Areas all around the Vineyard have been annexed for wind development, and on Wednesday representatives from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) wanted to hear the Vineyard public’s thoughts about one particular 400-square-mile plot between Block Island and Aquinnah.
In August the Department of the Interior issued a call for information for the so-called Area of Mutual Interest (AMI) between Rhode Island and Massachusetts, in an effort to gauge interest from developers and gather input from the public and other interested parties. The site is different from the 1,300-square-mile area to the east opened to wind development, or that of Cape Wind, which plans to build 130 turbines in state waters in Nantucket Sound.
BOEM has already received two unsolicited lease bids in overlapping areas of the area of interest, from Neptune Wind of Massachusetts and Deepwater Wind of Rhode Island.
While earlier public meetings on the Vineyard about wind development in state and federal waters have occasionally been packed, testy affairs, Wednesday’s talk was relatively sparsely attended and some who spoke even applauded the government’s sensitivity to coastal concerns.
“The review process that you’ve put together is thorough and you’re really trying your best to get public input more than any sort of project I’ve ever seen, so I compliment you on that,” said Dukes County manager Russell Smith.
Mr. Smith did caution, though, about pushing forward with the area too quickly, especially in light of what he saw as the much preferable 1,300-square-mile area to the east, citing better geology, less visual impact, and a lower impact on birds, as the AMI stretches to within 13.8 miles of Gay Head and sits squarely in the migratory route known as the Atlantic Flyway.
“I think just even a cursory glance makes it apparent that the other area is a much better site,” he said.
Tisbury selectman Tristan Israel wondered how concerns about migratory birds or whales would be integrated into the AMI or enforced during the development process. Ms. Bornholdt responded that her agency could make it a provision of a lease to turn off the turbines during certain parts of the year or other take other mitigation measures. As part of their construction plans, developers also will have to include plans for taking down the turbines at the end of their useful life.
Martha’s Vineyard Commission coastal planner Jo-Ann Taylor noted with some trepidation that Cox’s Ledge, an area popular for commercial fishing still sat squarely in the middle of the AMI, despite input at earlier meetings from the Rhode Island/Massachusetts joint task force, a group that includes representatives from the Dukes County Fishermen’s Association as well as from Vineyard town government, members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.
Ms. Bornholdt replied that concerns about commercial fishing, Cox’s Ledge included, would be taken into account when her agency develops its wind energy area before the official competitive leasing period begins. Although the comment period for the area ends Oct. 3, Ms. Bornholdt assured the audience that there would be opportunities for public comment throughout the multiyear process before turbines are ultimately built, at the earliest by the end of the decade.
BOEM is also developing a large swath of the continental shelf off of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey for wind energy and some in the audience wondered whether all the offshore developments could ultimately be joined by a transmission network of the sort proposed by Google. Ms. Bornholt said Google’s $5 billion proposal, the so-called Atlantic Wind Connection electrical transmission backbone, is the only one being proposed at the moment but that it too would be subject to a competitive bidding process before she could speculate on whether it could connect the entire eastern seaboard.
The presentation also introduced some Vineyarders to the esoteric world of the federal leasing process. During a somewhat impenetrable presentation the audience endured a blizzard of acronyms, among them AMI, COP, RFI, NOI, FONSI, EA, EIS, SAP, NEPA, GIS, MFA, WEA, before Ann Fielder of West Tisbury called for sanity.
“Some of us are not familiar with these acronyms,” she said. “Could you spell them out?”
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