BRIEF OVERVIEW: In 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) awarded two lease areas 20-30 miles west of Humboldt Bay to offshore wind developers. BOEM’s environmental review process for offshore wind development is separated into two analyses. First is environmental impact assessment of the impacts of the studies that need to be done, such as the use of buoys, radar, and sonar. Next, after studies of the lease areas are complete, Environmental Impact Statements will analyze impacts from construction and operation of the wind turbines. These processes will be done separately for the two lease areas.
Also in 2022, the California Coastal Commission reviewed plans for studying marine life in the proposed Humboldt Wind Energy Area, 21 miles west of Humboldt Bay. We submitted these comments and these comments. The plans for studies were approved with seven conditions, including a vessel speed limit of 10 knots (11.5 mph) to decrease the likelihood of collisions with whales and other marine mammals.
In 2023, the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation District issued a Notice of Preparation for the proposed Heavy Lift Terminal in Samoa. We submitted these comments on the potential impacts that must be addressed in the Draft EIR, which is being developed. For more info, check out the website we developed with colleagues at EPIC and CORE Hub: FAQs on Offshore Wind Energy.
LATEST NEWS on Offshore Wind Energy:

Next week, the company that leased swaths of ocean space roughly 20 miles west of Eureka to build offshore wind turbines will begin gathering data on the site’s biological and geographic characteristics.
RWE contracted with ocean surveying company Argeo to examine the ocean floor and identify its plants, animals and geographic specifications, data that could help determine where exactly the floating turbines are placed. The area off the coast of Samoa where the turbines would be built doesn’t have much high-quality data about it, said Rob Mastria, RWE’s project director for Canopy, their offshore wind project off the county’s coast.

Researchers from the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and environmental consulting firm H. T. Harvey & Associates recently deployed technology off the West Coast in one of the first efforts to understand how high seabirds fly and whether they might interact with wind turbines and other infrastructure. They published the research on April 24 in Frontiers in Marine Energy.

By the time researchers found the dead whale on a Martha’s Vineyard beach, her jet-black skin was pockmarked by hungry seagulls, her baleen had been dislodged from her mouth, and thin rope was wrapped tightly—as it had been for 17 months—around the most narrow part of her tail.
Researchers quickly learned this was a 12-ton, 3-year-old female known as 5120, and that she was a North Atlantic right whale, a species with just about 360 members left.

Private energy company Crowley Wind Services’s exclusive right to negotiate [ERTN] with the Port of Humboldt Bay – a partnership announced with great fanfare 16 months ago – will expire at the end of the month without the anticipated agreement enlisting Crowley to develop and operate a heavy-lift marine terminal on the Samoa Peninsula, the Outpost has learned.

More Articles …

  1. Port of Humboldt Announces Green Terminal Strategy
  2. Port of Virginia becomes first East Coast port entirely powered by clean energy
  3. Environmental groups have successfully pushed for a ‘green terminal’ strategy at the Port of Humboldt
  4. A New Plan for Offshore Wind Research Will Help Prioritize Seabirds and Other Wildlife
  5. "Green" Offshore Wind Terminal: POLITICO's Letter from Humboldt
  6. New Report from Schatz Energy Research Center Examines Electrical Transmission Challenges for Regional Offshore Wind Development
  7. Pay attention as offshore wind is developed
  8. Humboldt Bay offshore wind terminal sees $8.6 million investment
  9. Newsom Signs ‘Milestone’ Legislation Ending Exemptions for Coastal Oil and Gas Development
  10. Governor Newsom Signs McGuire-Authored Bill to Expedite California’s Offshore Wind Permitting Process
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