Updated July 29
Congressman Bill Keating, representative for the Islands, called for federal officials to set up a protocol so local, state, and tribal stakeholders will be immediately notified when “hazardous conditions” arise in offshore wind lease areas.
Keating made the request in a July 23 letter to Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement director Kevin M. Sligh, Sr., writing that numerous state and local officials had contacted his office concerned by the lack of communication from federal officials after a Vineyard Wind turbine blade fractured earlier this month.
“Local officials feel that they were insufficiently informed of the blade collapse and hazardous conditions that would follow,” Keating wrote. “Although the incident occurred on Saturday, Nantucket officials were not informed until late Monday. In the event of a future incident within the wind energy lease area, [BSEE] should immediately inform all state, local, and tribal officials in affected communities regarding the nature of the incident and any potential impacts that might follow. State and local officials have their own public safety responsibilities and early notification will allow them to carry out these responsibilities in an efficient manner.”
According to a Friday afternoon press release from Keating’s office, the congressman had met with Vineyard Offshore CEO Alicia Barton, raising concerns the blade fractured because of a failure with an epoxy. Vineyard Offshore is an offshore wind development company funded by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, the company owning half of the Vineyard Wind project. Top officials from GE Vernova later revealed there was a manufacturing issue at their factory in Gaspé, Canada that led to “insufficient bonding” that was not spotted during inspection.
“When debris is washing up on the beach, the first call a resident makes is to their town government, and [BSEE’s] delay in notifying local stakeholders is unfair to those impacted most by this incident,” Keating said in a statement. “I am relieved that no one was hurt when the failure occurred, but that doesn’t mean local communities weren’t negatively impacted. Despite this bump in the road, I still firmly believe that the offshore wind industry will be a great benefit to our Commonwealth and nation and the lessons learned here will ultimately help continue to safely grow the wind industry.”
Representatives of the Vineyard Wind project were recently criticized by Nantucket representatives for what they called inadequate communication from the offshore wind developer.
Cheryl Andrews-Maltais, chairwoman of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), also sent a letter to the bureau director following the Vineyard Wind debacle calling for a moratorium on offshore wind development in U.S. waters.
A few hours after Keating’s press release, Vineyard Wind spokesperson Craig Gilvarg issued a statement on Friday evening saying the company contacted entities in a timely manner — a factor the company had been criticized for.
“Immediately upon learning of the damage to the GE Vernova blade on the evening of Saturday July 13, 2024, Vineyard Wind, in compliance with its federally approved emergency response plan, promptly contacted the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), the U.S. Coast Guard, the Regional Emergency Planning Committees for Duke’s and Barnstable counties (which is designed to trigger notification to first responders on Nantucket), and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection,” Gilvarg said in the statement. “Vineyard Wind also established a 500-meter safety exclusion zone and worked with the Coast Guard to issue a notice to mariners providing critical safety information. As Vineyard Wind continued to assess the situation and gather information, additional outreach took place to provide notification to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, the [Narragansett] Indian Tribe, the Shinnecock Nation, the Mohegan Tribe, and the Delaware Tribe of Indians, as well as elected and municipal officials. Vineyard Wind also continues to work with the U.S. Coast Guard to model the trajectory of potential debris, and has shared that information with local communities and public officials on an ongoing basis.”
Updated with a comment from Vineyard Wind.
Vineyard Wind has permanently damaged Martha’s Vineyard with developments that are dubious at best. While wind farm developers worldwide are pulling back or abandoning projects to do with offshore wind, flaws have halted at least temporarily some billions of dollars in investment off of Massachusetts offshore development.
Costs and engineering and impacts on nature itself are costing money and arousing concerns about damaging a wide range of environmental issues. Worldwide, nationally and in our country, and scientifically, it is not possible to solve our climate change course by Industrializing our oceans.
It is industrialization itself that drives Co2 along with population. If we really want to stop Co2 we need look no further than population and tourism for starters. Has anyone ever considered the impacts of cars,trucks, buses, ferries for example? When Vineyard Wind collapses, and it will, what of the modifications to our sand dunes into cages of steel for one?
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In August 2023, German energy company RWE began dismantling a wind farm in North Rhine-Westphalia to make way for an expansion of an open-pit lignite coal mine. T
https://reneweconomy.com.au/in-germany-a-wind-farm-is-dismantled-to-make-way-for-expanded-lignite-coal-mine/#google_vignette
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Another Offshore Wind Project Terminated Off Coast of New Jersey and New York
“Equinor and bp today announced an agreement with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to terminate the Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Certificate (OREC) Agreement for the Empire Wind 2 project, an offshore wind project in the US with potential generative capacity of 1,260 MW.“
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CNN —
Danish wind developer Orsted is halting the development of two massive New Jersey offshore wind projects due to cascading economic pressures, including skyrocketing interest rates and a supply chain crunch – two factors that have dogged wind energy projects up and down the East Coast.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/01/us/orsted-wind-energy-canceled-climate/index.html
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https://www.offshore-mag.com/renewable-energy/article/14298502/orsted-ceo-says-abandoning-us-wind-projects-a-real-option
DENMARK — Orsted, the world’s largest offshore wind farm developer, is prepared to walk away from projects in the US unless the country’s administration guarantees more support, Bloomberg News reported on Sept. 5, citing the company’s CEO
I wrote against the Wind project several yers ago, citing many of the failed and failing attempts in Europe. Not even concentrating on the noise, vibrations and immense steel cables do to sea life, I was more concerned about the HUGE foundations that cannot be broken down and recycled. By HUGE, I mean: 70′ in diameter, 20′ in depth, and TONS of steel reinforcing the concrete. But what isn’t talked about as much is corrosion, and in particular uniform corrosion, is a leading cause of failure for Offshore Wind Turbine structures due to the harsh and highly corrosive environmental conditions in which they operate. Look at Green Power Denmark; Lithuania rescinding new orders; Siemens (ask them about rotor blades and main bearings), etc., etc., etc. All within the last 2 years.
We will say anything to make sure our little wonderful wonderland isn’t bothered by little things that distract our eyes. 👀
If we HAD to choose between an oil platform or a windmill, which would it be?
There’s always solar panels…
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