US extends comments on Oregon floating wind as stakeholders demand lease sale slowdown
Critics say Biden administration is pushing auctions before state has completed its mandatory offshore wind roadmap
Stakeholder concerns have prompted President Joe Biden's administration to extend the comment period for a federal regulatory agency's draft environmental assessment (EA) of two offshore wind energy areas facing Oregon.
It decided to extend that period by two weeks “in response to feedback from Oregon Tribes and stakeholders”.
The extension is unlikely to mollify sector opponents including environmentalists, fisheries, and Tribes who are concerned over potential impacts of floating wind on coastal ecosystems.
Critics are demanding BOEM delay any moves towards lease sales until after the state has finished its Offshore Wind Roadmap guidance document that isn’t expected to be completed until late 2025.
“The 2-week extension is a slap in the face to stakeholders, particularly the Tribes who have asked for much more time to review the EA,” said Heather Mann, president of the fisheries advocate Midwater Trawlers Association, adding fisheries advocates and Tribes have requested at least a month-long extension.
The state is one of four regions slated for offshore wind lease sales this year, part of President Joe Biden’s administration’s updated schedule of 12 auctions through 2028. Sales are on track in the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Maine, and the Central Atlantic as well.
BOEM director Elizabeth Klein, in response, noted lease sales don’t guarantee projects will be built, and the slow federal process will delay any potential construction and operations plan (COP) approvals until 2029, long after the Roadmap is completed.
“The Roadmap report and resulting formal policy amendments should be completed well before any COP decisions are made and would accommodate your request,” Klein said in a published letter.
Lack of trust
State-funded fisheries association the Oregon Trawl Commission criticised the EA for having “numerous errors and omissions about the southern Oregon coast, its adjacent marine areas, and the importance of the fishing industry.
The association added that it stands as a “good reminder just how rushed BOEM’s offshore wind energy development is”.
For example, several marine mammals that only exist in the Atlantic Ocean such as critically endangered North Atlantic right whale are included on the EA's list of potentially impacted species.
Oregon’s Tribal Nations are likewise skeptical of sector development.
Is floating wind development “worth it to contribute to all the pollution that's in the ocean already, for 2.4GW of power?” said Brad Kneaper, council head of the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua & Siuslaw Indians.
“The BOEM process has not been sufficient in building trust at all in our state,” said Jess Grady-Benson, organising director for local NGO Rogue Climate.
“It's set things off on a really challenging foot,” she said, addressing a panel at industry group Oceantic Network’s International Partnering Forum conference in April.
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