As offshore wind sails forward, fish habitats will suffer, and fishers fear getting 'squeezed out' of their livelihoods

A construction area for Vineyard Wind in New Bedford, Mass.
(Photo by Tony Luong, ProPublica)

Corporations seeking approval for offshore wind farms must move through government channels, and it's complicated. In the process, East Coast wind farm developers have created a "revolving door between the government workers and offshore-wind promoters," report Will Sennott and Anastasia Lennon of The New Bedford Light in Massachusetts, in cooperation with ProPublica. "In recent years, at least 90 people have shuttled between federal, state or local government and the offshore wind industry. . . . . Left out of this cozy relationship is one keenly affected group: more than 1 million people in the U.S. who work in the seafood industry, including 158,811 commercial fishermen."

Government authorities who determine building licensing and environmental concerns overlap. The Light explains, "Federal scientists, the commercial fishing industry and industry regulators each have sounded the alarm about potential harm to fish spawning habits and the lack of compensation for losses suffered by fishermen. . . . The Interior Department has ignored or downplayed those warnings. . . . The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is part of the Interior Department, and the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is part of the Commerce Department, have conflicting authority over the same stretches of federal waters. BOEM oversees permitting and leasing for offshore wind development, from which the federal government reaped more than $5 billion last year. NMFS is supposed to protect marine habitat and ensure the fishing industry is sustainable and economically viable."

The Light reports, "'We are very concerned about the cumulative impacts of multiple wind energy projects on the fisheries we manage,' directors of three federally established regional councils that advise NMFS wrote last fall to Amanda Lefton, then the head of BOEM. . . . Lefton said last October that she wants to ensure that 'not only can the commercial fishing industry and offshore wind coexist but that both industries can thrive." Case and point for the revolving door: "In January, Lefton left BOEM to join Foley Hoag, a law firm that has represented Vineyard Wind. There, she said in a press release, she will 'leverage' her 'experience in policy and regulation at the state and federal levels with the private sector to help businesses get projects built.'"

"The components to build turbines for Vineyard Wind, which started offshore construction last November, will be shipped from the Port of New Bedford, which is also the top-earning commercial fishing port in the nation," the Light reports. "It supports almost 15,000 jobs and moves between 390 and 544 million pounds of seafood a year from its waterfront to consumers around the world." Scott Lang, a former mayor of New Bedford and an attorney who has represented many of the city's commercial fishermen for four decades, told the Light, "The great majority of the people who rely on going out to fish will be squeezed out of the industry. This is going to be the final nail."

Another wind farm, South Fork Wind, has received a green light to build off New York's coast. "BOEM approved the projects despite repeated warnings from the NMFS about damage to the environment and the fishing industry," the Light explains, "Environmental laws require BOEM to consult with the fisheries service on projects taking place in 'essential fish habitat,' which encompasses all offshore wind projects within 200 miles of the coast. . . . Fisheries regulators have been warning BOEM since 2018 about the impact of offshore wind projects. . . . The three regional fishery councils on the East Coast wrote in last summer’s letter to the head of BOEM. They added that the 'effects will increase in magnitude as more projects are built.'"