Dead bird covered in oil from Bouchard spill, Buzzards Bay, MA, April 2003 (MA DEP)

The National Wildlife Federation is joining the fight for offshore wind energy because we know the climate crisis is the biggest threat to America’s wildlife this century. Properly-sited, responsibly-developed offshore wind can cut our dependence on the dirty fuels that menace wildlife in its production, burning, and most visibly, in its transportation.

A Near-Miss & a Direct Hit

America’s 3rd-largest oil spill on record happened off Nantucket in 1976 when the tanker Argo Merchant ran aground, dumping 7.7 million gallons of fuel oil. Only favorable currents and weather conditions saved the New England coast from a horrific disaster, pushing the oil away from both the coast and key fishing grounds.

The area couldn’t avoid danger a second time in 2003, when the Bouchard 120 barge carrying oil for electricity generation ran aground off Buzzards Bay. It spilled 98,000 gallons of an especially thick, heavy type of oil, fouling fishing grounds for years to come, hurting an area already suffering from high unemployment. But the impacts on birds were even more severe. Hundreds of birds, many of them endangered, were killed in the spill.

“One species that was devastated by the spill was piping plovers, small shorebirds that breed along the Atlantic Coast on sand and gravel beaches,” reported Ariel Wittenberg of the New Bedford Standard Times on the recent 10th anniversary of the spill. “The birds were already endangered before the spill coated 85 percent of the Massachusetts population with oil. The spill also doubled the number of plover eggs that did not hatch that year.”

Far from rare events, oil spills are tragically common.

Researchers from Tetra Tech EC, Inc. & University of Maine installing wildlife monitoring equipment off of Block Island, RI (Capt. Jon Grant)

Turning to Clean Energy Solutions

Today, two projects in this same region are aiming to become America’s first offshore wind energy developments. Cape Wind is hoping to begin construction in a matter of months between Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Meanwhile, Deepwater Wind is looking to build several turbines off Rhode Island’s Block Island, which currently gets its electricity from diesel oil. Not only would the projects slash pollution and create hundreds of local jobs, but Block Island would see drastically lower electricity rates.

Polluters aren’t going down without a fight. William Koch, heir to a fossil fuel fortune and owner of Cape Cod estates, is one of several coal and oil barons pouring millions into stopping offshore wind energy.

That’s why the National Wildlife Federation is speaking up for wildlife. Catherine Bowes, the National Wildlife Federation’s senior manager for new energy solutions, works to educate lawmakers in DC and up & down the Atlantic Coast on the best policies to develop wildlife-friendly offshore wind.  As a resident of New Bedford, MA, I’ve testified at two local hearings in support of offshore wind. NWF has teamed up with dozens of national, state & local conservation groups to release our Turning Point report and partnered with offshore wind developers to protect endangered right whales.

Hope for the Future

A letter to the editor from New Bedford’s Allan Duarte on the anniversary of the Bouchard 120 spill summed up the case for New England clean energy:

I hope everyone in opposition to possible future wind farms and solar farms read the “Black Monday” story over and over and realize in their heart and mind that wind and solar farms will mean greener and better future for our children and grand children. I hope they read and realize that an oil spill can take place again anytime, anyplace. The longer we stay depending on oil, the more disasters we must face.

Some worry about spoiling the scenery from solar panels around them, while others study long-term effects from wind turbines. None could compare at all to the long-term effects such as the Bouchard oil spill.

We just don’t get it, do we? To get something in return, we must give something. With wind and solar farms as a solution, we won’t be giving up very much in comparison to oil tankers in the horizon, or smoke stacks in the sky. I would rather see solar panels in the fields, and wind turbines in the sky. Makes so much more sense.

The National Wildlife Federation will keep fighting polluters and we need your help to do it. If you live in southeastern New England, sign up to testify at a local hearing on offshore wind.

Donate today and help NWF continue to fight for wildlife-friendly clean energy

Turbine in the UK’s Sheringham Shoal Wind Farm (flickr/Edward Davey)

Speak Up in Person for Rhode Island Offshore Wind

Rhode Island’s leaders need to hear support for offshore wind energy! If you agree that the Ocean State must rise to the challenge of climate change that threatens our wildlife, coastlines, and communities, please speak up and support this national precedent-setting opportunity to advance a critical new clean energy source for America at one of the following hearings:

Monday, May 6^th // 7:30 PM
Narragansett Town Council Meeting
Narragansett Town Hall, 25 Fifth Avenue, Narragansett, RI 02882
Map

Wednesday, May 8^th // 5:00-8:00 PM
RI Department of Environmental Management Hearing
New Shoreham Town Hall, 16 Old Town Road, Block Island, RI
Map

The Block Island Proposal:

Deepwater Wind of Providence, Rhode Island sees great potential for a wind farm off of Block Island that will generate 30 MW of clean electricity, and will connect the island to the mainland grid for the first time.  The project will be located in an area already identified by Rhode Island’s Ocean Special Area Management Plan as an appropriate site for wind energy development.

The National Wildlife Federation pays especially close attention to ensuring that offshore wind development is pursued in a manner that protects our coastal resources and our marine wildlife.  After careful consideration, NWF and our local affiliate, Environment Council of Rhode Island, have both voiced our support for Deepwater Wind’s permit application currently under consideration by both state and federal permitting agencies.

“Rhode Islanders should be proud of the strong, enduring commitment by its state leaders and federal Congressional delegation to advance solutions to climate change. The Ocean State is not only uniquely vulnerable to climate impacts, it is also uniquely positioned to lead the nation in ushering in a critical new clean energy source for America. Now more than ever, America must get serious about advancing clean energy if we are to protect our communities and wildlife from the dangers of climate change.”

-          Catherine Bowes, NWF Senior Manager for Climate & Energy

Email us at info@nwa.org to let us know you will attend, and we will talk you through how to speak up for offshore wind in Rhode Island.

If you would like to support offshore wind energy in Rhode Island but cannot attend the hearings, please email us for additional opportunities to make your voice heard.

Wind turbines off Blyth, UK (Flickr’s Zabdiel

The coalition sent a letter to President Obama today with more than 200 signers, including the National Wildlife Federation, Environment America, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and dozens of other groups representing millions of Americans. It calls for continued federal leadership to move away from fossil fuels and applauds administration efforts over the last year, specifically the Interior Department’s “Smart from the Start” initiative. The program has designated appropriate areas for wind development in federal waters off the coast of six Atlantic states—Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia.

What is the coalition specifically asking the Obama administration to do?

• Support federal financial investments to spur offshore wind development;
• Set a bold goal for offshore wind in the Atlantic;
• Ensure that offshore wind projects are sited, constructed and operated responsibly;
• Provide DOI and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management with sufficient staff and resources, and
• Prioritize coordination to secure a market for offshore wind power.

Some people have a misperception that you have to choose between offshore wind energy and thriving wildlife populations. Much of that is due to a misinformation campaign funded in large part by William Koch, one of the billionaire polluting Koch brothers who’s fighting clean energy just because he doesn’t want to see it off his Cape Cod estate. The truth is that America urgently needs to clean up our electricity grid if we are to protect wildlife from the dangers of climate change. Experiences in Europe show us that offshore wind energy can be ramped up rapidly, economically, and an in a way that protects our wildlife and natural resources.

The federal government is making wildlife protection a top priority as it moves forward with offshore wind energy siting, leasing and development. From today’s Washington Post report on the planned auction to Atlantic Ocean offshore wind farm developers:

Before opening offshore plots to wind farms — the total area is more than 1.5 million acres — the government is spending millions to study the distribution and behavior of such federally protected migratory species as red knots, roseate terns and piping plovers, as well as of diving birds, which forage on the continental shelf.

“Conservationists of all political stripes are united behind offshore wind as a winner for America’s wildlife, public health and economy,” says Catherine Bowes, the National Wildlife Federation’s senior manager for new energy solutions. “Clean energy solutions are critical to protecting our wildlife, fish and natural resources for future generations of outdoor enthusiasts.”

Take Action

Tell the Obama administration you support properly sited and developed offshore wind energy to protect wildlife. Please take a moment to email the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management urging them to bring clean wind energy to states along the Atlantic coast.

When you come from the smallest state in the country, you tend to pay attention when your state starts making big news. For me, hearing that the offshore wind industry might be making its official jump start in Rhode Island is big news.

An offshore wind project called the Block Island Wind Farm is currently in the works and is slated to begin construction in 2013 or 2014. Compared to other utility scale projects being proposed along the Atlantic Coast, this proposed project is demonstration size. Only five offshore wind turbines are being developed and the project will be located just a few miles southeast of the island.

Located just a few miles southeast of Block Island, Deepwater Wind proposes to build 5 offshore wind turbines.

What’s so special about the Block Island Wind Farm?

For National Wildlife Federation, a promising component of this project is that it would be located in a site identified as appropriate for a renewable energy project by local, state, and federal stakeholders before the project officially applied for its permits. This has created a forum for wildlife and environmental impacts data and concerns to be discussed early on in the process to ensure that an appropriate location was chosen. Additionally, while three miles south of Block Island, the project is actually 13-16 miles from the mainland, and data collected by state and federal agencies and the wind developer indicates this location will avoid areas important to marine mammals, birds, bats, fisheries, and benthic habitat in order to minimize impacts.

Deepwater Wind, the project developer, announced in April that they will be using state of the art turbines developed by Siemans Energy to generate 6 megawatts of power each for this island. Typically most offshore wind projects being proposed have turbines that put out between 3 and 4 megawatts of power. These 5 new turbines can generate the same energy output as 7 or 8 typical turbines on other wind farms and do so with less impact to the surrounding ecosystem. This would be the first project in the U.S and one of the first anywhere in the world to make use of this new cutting edge technology.

For Block Island residents, switching to offshore wind is a no-brainer in my mind. The only way to supply energy for this small island is transport diesel fuel on tanker trucks via ferry. This gives Block Island one of the highest costs of electricity in the country. In 2009, residents on the island paid 49 cents per kilowatt hour, while their mainland neighbors only paid 15 cents per kilowatt hour. Offshore wind power could cut that price in half, making it much more competitive with mainland prices. On top of that, it takes roughly one million gallons of diesel fuel to power their generators. Burning all that diesel produces roughly 40,000 tons of carbon pollution every year. By making the change to offshore wind, Block Island residents would save money and help reduce carbon emissions contributing to climate change.

One of the main problems holding back offshore wind here in the U.S. is that there is not a single offshore wind turbine spinning anywhere in our waters. Getting even just one offshore wind turbine installed anywhere along the East Coast will be huge step for the industry. I may be a little biased, but I would be thrilled to have the first project get started in my home state. Growth in the clean energy industry will produce jobs that could even help with Rhode Island’s high rate of unemployment. Just look at what the clean energy industry has been doing for Massachusetts, right over the border.

The National Wildlife Federation believes that carbon pollution, and associated climate change, is the greatest threat facing wildlife today. We believe that offshore wind energy can and must be constructed and operated in a way that does not threaten our sensitive coastal and marine wildlife such as birds, sea turtles, and whales. NWF supports offshore wind in the Atlantic Ocean as a critical part of America’s clean energy future.

Take action to protect wildlife like the Loggerhead Sea Turtle by supporting the development of clean offshore wind, available all along our Atlantic Coast.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is a longtime champion of clean air. Last week, he told his Senate colleagues that no matter how you look at it, clean air is a great investment and it’s time to stop playing games with Americans’ health:

[W]e are not just in this Chamber to represent the polluters. We are supposed to be here to represent all Americans, and Americans benefit from environmental regulation big time.

Over the lifetime of the Clean Air Act, for instance, for every $1 it costs to add pollution controls, Americans have received about $30 in health and other benefits. By the way, installing those pollution controls created jobs because they went to manufacturers to build the controls and to Americans to install them. But setting that aside, a 30-to-1 benefit ratio to keep our air clean sounds like a mighty wise investment to me. That 30-to-1 ratio doesn’t even count the intangible benefits — intangible but very real benefits — of clear air and clean water, the benefits of the heart and the soul, the benefits to a grandfather of taking his granddaughter to the fishing hole and still finding fish there or of the city kid being able to go to a beach and have it clean enough to swim there or the benefit to a mom who is spared the burden of worry, of sitting next to her asthmatic baby on the emergency room albuterol inhaler waiting for his infant lungs to clear.

Watch:

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you’re at work and can’t watch the whole video, read the full transcript at Climate Progress, then take a moment to speak out for clean air.

Photo by Phil Hollman

Today, Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar joined Governor Lincoln Chafee and Rhode Island’s Congressional delegation for a press conference to announce a key step forward in the process to develop offshore wind energy in New England.

There are significant wind energy resources in the federal waters off the coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and today’s announcement means that we are one step closer to bringing that clean, job-producing energy ashore.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE), the agency tasked with managing the permitting process for offshore wind energy, will now formally collect information from developers interested in the area as well as information about environmental and other issues needed to prepare an Environmental Assessment. Once these steps are complete, BOEMRE will move forward and begin issuing leases for site assessment activities off of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, which Secretary Salazar today said will happen in 2012.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, U.S. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed, U.S. Rep. David N. Cicilline and Governor Chafee. Photo credit: Providence Journal

National Wildlife Federation is thrilled to see this continued commitment by the Obama Administration to pursue offshore wind energy in an efficient and environmentally responsible manner.

And it can’t come soon enough. There are over 1,000 offshore wind turbines creating jobs and clean energy overseas and the U.S. is behind – way behind – in taking similar advantage of our offshore wind resources.

Today’s announcement builds on progress also happening in the Mid-Atlantic region. A draft Environmental Assessment has already been prepared for specific areas in federal waters off of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, where offshore wind leases are also expected to be issued early next year. NWF was joined by over 11,000 of our activists in voicing strong support for moving forward with offshore wind development in these areas in a way that is protective of our coastal and marine resources.

Offshore wind holds great potential to create jobs, cut pollution, and reduce our reliance on dirty fossil fuels. This is a win-win for our economy and our environment, and it is exciting to see America move closer to tapping the massive domestic energy source sitting right off our shores.