#offshorewindfarm — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #offshorewindfarm, aggregated by home.social.
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https://www.europesays.com/dk/81264/ Baltica 2 Offshore Wind Farm: First Monopiles Installed, Full Operation Expected in 2027 – News and Statistics #15GW #Baltica2 #FredOlsenWindcarrier #MonopileInstallation #OffshoreConstruction2026 #OffshoreWindFarm #Ørsted #PGE #PGEPolskaGrupaEnergetyczna #PolishBalticSea #SiemensGamesa14MWTurbines #Steelwind #VanOord
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#SearsIsland Study Area
#Wetland Delineation#Photographs: August & September, 2023
Sears Island
Searsport, Maine 04974#Nature #MDOT #MaineDOT #JanetMills #SaveTheWetlands #EndangeredSpecies #Wahsumkik #Searsport
#WindTurbines #ProtectTheForest #ProtectTheDunes #SaveSearsIsland #OffshoreWindFarm #ProtectWahsumkik #ProtectNature #MackPoint -
"The #PeregrineFalcon, a federally endangered species that has been verified on #SearsIsland, likely preys on smaller birds along the island's coast. The #SouthernBogLemming (state watch list) and #EasternRibbonSnake (state special concern list) have been verified on Sears Island..."
#EndangeredSpecies #Wahsumkik #Searsport
#WindTurbines #ProtectTheForest #ProtectTheDunes #SaveSearsIsland #OffshoreWindFarm #ProtectWahsumkik #ProtectNature #MackPoint -
Energy company wants #Maine to use its port instead of #SearsIsland for offshore wind hub
Competition for Maine's offshore #WindPort is sharpening with #SpragueEnergy Operating Resources proposing #MackPoint as an alternative to the state's preferred site on nearby Sears Island.
by Stephen Singer, June 6, 2024
[Behind a paywall -- full text below]
An energy and port services company is pitching its Mack Point industrial property as a location for an offshore wind port, offering it as an alternative to the site on nearby Sears Island that is preferred by the state but opposed by local residents.
Sprague Operating Resources LLC on Thursday released details of its plan for Maine’s offshore wind project in Searsport. It says its site will be less costly than the Sears Island location and spare that area the disruption caused by port construction, a key issue that locals have criticized. The plan proposes a launching dock, assembly area for wind turbines before they’re dispatched to the Gulf of Maine and a recently updated rail yard.
“We can’t get the state to look at this plan seriously,” said James Therriault, vice president of materials handling at Sprague.
The Mills administration says Sears Island is the best choice for an offshore wind port because the site is owned by the state, saving money that would otherwise be required to lease another location, and is designated for port development.
State officials also have said that the Sears Island site would not require dredging, unlike at Mack Point. But Therriault said Mack Point has been dredged to a depth that can accept ships. “We’ll take advantage of depth that’s already there,” he said.
Sprague says its Mack Point Terminal offers 100 acres separate from current activities, a base launching dock allowing the use of a semi-submersible barge or Tug Dock device – next-generation equipment used to install offshore wind platforms – and a second large vessel dock for Sprague’s bulk and liquid operations that can also serve as a backup dock.
“Sprague believes it’s in the best interests of Mainers to urge the state to fully analyze the costs, timings and impacts of Sprague’s alternative design,” Therriault said. “We believe this alternative achieves the goal of minimizing impacts on natural and working lands, while reducing overall cost and providing all the same operational and vessel functionality.”
In response to Sprague’s proposal, the state Department of Transportation said Mack Point has “physical and logistical constraints.” The agency says the area would require a “significant” need for dredging and greater costs to Maine taxpayers for leasing and construction, resulting in a “more expensive and inferior port facility for Maine compared to Sears Island.”
“What are those constraints?” asked Rolf Olsen, vice president of Friends of Sears Island, a volunteer, nonprofit organization that manages a conservation area on the island. He opposes the state’s proposal and favors Mack Point.
State officials use the “same generalities” as they have before, he said. “I don’t see anything new here.”
DOT officials said Sears Island is “one of the best sites for a deep-water port on the Eastern Seaboard, which is why a portion of the island has been reserved for port development for many years.”“By all available information, analysis and stakeholder input, Sears Island is the most feasible and cost-effective location for an offshore wind port,” the state said.
The state’s selection of Sears Island as its preferred site “followed two years of evaluation, local discussions and assessment of all other port options – including Mack Point,” the DOT said.
Gov. #JanetMills announced in February the state’s preferred site at Sears Island. The selection is subject to state and federal permitting and will be analyzed in comparison to Mack Point.
Olsen said redeveloping Mack Point, “which has thrived as an industrial site for more than a century” would be less disruptive than building a port on Sears Island.
The state, he said is “single-mindedly going for Sears Island.”#Wahsumkik #Searsport
#WindTurbines #ProtectTheForest #ProtectTheDunes #SaveSearsIsland #EndangeredSpecies #OffshoreWindFarm #ProtectWahsumkik #ProtectNature -
This is what's at stake...! #SaveSearsIsland! Build the #WindTerminal on #MackPoint!
Explore #SearsIsland
"Sears Island is one of the largest undeveloped islands on the #EasternSeaboard that is connected to the mainland by a causeway."
https://friendsofsearsisland.org/
#SaveWahsumkik #ProtectNature #ProtectWahsumkik #Nature #Maine #EndangeredSpecies #OffshoreWindFarm
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Historically Undeveloped #SearsIsland Now Threatened by #Maine’s #WindTurbine Project
By Seamus Othot
November 20, 2023"The State of Maine intends to develop the untouched Sears Island in #Searsport to build and ship offshore wind turbines, according to Downeast lawmakers who oppose the controversial project.
"'It is the largest undeveloped uninhabited causeway accessible island on the eastern coast of the United States,' said Rep. Lynne Williams (D-Bar Harbor) in her letter defending Rep. Reagan Paul’s (R-Winterport) proposal to stop the development of Sears Island.
"The lawmakers see the Sears Island project as a negative environmental effect of Maine’s offshore wind plans, which are supposed to lower Maine’s greenhouse gas emission and thereby forestall anthropogenic global warming.
"The development of offshore wind turbines also has the potential to impact Maine’s lobster and haddock fisheries, according to scientific studies collected and distributed to media by the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (#NEFSA).
"Rep. Paul’s proposal, which was appealed on Thursday’s meeting of Maine’s legislative council, would have granted a conservation easement for land on Sears Island that is not privately owned.
"This would have stopped the development of 100 acres of the 940 acre island.
"The appeal failed, with a vote of five-five. The four republicans on the council voted for the bill, along with Sen. Mattie Daughtry (D-Cumberland). The rest of the Democratic leaders opposed the bill.
"Rep. Williams argued that, in addition to its #ecological value, and its sentimental value as untouched #wilderness for the people of her district, Sears Island ought to be preserved for its #historical value.
"'The island is rich with #indigenous #Wabanaki history and American history from the Revolutionary War that deserves to be preserved and protected as well,' said Paul.
"Without Paul’s bill, there is no legislation preventing Maine’s offshore wind industry from industrializing the island.
"A similar bill, proposed by Rep. Tiffany Strout (R-Harrington), was appealed at the same council session as Paul’s, but, like Paul’s, it failed.
"Rep. Strout’s bill would have helped Maine retain its Lobster Management Area One if it is auctioned off to company’s building offshore wind turbines."
#Wahsumkik #Maine
#FirstNations #GovernorJanetMills
#Corporatocracy #OffshoreWindFarm #ProtectTheDunes #SaveSearsIsland #EndangeredSpecies #EnvironmentalProtections
#MackPoint #Searsport -
Critics call plan for #Searsport offshore wind site ‘dangerous precedent,’ point to coastal impacts
#WindPower advocates and #conservationists looking to protect #SearsIsland from use as a wind power hub presented their points of view to lawmakers, who must choose between the two sides.
"Bill would set a dangerous precedent for the destruction of our coastal #ecosystems"
Stephen Singer
March 18, 2024"Opponents urged lawmakers to respect the area’s coastal environment.
"Tribal Rep. #AaronDana of the #PassamaquoddyTribe said the proposal would disrupt the area’s environment and cause #pollution, affecting the ability to fish, hunt and gather 'in the traditional ways that have sustained the Passamaquoddy people' and others.
"#Industrialization of the areas 'not only (desecrates) our #SacredSites, but (it also erodes) our cultural heritage and our connection behind the land,' Dana said.
"Joshua Kercsmar, vice president of #PreserveRuralMaine, said the conservation group prefers construction of a wind port on the 'already industrialized #MackPoint part of Searsport that has no coastal dunes.
"He also said the state would set a bad precedent by changing environmental policy.
'If through a single bill the laws no longer apply to protecting Sears Island then a troubling question arises: If the state can so easily undo protections on Sears Island sand dunes, why could it not just as easily undo protections on other protected ecosystems elsewhere?' Kercsmar said."#SandDunes and coastal #beaches protect buildings and infrastructure from waves and #flooding and provide #habitat for #MigratoryShoreBirds and endangered and threatened species, #MaineAudubon said. It suggested establishing a Coastal Sand Dune Restoration and Protection Fund, modeled after Maine’s Lake Water Quality and Restoration Fund, that 'would help kickstart a novel opportunity to increase technical assistance, research and public education.'"
#Wahsumkik #Maine #FirstNations #SacredSites #JanetMills #Corporatocracy #OffshoreWindFarm #Wabanaki #ProtectTheDunes #ProtectTheForest #SaveSearsIsland #EndangeredSpecies #EnvironmentalProtections #CorporateColonialism
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Hmmmm... I'm seeing a pattern here. #PeterMills and #MaineTurnpikeAuthority are looking to build a highway through forests and farms because it would be cheaper (but #LightRail would be even CHEAPER, but would involve less #contractors). Peter's sister #JanetMills wants to put an #OffshoreWindFarm on #SearsIsland because it would be cheaper than #MackPoint (which would involve cleaning up pollution -- the horror!)
[Article is behind a paywall -- full text in comments]
The unusual political alliance opposing an offshore wind port in #Maine
by Billy Kobin
December 4, 2023"The 941-acre Sears Island, the largest undeveloped island in #PenobscotBay, is connected to the mainland by a causeway and is located off the coast of #Searsport, the Route 1 town of about 2,600 residents. The state owns the island, though #NativeAmericans who called it #Wassumkeag, or 'bright sand beach,' used it over thousands of years for camping, hunting, fishing and resting along paddling routes."
#MainePolitics #Environment #Greenwashing #EnvironmentalRacism