Avangrid, the company that partly owns Vineyard Wind, is now accepting applications for fishermen impacted by the operation of the offshore wind project.
The Fisheries Compensatory Mitigation Program provides compensation to commercial fishermen for economic impacts attributable to Vineyard Wind’s construction, operations, and decommissioning activities.
Avangrid announced the program in a release this week. The launch of the program opens a 90-day window for fishermen to qualify for compensation, ending on June 3.
Fishermen will not need to demonstrate economic impacts from Vineyard Wind 1 to receive payments and will have to have fished in the Vineyard Wind lease area for at least three years between 2016 and 2022.
The program is planned to continue until Vineyard Wind is decommissioned.
A group called de maximis, inc. is administering the compensatory program. The firm provides environmental project management services, alongside “support from local fixed gear and mobile gear fisheries advisories.”
The de maximis point of contact is Major Sharpe, who can be reached at vineyardwind@demaximis.com.
Vineyard Wind will also be hosting open house and tabling events this month to assist fishermen with their applications and answer any questions. For more information about these events or about the program in general, visit https://vw1fisheriescomp.com/.
Interesting that Vineyard Wind; a company which previously claimed there will be no negative impact on the fish or the people fishing for them are offering compensation for their negative impact on the fishing industry.
They also claimed we wouldn’t see the turbines, other than maybe the tips of the blades on the horizon! Complete lie.
Actually, John, “they” never said we wouldn’t see them.
The only lie here is yours. A complete one by the way–
And–since we are talking about lies here, has V.W
admitted that their project has actually caused any
damage to the fishing industry ? Just because you
appease people does not mean you have caused them any
damage. V.W also gave a million dollars of rate payer
money to the Wampanoags for what ?
Interfering with the sunrise ?
Sorry, if you guys are going to whine about the
government subsidies TO V.W , I feel free to whine
about the subsidies FROM V.W . No offense to fisherpersons
but —
How about you find out, John, how much is
going to V.W and how much is coming from V.W ?
I’ll put it on you–
John– just in case you missed it, and perhaps you
are not intentionally lying , I will point this out to you.
https://www.boem.gov/sites/default/files/documents/renewable-energy/Vineyard-Wind-COP-Volume-III-Appendix-III-Ha.pdf
Please scroll down to the pages that show the simulated
view, starting on page 65.
Note that they simulate the view without a zoom lense.
They simulate it on a clear day ( like on pages 80 and 82)
and on hazy days (like on pages 83 and 84) — That is pretty
close to what I see when i go down there,
Also note that on the right side of each simulated photo
there is a drawing of exactly which portions of the windmills
will be visible.
Now, I know the line that has recently been used
as a legal or “rational” defense for lying that states
“it’s only a lie if you know it’s a lie” .
So I will not accuse you of lying, as I know that you are
woefully and willfully ignorant of many of the facts concerning these
machines and you are just parroting some random talking point.
However, now that you know, and have verifiable proof
that they did in fact graphically show us exactly how visible they
would be,in June of 2020, while public comments were being
solicited , you can fold that bit of misinformation up, and file it away.
Thanks for bringing that argument up so I could debunk it.
They are not offering compensation for their negative impact on the fishing industry.
It is payoff to reduce the noise.
Everyone has there hand out.
Next, Vineyard Wind will offering to pay 10% of the real estate taxes of Island properties that can see the Windfarm…
You will see that cost in your electric bill.
GOOO Ellen!
Interesting that V.W will be subsidizing the fishing
industry with no questions asked, at ratepayer expense.
The fisherpersons only have to open the palms of their hands
to get money– Must be nice.
And all this time i have been hearing about V.W getting
subsidies from taxpayers.
Now you know why so many of us fought to keep the wind mills out of Vineyard Sound years ago…..Imagine how bad that would have been!
As with everything else these days,only time will tell whether the windmill advocates were right or wrong. I guess the wind power people are just covering their butts “ just in case” they need to make payments. Yes, it is interesting how positive the wind power folks are when presenting the wind projects, and how they now feel that they have to have a stop-gap measure to pay anyone whose income is effected by any negative effects that the wind projects may have.
Personally, I think it will prove to be difficult keeping the mills in working order. After all, salt water is very corrosive….I would have been happier seeing the mills on land.
Of course the big question is how will the wind mills effect the ocean’s ecology, and the fishing industry, both commercial and sport??? It’s hard to decide…..wind power or fossil fuels? Solar energy seems to be a reasonable choice, although if we keep experiencing global warming, who knows what the most effective energy will be???
Donna, the environmental crisis is so bad and we’ve let it get away from us for so long that we now need to use every tool in our arsenal. The lobsters that used to live in Long Island Sound are gone. There are only a few cool corners of the sound that still have small populations. If the ocean temperatures keep rising (and we know they will—we can’t stop it now) other animals will die out as well. The flooding is going to get worse. The icebergs will continue to melt (did you see the flood crisis in Alaska?) and as the icy waters enter the oceans, it freezes everything.
Solar, wind, nuclear (personally hope we don’t have to resort to that!), installing white roofing, reducing our energy consumption, etc. We have to do it all!
Now you know why so many of us fought to keep the the oil drilling rigs out of Vineyard Sound years ago…..Imagine how bad that would have been!
I’m curious who will apply…
People who haven’t been able to make a living fishing.
This is what huge corporations do they try to give back some of the crumbs they are making from the billions that they are raking in from the windfall of tax grants and charges to try to keep people happy. I hope every fisherman fills out the paperwork and overestimates their catches just like this international conglomerate of windmill operators have done to the public. 2 wrongs don’t make a right, but in this case they’ve lied to us so let’s give it right back to them. This way, some of the American taxpayer dollars spent on this environmental boondoggle of a project will actually help out an American.
Bob– once again you seem to be encouraging fraud.
Weren’t you the guy who was encouraging people to
leave the scene of accidents ?
How about this ??? You find some verifiable information
about this project getting billions of dollars of taxpayer
money. And while you are at it — Tell us about the “lies”
and if you can actually come up with those few simple things
I won’t think that you lie every time you post here.
i have yet to see an actual honest and/or accurate post from you
about this project.
But you know, what I really find interesting is your sanctimonious
berating of an American based company for doing what is
right, even when not forced to, while encouraging criminal
behaviour. I hope that the hard working fisherpeople here will
honestly state what they do, and are appreciative of the good
faith effort by V.W to compensate them for any perceived losses.
No legal fees involved– And if they lie about it and steal money
from the ratepayers, I hope they get caught, and are duly punished.
At the very least , lose their licenses.
Yes, Bob–I don’t think lying cheating and stealing is a good thing.
But then again, I’m a liberal.
It’s a business decision. Fisherman cost less to pay off than to pay lawyers to defend frivolous law suits.
Maybe we can drill for oil instead? The oil in Texas is going to run out one day. Then we will need to relocate the drill rigs from Galveston to Nantucket. We don’t want them here, right?
This is what Vineyard Wind does.
They pay off a few noisy fisherman, it’s cheaper than paying lawyers to defend against frivolous law suits.
In the end every cent paid out by Vineyard Wind will come back on the rate payers bill.
Should the Federal government prohibit offshore wind?
Offshore oil drilling?
Good thing the fishing industry isn’t corrupt. Can’t wait to see how this gets dished out.
Mary- I missed the deadline to respond back to you on last week’s article.
Anyway, the big 1999 long Island sound die off was a”perfect storm” of events that had little to do with climate change. https://photos.app.goo.gl/cek2bStiELjHCWby6
As you mentioned the lobsters are slowly making a comeback in that area but the biomass was basically wiped out.
As for this case of compensation from the wind companies, I don’t know how they will determine compensation as the effects from EMFs haven’t been realized yet at the leased sites. BOEM-URI conducted a study that showed the EMFs associated with the cables didn’t hurt the lobsters but made them move away from them. Will this have the same effect in the open ocean? If so , then dead zones will have been created. The EMFs also affect Krill , which the right whale depends on for food , buts that a separate issue for a different day.
In my opinion , the compensatory money should be dealt to all lobstermen and not just the ones who fished at the particular leased sites. After all these fishermen have been displaced and have moved to grounds that others have fished for years without added competition. The piece of the pie just got significantly smaller for all involved.
The state has a bill on the table to provide relief for every lobstermen in the state as seasonal closures for the right whale have negatively impacted some , but the state realizes the domino effect it has throughout.
I think vineyard wind 1 and other lease holders should do the same. Especially if it creates dead bottom.
Jason,
I’m sorry about not being very clear before. UCONN researchers claimed in the article that their research showed the death of the lobsters 🦞 was attributed to climate change—the over heating of the water in Long Island Sound. The lobsters have not returned.
Your second point about EMF is not something that I have investigated yet. Your statement, if I understand correctly, is that the windmill electrical cables are making the lobster move away from the cables. Why would the lobster react to the windmill electrical cables and not the traditional electrical cables that have existed for decades?
There is money on the table for researching the Right Whales. Perhaps a local university could answer some of these (and other) questions for us.
Mary, I should think if you look hard enough, you can find researchers blaming just about anything on climate change. Warm, poorly oxygenated water did cause the Long Island Sound lobster die off, but it is quite a stretch to attribute this solely to climate change and a little beyond the bounds of researching lobster die offs. Massive runoffs from many sources are likely significant contributors as well as global warming.
The fishing industry isn’t corrupt? I hope this is sarcasm. If it isn’t, look up Carlo Rafael
Jim– There are corrupt people in every aspect of life and
industry– I have no reason to doubt that the great majority
of people who fish for a living are hard working honest people.
Of course I have no way of actually knowing that for sure, but
to cite “the codfather” as an example of the morality of
hard working honest people who happen to fish for
a living is quite offensive. It’s like mentioning Carlo Gambino
and implying that all italians are crooks. Should I say that because
trump is a crook, all the MAGA nuts are crooks ?
That’s why I am bothered by Mr. Murphy’s comment up there
encouraging people to commit fraud. It does the whole fishing
community a disservice.
And surprisingly, he doesn’t seem to realize that any fraudulent
claims will ultimately be born by ratepayers. — Go figure–
Don, if you know that Rafael is “the godfather” then you should also know his crimes. My comment has nothing to do with nationality and everything to do with a corrupt fisherman.
I can be pretty sarcastic and I was in the industry most of my adult life.
Must come with the industry. I can be unbelievably sarcastic as well. And spent a good amount of my life in the industry as well.
Look at “most” all of the New Bedford fishing fleet. They most all knew, it’s very small community.
Opposition to the windmills—why? If you look at wind maps it’s obvious that this particular location is amazing for windmills. Destruction of the environment from burning fossil fuels has to stop. These particular windmills have a near-zero impact to the environment. We need more windmills and we needed them yesterday!
Please engage yourself with the research and science so you understand the urgency of our situation.
Do a little research on other types of renewable energy and what other countries are doing. Have you seen what Saudi Arabia is doing? Or China? They are constructing a building with windmills inside the structure so the building is energy independent. Western China is filled with solar panels. Every roof on the planet should have solar panels. We need to utilize geothermal energy.
I was heartbroken when I watched those houses washing away in Alaska from ice pack melting. We can’t turn our backs on our neighbors. We have to do our part. Are we really going to cling to our annoyances—“not in my backyard” or “the windmills are destroying the view” when other people are truly suffering?
Will fishermen still be allowed to set gear near the turbines? My experience is that structure, especially offshore, attracts everything. It would be awesome for fishermen to get free money and have the fishing actually get better.
Scott– there are temporary exclusion zones around the
windmills while they are under construction for safety reasons.
There will be no restrictions once they are built.
Also, someone brought up the topic of navigation at night.
In addition to the required aircraft lighting that will only be
on when an aircraft is within 6 miles, there are lights near
the waterline, which will not be visible from shore as they will be
over the horizon.
And yes, anything that is in the water attracts marine life.
That’s how it works in the Gulf of Mexico.
If the oil rigs are not leaking too much.
I am doing none of it. I lived 8 years in 24/7 90 degree weather and were just fine. In fact one country reclaimed 280 sq miles of land from the sea which is 25 percent of its land mass and built a 5star hotel on it where I stayed one time. I also lived in 108 degrees for two years with no air conditioning and taught school. China. South Korea, Netherlands, Dubai and many countries have reclaimed land. Amsterdam the city is on reclaimed land. Yakutsk Russia the coldest city in the world is getting a little warmer and that is a good thing. They want more cars idling. Masada Israel for three months in summer averages 100 degrees. Nothing to see here folks. Technology will protect us.
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