In Jan 2018, when the South Fork Wind Farm project was still being run by Deepwater Wind, I attended a couple of the meetings held at East Hampton Town Hall, supposedly set up to gather public opinion. On the Deepwater side of the table were some engineers and folks who identified themselves as "Fisheries Biologists". Offering opposing opinions were Charter and Party Boat Captains like myself, Commercial fisherman, some University level Marine experts, and local concerned citizens.
One of the main reasons I wanted to attend was due to the fact that I received a letter along with a chart the month before indicating the area being surveyed for the potential location of the Turbines. I was shocked to see the main location considered for the 15 Turbine project was smack in the middle of Coxes Ledge. Even more concerning was the fact that a few of the "fisheries liasons" had no almost idea of the significance of the fishery taking place in the Coxes Ledge region. I showed up at the first meeting early to have a private meeting with one of the Deepwater "Experts" and showed them one of my charts that mapped out some of the more popular fishing areas that I and many other boats of the fleet from all the surrounding states in this vicinity frequently work. As I mentioned earlier, they seemed a bit surprised.
This theme of really thin, shoddy research spilled over into one of the next topics being discussed by one of their Marine Biology "experts". One hot topic was the possible negative effect of EMP's emitted during the Turbine Energy producing process on the fish in the generating area and beyond. Basically what we heard was some data from a West Coast Study done a few years prior on species not native to our own waters, and with fish kept in pens! The majority of their argument in favor of this new project was what they considered to be a big success with the 5 Turbines off the south side of Block I. They showed underwater videos of the thriving populations surrounding those structures. There is no doubt that the local boats fishing these areas since their construction are seeing positive results. However, although we currently enjoy very close access to these Turbines, myself and others pointed out that as soon as there is one potential "terrorist threat" to this system, or even a maritime accident, a wide safety zone will be imposed effectively negating the benefits to fishing close to these structures.
Then we got on to the discussion about the laying of the underwater transmission cables and where they would actually come ashore. Early last year there were 2 proposals made, one landing o the north side of Montauk Point and the other on the south side. Currently it seems like the southern route will be the choice. Regardless of which route is ultimately chosen it is hard to imagine the amount of disruption that will occur to the huge amount of commercial and recreational fishing that takes place in all the waters surrounding Montauk. Not to mention the potential longer term damage to the undersea environment. And while we are on the subject of longer term damage, as has been noted and freely admitted by the "Clean Energy" companies, these turbines have an estimated useful lifetime of 20-25 years. What type of cleanup will occur and how much debris would be left behind at the end of one cycle was only mentioned in every sketchy terms.
Finally, we had the next bomb dropped on us, the proverbial "bait and switch" mentioned in an earlier post. Not only are the "clean energy" Wind Farm folks looking at the 15 turbines for the South Fork Farm. They actually are looking at leasing, surveying and ultimately constructing 200 more Turbines in a 250 square mile area east of Block I. and north the RI and Western MA shore! The navigation hazard to commercial traffic alone that this represents boggles the mind. Also, with the tight spacing of this type of Farm, draggers will be virtually eliminated from fishing these areas.
When it comes to energy sources to "fuel" our economy and generally enhance everyone's quality of life, I tend to be an "all of the above" kind of guy. However, that is assuming that as many of the potential pitfalls of each resource are thoroughly studied in advance and historical attempts at so called "revolutionary" methods are proven to do the job with minimal downsides. I still believe that at least the good old USA is doing more than ever before to produce clean energy from fossil fuels. There is no denying that both nuclear plants and natural gas has been a huge boon to our energy independence while producing more economical methods of powering the country. Can wind and solar be viable ways to augment our energy needs in the future? I have no doubt they will but it is also very obvious that if it were economically viable to become a totally "Green" planet in just another decade the huge energy giants like Exxon and Shell, to name just two, would have already figured it out.