April 16, 2023 –A new national panel to advise federal energy planners on offshore wind energy and fisheries made its public debut April 13 – a collegial online video discussion with experts recruited from the fishing industry, scientists and universities.
While the experts talked on a Zoom video discussion, opponents of offshore wind projects vented on the sidelines, typing in the questions section about what they see as years of failure by the federal Bureau of Offshore Energy Management to foresee and avoid fisheries and environmental conflicts.
It was a virtual snapshot of the agency’s ongoing battles with the fishing industry, which BOEM officials insist they are gradually working to reduce.
The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s new standing committee on offshore wind energy and fisheries is intended to be an independent, credible forum,” said Elizabeth Klein, director of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, in introducing the panel Thursday afternoon.