Offshore Wind Bluster Hits New England

1. Newport County, Rhode Island – The Trump administration escalated its onslaught against the offshore wind sector in the past week … coincidentally (or not) right after a New England-based anti-wind organization requested that it do so.

• Over the Labor Day weekend, the Trump administration stated in a court filing that it planned to potentially redo the record of decision for Orsted’s SouthCoast wind project off the coast of Massachusetts, and yesterday, Justice Department officials said they would vacate the approval of Avangrid’s construction and operations plan for its New England 1 offshore project.
• These announcements got a lot of media attention. Less focus was bestowed on what preceded these moves: Last week, the anti-wind organization Green Oceans partnered with four tribes native to the Northeast and together sent petitions to the Interior and Transportation Departments, as well as the Defense Department, calling for the “immediate suspension” of offshore wind in the region.
• According to a press release, the petitions asked for projects under construction to stop work as well as called for an end to the operation of South Fork, a completed and operating wind farm off the coast of New York. The petitions rely largely on a national security rationale that mirrors the administration’s reasoning for halting work on Orsted’s Revolution Wind offshore project. (Orsted sued over that move today, by the way.)
• We cannot say at the moment how much this specific maneuver mattered to an administration already hostile to offshore wind. But there’s reason to believe Green Oceans is an influential organization within Trump administration circles. Early this year I reported on a roadmap created by a constellation of opposition groups, including the head of Green Oceans, and submitted to the Trump transition team showing how the incoming administration could block offshore wind development. Several of the turns in that roadmap have ultimately come to pass.
• We also now know that Green Oceans has been in direct contact with Trump officials about individual offshore wind projects. Last week, E&E News published internal emails that showed the organization obtained a meeting in May with senior Interior Department officials to discuss cancelling all current offshore wind leases held by developers.
• At this juncture, it’s genuinely impossible to know how far Trump will go. But now we know the opposition to offshore wind is going for the Full Monty: shutting down operating projects on a national security justification.

2. Madison County, New York – Officials in this county are using a novel method to target a wind project: They’re claiming it’ll disrupt 911 calls.

• Apparently, independent analysis commissioned by Madison County found four turbines planned for a Liberty Renewals wind project would potentially inhibit emergency communications, including 911 calls, because of their proximity to key microwave transmitters.
• Last week, Liberty Renewals and Madison County met with an administrative law judge to discuss whether the developer will be required under their permits to relocate at least one turbine identified in that analysis. A decision will be reached within 45 days.
• Of course, Madison County isn’t just concerned about communications disruptions, as officials were previously opposed to the wind farm on other grounds. It’s also worth noting that utilizing the potential for interruptions in emergency response is a tactic that’s been used before by the Trump administration against wind power, as discussed earlier in today’s edition.

3. Wells County, Indiana – A pro-solar organization is apparently sending mass texts to people in this county asking them to sign a petition opposing a county-wide moratorium on new projects.

• I learned about this on Facebook, where a resident in the county posted a screenshot of a text they recently received with a link to this petition to “stop the solar ban in Wells County.” Although it is unclear who was behind the text message itself, the petition is from Solar United Neighbors, a solar energy advocacy group.
• The petition’s language tries to convince locals to oppose the ban because of its impacts on small residential solar and community solar installations that could potentially benefit individual farmers. It also describes how a ban on utility-scale solar would negatively impact property rights.
• I’m used to seeing this sort of text message outreach in a political campaign, not in a fight over local renewables zoning. It’s fascinating to see pro-solar promotion at the grassroots level get this granular and direct, given the lead opponents have taken in this kind of organizing.
• I’m still not convinced these forms of outreach will work with populations that are at risk of turning NIMBY though, as direct text messages can be kind of annoying to some. Which is probably why this text was posted to social media in the first place.

4. Henderson County, Kentucky – Planning officials in this county have recommended a two-year moratorium on wind power, sending the matter to a final vote before the county fiscal court.

• Local opposition to wind energy has encircled a proposal from Cordelio Power for Rock Bluff Energy Park, which would involve almost 100 turbines in the eastern portion of the county. If enacted, this moratorium would effectively shut out the company from developing the wind farm fast enough to receive federal renewable energy tax benefits. The county previously enacted a ban on developing the Cordelio Power project for at least one year.
• A review of Heatmap Pro’s data on this county shows that this outcome was predictable: Despite a high degree of support for renewable energy overall at the local level, Henderson is exactly the kind of rural farming county and conservative political region that carries all the hallmarks of risk.

5. Monterey County, California – Uh oh, another battery fire in central California.

• On Friday, the battery at an Averon solar-storage facility in the tiny town of Parkfield caught fire, leading local law enforcement to order an evacuation within a two-mile radius of the site.
• Five homes were evacuated in the rural area that is home to fewer than 20 people, but the incident caught the attention of the media because it happened within the same county as the now-infamous Moss Landing facility. I watched this news take off like an ignition across anti-renewables Facebook, and it’s tough to see another battery fire happening so close to such an already-fraught region for battery storage.