No fishing ban near offshore wind turbines
FALMOUTH — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management hosted an all-day meeting on offshore wind Tuesday at the Holiday Inn Cape Cod ahead of a public comment session planned for that evening.
Representatives of the three wind developers that hold leases to areas off Massachusetts — Deepwater Wind, DONG Energy, and Vineyard Wind — gave updates about the site assessments they are doing to prepare for the release of a request for proposals June 30, according to Paul Vigeant, executive director of the New Bedford Wind Energy Center, who attended the session.
Asked if the process is going as he expected and hoped, Vigeant said “very much so.”
By the end of 2017, the state will probably designate one or more companies to provide offshore wind power, he said. Then, plans for construction and operation will begin in earnest.
Fishing interests asked, and have asked at multiple meetings, whether fishing will be allowed between the wind turbines, he said. According to Vigeant, BOEM has repeatedly said the decision lies with the Coast Guard, and the Coast Guard as indicated it has no intention of stopping anyone from fishing between the turbines.
The event was a meeting of BOEM’s Rhode Island and Massachusetts Joint Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force, a group composed of federal, state, local, and tribal officials, or their designated representatives.