September 16, 2019 — The nation’s first large-scale offshore wind farm has been delayed by the federal government, leaving unclear how long it will be until America’s next renewable energy sector will launch. The main opposition: outspoken commercial fishing interests in New England.
On most afternoons in Point Judith, Rhode Island, commercial fisherman Brian Loftus steers his trawler back into port after a 12-hour day. Loftus unloaded some 1,500 pounds of whiting, scup, skate and squid. Estimated revenue: $3,000. Loftus has fished for three decades here, but to him there’s a looming problem: Offshore wind developers plan to plop turbines more than 70 stories high into his fishing grounds.
“Some of the grounds are just east of where the wind farms are,” Loftus said. “Some of them are right around where they want to put the wind farms. And there’s a lot of other fish that migrate through there.”
At issue: Vineyard Wind, the nation’s first large-scale offshore-wind farm, 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Vineyard Wind had scheduled construction to begin by the end of 2019. It is the first of several offshore wind farms planned on the Atlantic Coast; the projects span from Rhode Island all the way down to the waters off North Carolina.