EASTHAM — Local officials on the Outer Cape have for a month been calling for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to hold a public information session here about one of eight proposed wind energy areas in the Gulf of Maine — the one sited about 20 miles off Cape Cod’s back shore — before its size and shape are approved.
BOEM, the agency of the Dept. of Interior that is charged with managing the development of offshore wind, finally did that on June 17, and some 200 people turned out at the Four Points by Sheraton for it.
BOEM announced the meeting only six days before it was held. The agency’s renewable energy program specialist Zachary Jylkka said that it was spurred by requests from local officials here and that, despite the planned public comment period being over, BOEM would take comments from the meeting into account.
The Independent spoke to eight people on their way into a packed conference room. Four said they had come to the session because they supported wind development, two said they were against it, and two said they had come to learn more. During the meeting, however, that straw poll did not appear to hold up. Of the 32 people who spoke, 25 opposed the wind energy area proposal or criticized BOEM’s management of it so far, and rounds of applause followed their criticisms. One person speaking in favor of the plan was booed.
Statements about possible negative effects of the development on commercial fishing dominated the meeting. Many of those who spoke identified themselves as fishermen or the wives of fishermen and said that they feared their livelihoods would be lost because of the construction of wind turbines.
Jylkka said that in designing the lease areas BOEM had tried to exclude the most productive fishing areas, since fishermen would be “effectively excluded” from those areas once construction begins. But several fishermen said that the vessel transit route data that BOEM used do not portray precisely enough where they fish.
The data that BOEM used are based on averages of fishermen’s routes, said Jerry Leeman, CEO of the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association. “It was never designed for that kind of analysis,” he said. His association opposes offshore wind development.
Jylkka said that the lack of precise data is “a known issue” for BOEM. He said the agency wants to hear from fishermen who have worked in the proposed lease areas to help refine their plans.
A few people pointed to research suggesting that the electromagnetic fields emitted by undersea transmission cables would affect the lobster fishery. Truro lobsterman Dana Pazolt said he believes the cables would serve as a barrier to lobster migration. “You run the wires across the seabed, our industry is dead,” he said.
No study has yet been done on how lobster migration might be affected by undersea cables. A study led by Petra Harsanyi from the St. Abbs Marine Station in Scotland, however, found that lobsters and crabs are worse at swimming and three times more likely to develop visible birth defects when they are exposed to electromagnetic fields during development.
Another claim was that offshore substations, which are used to facilitate long-distance electricity transmission, might use seawater to cool their machinery and in doing so warm the water and kill the plankton in it.
The Independent was unable to locate any studies on the large-scale effects of offshore substations on marine ecosystems. Luke Feinberg, an energy program specialist at BOEM, said that the bureau has received “a lot of good questions” about substations but that the agency will not be able to assess their impact until there are specific plans from energy companies.
Fishermen’s safety while navigating through the wind field was raised as another concern. Eastham groundfisherman Michael Russo described how difficult it can be to navigate in heavy weather with low visibility.
Feinberg agreed, saying that, despite the five-nautical-mile-wide traffic corridors that BOEM established between the leases, “in heavy weather, these lines don’t really mean a lot.”
Fishermen and nonfishermen alike said they opposed possible plans to lay transmission cables in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Kathleen Bacon of Wellfleet said, “I want you to stand with me and demand that they stay away from Stellwagen Bank,” which got a loud round of applause. Then Wellfleet Select Board chair John Wolf and Chatham Select Board member Jeffrey Dykens both said they doubted that the project would be possible without laying cable there.
BOEM does not have authority over leasing there, Jylkka said. That responsibility falls on the sanctuary itself, which is undertaking its own evaluation.
Some claims made at the meeting were unfounded. Leeman said that offshore wind turbines would drive whale strandings, a myth that is not supported by evidence. And when Eastham fisherman Brendan Adams alleged that Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary was being paid off by wind companies to let a cable run through it, Richard Delaney, who is a member of the sanctuary advisory council as well as director of the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, refuted his claim: “We are not bought off, we have not been paid, the decision has not been made,” he said.
Delaney was one of the six people present who spoke in support of offshore wind. Three of them cited the need to fight climate change but called for further environmental review before the lease areas go out to bid.
Another contingent was trade union members. John Dunderdale, representing the United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, said Vineyard Wind had created jobs and that this project could drive a similar economic boom here.
The recent turbine breakage at Vineyard Wind, which left Nantucket beaches strewn with foam and fiberglass and forced beach closures, loomed large in the evening’s conversation.
“Every time it blows easterly over 60 miles an hour, we’re going to have these things busting apart and blowing up off our national seashore?” asked Adams. Elena Rice, co-owner of Reel Deal Fishing Charters in Truro, said boating amid such debris would be dangerous.
Vineyard Wind reported on Saturday that debris from the turbine was spotted east of Chatham, and Truro Town Manager Darrin Tangeman said he was informed by Vineyard Wind that debris might wash onto Truro beaches in the coming days, though so far no Outer Cape towns have reported turbine debris here.
As the meeting drew to a close, several speakers said they did not believe BOEM was taking their complaints seriously: “You’re not really looking for participation, you’re just checking off the boxes,” said Sandy Jones from Barnstable.
“I hope we’re not wasting time here tonight,” said Falmouth Select Board member Doug Brown.
“There’s checking boxes, and there’s really doing something,” said Provincetown Select Board member Leslie Sandberg. “You’re listening to us, but are you hearing us?”
