorrect assumptions have been made about cumulative impacts and asking what BOEM will do when the assumptions are proven to be wrong and the impacts are more substantial than originally assumed.
In response, Brown said BOEM does not know and does not have good information on the impacts on ocean circulation, which is why they tasked the National Academies to explore the subject. He also underscored the importance of cumulative effects and talked about the cumulative effects analysis required under NEPA, citing a major cumulative effects analysis for the Vineyard Wind project. Baker added that this is a topic ripe for more extensive conversations with the Committee and that BOEM would welcome input on it.
Lastly, how and if BOEM has discussed what its role is, if any, in driving and incentivizing innovation (e.g., in the development and design of material selection, habitat creation, delivering environmental benefits, improving ecological function), and how BOEM coordinates and responds to NOAA needs regarding data limits that would otherwise help inform wind energy area selection. Brown said BOEM is doing everything possible to move environmental innovation forward, including through a potential center focused on innovative monitoring, deployment of a passive acoustic monitoring network, and support for eDNA. Baker noted that BOEM is exploring how projects and new technologies can benefit habitat and how such technologies can be incentivized.
The Committee will next meet on Apr. 26-27 in a hybrid in-person/virtual format. The meeting will focus on the current state of offshore wind energy development, and include a briefing on BOEM’s wind energy commercial leasing process and the state of offshore wind development from each of BOEM’s regional offices. The meeting will also include Committee panel discussions on information presented by BOEM and thoughts from Committee members.
The 12-member Committee is tasked with providing ongoing assistance to BOEM regarding agency efforts to engage the fisheries community and serves as a forum for discussion on the state of science and “pressing concerns” regarding the development of offshore wind and potential impacts to fisheries.
