Why was the Outer Banks Picked for an Offshore Wind Farm?
This month my friend, Dewey, gave an interview in local trade magazine Tradewinds about offshore wind and its impact on North Carolina’s commercial fleet specifically our local tuna boats. Dewey is a commercial longline fisherman who serves on the Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Advisory Panel for NOAA Fisheries in addition to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. In this interview (included at the end) Dewey explains how the Federal Government’s leasing of ‘Call Area F’ will impact our local fishing community and consumers across the country.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management selecting The Point as a potential wind farm was extremely surprising not only to commercial fishermen but to renewable energy professionals as well. The Point is a special marine ecosystem where the cold Labrador and warm Gulf currents converge creating a unique habitat for fish, mammals, and sea birds . Developing this area for wind farms is shocking to say the least and the feasibility is concerning not only logistically but especially because of this critical ocean ecosystem at risk. We have no real understanding of how 600ft turbines will tolerate the environment or if the marine environment can adapt to the turbines. Here is what Renewable Consulting Group said upon the announcement of the Central Atlantic Initial Planning Area:
“Many of the locations, such as the New York Bight and the Carolinas, were expected by developers and industry-watchers. However, it was the inclusion of the Central Atlantic – specifically the far-reaching area that BOEM has allocated for further study – that took some by surprise. The Central Atlantic Initial Planning Area (IPA) – a wide swath of seabed 20 miles offshore stretching from Dewey Beach, Delaware and to Cape Hatteras, NC – is in many respects a work in progress as much still needs to be studied in the area.”
The recent Hurricane Ian has me wondering how the turbines will hold up off the Outer Banks during our ferocious hurricane and nor’easter seasons. Hatteras is the number one most frequently hit spot by hurricanes and tropical storms in the Atlantic Basin. By the time Ian got to us as a post-tropical cyclone, the National Weather Service called for 47mph sustained with 12-15 ft waves this weekend at The Point (Call Area F). But what happens when a thousand 600ft turbines are knocked loose by 30 ft waves and carried by 155 mph winds before getting sucked into the Labrador Current. Will Scotland be upset when they wash up or could they be eco-friendly and repurpose them?
It is important to note that a wind farm has never been built in an area prime for hurricanes. So it really makes one wonder why the Outer Banks – especially Hatteras Island – was selected considering this is the number one most frequently hit spot by hurricanes and tropical storms in the Atlantic Basin. But apart from being the top hurricane destination, we are apparently a top business destination as well. It turns out, the cost of doing energy business in North Carolina is cheaper than our Northern neighbors! Here is what the Southeastern Wind Collation, a non-profit dedicated to advancing the wind industry in the Southeast, says:
“The most important metric in gauging the viability of any power plant is ultimately the cost of the energy produced, and the Southeast has numerous strengths that will result in lower offshore wind energy costs compared to projects in regions to the north. Namely, construction costs in the Southeast are dramatically less than most of the country which directly impact the cost of power.”
So as usual, it is all about the money. Unfortunately, for those who love the Outer Banks the cost will be high and for the pelagic longline fishermen who depend on these fishing grounds at The Point, the cost will be all encompassing. These tuna boats cannot adapt to another fishery because there is no fishery left. Everything else is done, kaput, dried up, gone. There are no local fisheries that can support our longline boats or this gear, everything will be wasted. These guys got into this fishery because NOAA told them it was the best option when shark fishing was shut down. Now where is NOAA? Offering us nothing, not even condolences, as we watch our coastal heritage go down the drain. By the time I have kids there will be no pelagic fisheries left. I look at my friends’ children who are 3-6 years old running around the deck and wonder if they will even remember unloading tunas.
Long story short: the North Carolina pelagic longline fleet will be pushed out of their harvest grounds for the new wind farms. With no where else in the state or Mid-Atlantic region to go, these fishing business will be forced to close or relocate to the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately, the Outer Banks is the top producer of tuna on the East Coast so not only will our local fishing community be devastated but access for 150 million consumers will be greatly reduced. Restaurants and retailers will be forced to compensate with imported tuna which is not harvested as sustainably as our domestic fish not to mention the carbon footprint of getting it to the states through freighters. So ironically, the environment will be farther degraded in the name of climate change mitigation.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is encouraging renewable companies to compensate displaced fishing business but they are not required by law, its just a friendly suggestion. But the most devastating part of all of this is not the loss of fishing but that we will soon see wind turbines lining the horizon of America’s first national seashore. It feels so one-sided, we are losing out on so much. Here on the island, we are being asked to sacrifice our fishing businesses in the name of climate change mitigation but what does an accountant in Raleigh contribute besides their outrageous carbon emissions? Why do we have to give up our heritage and our ancestral way of life? Why do we have to leave our harvest grounds so it can be turned into an electric grid so city dwellers can maintain their lifestyle? Living with the A/C set at 65°, driving a SUV, seemingly their only concern is getting a reservation at the Triangle’s hot restaurant or getting their child into the best magnet school.
When we will stop thinking about ourselves and start thinking about the crisis that is global population? This is not the time to be reducing sustainable local food production. The global population is expected to increase to 11 billon by 2050, for perspective this will be like adding a new New York City to the world every single day. To feed all these people, the ocean will be looked toward because its low climate footprint – no water is needed, no pesticides, no feed – fish are the most environmentally consciences protein source available.
This whole thing is frustrating and infuriating because not only do we lose our livelihoods but we are the ones feeling impacts of climate change the worse. We are on the frontlines of nature – our streets are flooded monthly, our homes flooded yearly, our roads wash out, our inlets fill up. Our local fish stocks are relocating to cooler water and now the government tells us the solution is to sacrifice our last fertile fishing grounds? Haven’t we been subjugated enough in this ordeal? Now we have to sit by and watch the ocean be developed and a local food source taken away. Who would have ever thought the endless ocean horizon would fall victim to corporate America?
Stay tuned as we continue to unpack offshore wind and its impacts on our local community and fishing businesses.
