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Much of the Biden plan involves mobilizing the federal government to help states meet existing goals like New York and New Jersey. The Department of Transportation, for example, announced funding of $ 230 million for port authorities for the construction of storage areas and other projects to support wind development.
The largest amount of money, $ 3 billion, is made available through the Department of Energy’s loan program to partner with wind power and offshore transport developers.
Although the most recent offshore wind proposals are usually placed far enough from shore to allay fears of spoiled views, they have always met with opposition from commercial fishermen operating in the area. The federal waters of the Atlantic are home to a variety of economically important fisheries, including sea scallop, squid and clam, many of which overlap areas of future offshore wind development.
Fishing groups have repeatedly expressed concerns that their boats and trawlers will be forced away from the towering turbines, the largest of which now have rotor diameters the length of two football fields. This could limit the amount of seafood they can ultimately catch, potentially robbing coastal fishing communities of millions of dollars in revenue.
“Our fisheries are already more strictly regulated than anywhere else in the world, so it’s not as simple as saying that fishermen can just change their gear and go fishing elsewhere,” said Annie Hawkins, Executive Director of Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, which represents commercial fishing. “Fishermen understand the need to act on climate change, but they don’t want to be completely left behind.”
As part of the Vineyard Wind project, Massachusetts has agreed to set aside $ 21 million to compensate fishermen for losses, although it is not known how the money will be spent. In its announcement Monday, the Biden administration announced $ 1 million in new grants to study the effects on fishermen and coastal communities. Ms Hawkins, however, said the sum was “paltry” for the scale of development planned for the Atlantic.
Marine scientists also said there were many unanswered questions about how a boom in offshore wind construction could affect ocean ecosystems in the Atlantic Ocean that are already under stress from global warming.
“The point is, it’s a great experience,” said Kevin Stokesbury, professor in the School for Marine Science and Technology at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. “There is not much we can learn from the European experience. We just haven’t had these big wind turbines all over our coast.
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