Offshore wind moves forward amid calls for marine life studies

The offshore wind sector is taking shape every day in New Jersey while calls continue for a pause in activity to learn more about whether any of the work is connected to whale and dolphin deaths along the state’s beaches.

Over the last few weeks, there have been significant developments regarding particular projects and the sector in general. In late April, the state’s first offshore wind project, Ocean Wind 1, marked a major milestone in the permitting process when the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection issued a federal consistency determination. That concluded that plans for the wind farm, set to be located off the coast of Atlantic City, are consistent with the enforceable policies of the Coastal Zone Management Program, which establishes the rules around use, development and protection of the state’s coastal resources.

In addition, the NJDEP Division of Land Resource Protection issued four permits—the first to come for the construction and operations of Ocean Wind 1. The authorizations, which relate to work and activities in tidal water, coastal areas, and wetlands and freshwater wetlands, include the Waterfront Development Permit, Coastal Areas Facility Review Act Permit, Coastal Wetlands Permit, and Freshwater Wetlands Permit.

“Today’s actions by NJDEP represent significant milestones and critical steps that are needed to advance the state’s first offshore wind project and bring clean, reliable energy and the associated economic benefits to the region,” said Maddy Urbish, Ørsted’s head of government affairs and market strategy, New Jersey.

Ocean Wind 1 still needs additional state and local approvals, as well as clearance from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, before construction can begin. So far, the work has centered on ocean floor mapping using sonar technology. Those calling for the pause point to this work as a potential link, saying that the sonar can disorient marine life.

Officials are hopeful Ocean Wind 1 will be completed by the end of 2024.

Local training

That permit announcement came just over a week after the state announced nearly $2 million in additional funding to further study the safe and ecologically responsible development of offshore wind.

“Ørsted is proud to launch this windfarm technician job training program, which is aimed at recruiting Atlantic City residents and creating a pathway to high-quality careers in offshore wind,” said Erik Antokal, director of workforce development at Ørsted. “This has been a deliberate and collaborative effort between so many important stakeholders, including local leaders, community partners, higher education representatives, members of our AC team, and Ørsted leadership who have really co-created this program.”

And it came just days before several further notable developments.

In early May, Ørsted and Rowan College of South Jersey announced a first-of-its-kind training program called Wind Power Ready: Atlantic City, which will recruit, train and place local candidates in careers as wind farm technicians with Ørsted and other developers in the growing sector.

Those other stakeholders include the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Atlantic Cape Community College, Center for Family Services, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and the City of Atlantic City.

Ørsted has begun an application process and is seeking up to 24 candidates for the program, which is open to any New Jersey resident over the age of 18 with a high school diploma and the ability to travel away from home for up to two weeks at a time. Ørsted officials said, though, that priority will be given to Atlantic City residents, with the bulk of recruitment efforts and information sessions centered on the city.

“With this announcement here today, our residents are ready to take those high-paying jobs,” said Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. at the news conference announcing the program. “The development of offshore wind here in the great city of Atlantic City presents opportunities on many fronts. I believe that this particular work program can supply participants with lifelong tools and success.”

“New Jersey has quickly established itself as a hub of offshore wind economic development, with Atlantic City as a pivotal center for operations and maintenance activities,” said NJEDA Chief Executive Officer Tim Sullivan. “A core part of our strategy is to implement programs that recruit, educate, and train local residents on the specific skills needed to grow with this industry. Wind Power Ready will do just that by providing hands on training and support services to connect New Jerseyans to career opportunities in offshore wind.”

Students will be paid $15 per hour while enrolled in the six-month, full-time training program in addition to being connected to support services. Participants who make it through and are hired as entry-level wind technicians will receive salaries of at least $65,000 per year, plus benefits. The first cohort of accepted students will be notified by late June with the training program expected to start in late July and run until just before Christmas.

Ørsted executives said they are hopeful the program serves as a national model for offshore wind workforce development.

Jen Becker, NJEDA vice president of offshore wind, said the program is an incredible opportunity, describing it as intentional in exposing people to new career opportunities, along with its recruitment, firsthand training and wraparound services.

“It’s one thing to recruit people for a program. It’s another thing to have a program that is thinking about all the factors you need,” Becker told NJBIZ. “And not just get someone to sign up for a program but to successfully complete the program. We’re really proud of it. It’s a really fantastic model that we’re excited about.”

Wind economy

The day after that announcement, the Offshore Wind Technology Conference was held at the Steve Sweeney Center for Public Policy at Rowan University, bringing together industry leaders, government officials, and other experts to highlight the progress and challenges of offshore wind—and especially how South Jersey will play a role in its development.

The event took place at the same time New Jersey Senate Republicans held a virtual, independent hearing about a spate of whale and dolphin deaths at the Jersey Shore and potential links to offshore wind, creating an interesting juxtaposition.

“Politics really affects public policy in a lot of ways,” said former Senate President Steve Sweeney at the outset of the forum. “Global warming is real.”

Sweeney noted the unprecedented opportunity New Jersey has in this developing sector, especially given its location to serve as a manufacturing and supply chain hub for the entire industry.

“These are really big, heavy components and they cost lots of money to move,” said Sweeney. “So, being in the middle means you have the shortest distribution rates both ways.”

The Paulsboro Marine Terminal in Gloucester County is home to EEW American Offshore Structures, the first offshore manufacturing facility in the country. And construction is underway on the New Jersey Wind Port in Lower Alloways Creek, Salem County. Each of those facilities is set to be a major hub for the industry here in New Jersey and more broadly.

“At the of the day, this is about not just doing something about the environment,” Sweeney explained. “It’s really about boosting the economy. We’ve got thousands of jobs that are going to come to this region because of this industry, New Jersey jobs. That’s a good thing.”

The conference included speeches, discussions and panels on topics such as: Preparing for the Offshore Wind Economy: University Perspective; Offshore Wind on New Jersey’s Continental Shelf; Developing New Jersey’s On-Shore Wind Industry and Grid Connections; Training Students for the Green Economy; Federal Perspective: Building the Offshore Wind Economy; and more.

Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo spoke about how vital collaboration and partnerships are when it comes to workforce and economic development, especially in a new sector like offshore wind, pointing to the Jobs NJ plan released right before the pandemic hit. “Which had a lot of the points in there about a lot of these collaborations. From that point in time, even during COVID, we were laying the groundwork for the success we’re seeing today in offshore wind,” he explained.

Asaro-Angelo pointed to apprenticeship efforts through his office to help develop the workforce and continue to build the ecosystem around offshore wind. He added that a successful offshore wind industry has a domino effect and impact on other areas of the economy.

“All of the sectors that we already have in New Jersey are only going to be strengthened by the growing offshore wind industry,” he explained.

Sullivan was also on that panel with Asaro-Angelo, describing the huge, macro-opportunity offshore wind represents for New Jersey, as well as the North Atlantic and the country as a whole. “This is an energy patch sitting somewhere between Maine and the Carolinas that we have a chance to harvest through technological innovation, and a chance to generate and control our own energy future in a clean, emissions-friendly kind of way,” said Sullivan. “It’s a huge opportunity. It’s going to take time to develop and fully mature and get to where it needs to be. And there’s going to be push back and there’s going to be challenges. There’s going to be stumbles and air pockets and all that. But, when our grandkids are here talking about the offshore wind industry in New Jersey, it’s going to be because there was commitment and dedication.”

Sullivan said it is an unprecedented opportunity for job creation.

“We’re talking about tens of thousands of new jobs,” he explained. “There are no other industries in New Jersey that you can point to that have that kind of growth potential. So, we’re talking about a generational opportunity to create good, family-sustaining jobs, overwhelmingly union jobs. And what a huge opportunity that is in South Jersey. It is a disproportionately South Jersey opportunity here within our great state.”

We’re talking about tens of thousands of new jobs. There are no other industries in New Jersey that you can point to that have that kind of growth potential.
– Tim Sullivan, NJEDA CEO

While those panel discussions were happening at Rowan, the push back and challenge that Sullivan alluded to was happening over Zoom during that Senate Republican Hearing.

The panel was chaired by Sen. Anthony Bucco, R-25th District, and included Sens. Vince Polistina, R-2nd District; Michael Testa, R-1st District; and Declan O’Scanlon, R-13th District. The participating witnesses included: Cindy Zipf of Clean Ocean Action; marine biologist Trisha DeVoe; community activist Mike Dean; Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Paul Kanitra; Craig Rucker of Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow; Bob Stern of Save LBI; Meghan Lapp of Seafreeze Ltd.; and The Fisherman Magazine editor Jim Hutchinson.

“We’re only beginning with the pre-construction now, and already, we’ve started seeing whales dying and washing up on our beaches,” said Zipf, whose group has been leading the calls for a pause in activity.

Testa, whose legislative district runs through Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic counties, said while those offshore wind supporters point to an Unusual Mortality Event involving whales along the Atlantic Coast that began in 2016, he and his constituents are seeing an unprecedented number of beached whales and dolphins in their district, as well as in others up and down the Jersey Shore.

“Obviously, our shores are extremely important to us. It’s important to our tourism industry,” said Testa. “It’s also extremely important to our commercial and recreational fishing industry. And I’ve said this multiple times. We only have one chance to get this right or get this catastrophically wrong. We want to make sure that we’re following the science. One thing that our side of the aisle consistently gets accused of is not following the science. So, where is the harm if we pause for either 30 days or 60 days in this project to see if we are going to see a continuation of the unprecedented number of whale deaths and dolphin deaths that we have seen? I don’t see where the extreme hardship or harm is in taking a serious pause and actually doing what we are doing here today. And that is getting a true, objective narrative of what is happening and actually following the science.”

“We held a very informative hearing on whales and wind farms,” said Bucco after the hearing. “It’s clear from the testimony we received that the wind farm projects were rushed, there’s data demonstrating real harm to marine life, and shore towns and fisheries will face serious economic impacts that have been completely ignored. We believe it makes a lot of sense to put a pause on these projects to investigate the legitimate concerns that were raised today in greater depth.”

The sentiment of the hearing echoed calls in recent weeks and months from other local, state, and federal lawmakers on the Republican side of the aisle in New Jersey, as well as groups opposed to offshore wind development, to pause activity.

The week before that hearing, a group of Democratic officials and environmental groups held a panel discussion on the issue, pointing to that UME, climate change, vessel strikes and entanglements as the more likely culprits for the marine deaths, and calling for real solutions to these challenges.

While Senate Democrats had no immediate plans for a hearing of their own, in response to the one held by his Senate counterparts, Sen. Andrew Zwicker, D-16th District, told NJBIZ he understands and sympathizes with people who live at, vacation at, or frequent the Jersey Shore who have concerns about offshore wind, and finds the rash of whale and dolphin deaths to be tragic. But, he cautioned that we need to separate politics from science and deal with facts. He also pointed out that New Jersey is not the first state to venture into offshore wind, which has been going on around the world for some time.

“There’s no scientific evidence to link the two,” Zwicker explained. “This then becomes the typical, ‘Well, there’s no scientific evidence that doesn’t link the two, therefore it must be true.’ The lack of scientific evidence being a reason to then move into the political realm. That’s the thing that’s going on here.”

He added that it is incumbent upon the offshore wind industry and supporters to tell the story about the safety and benefits of this sector, and the opportunity it offers in terms of energy independence, job creation, and economic impact. “To now say we’re going to set up apprenticeship programs, training programs to train New Jersey workers to do this high-precision work and become a hub, not just for New Jersey, but the whole East Coast, is just outstanding,” said Zwicker. “We’re talking about these high-quality, high-skilled jobs. And all of the industry that builds up around that is setting New Jersey up to bring in millions upon millions of dollars, thousands of new jobs. It’s just really exciting.”

Assembly Democrats called their own hearing, held late last week in Trenton by the Science, Innovation, and Technology Committee, which they said was aimed at helping lawmakers and the public understand the issue from a “fact-based perspective.”

Meanwhile, as the calls to pause have continued, Gov. Phil Murphy acknowledges the issue, but points to federal agencies – such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management – who have not found a correlation between offshore wind activity and the surge in marine deaths.

“Gov. Murphy has been abundantly clear: the Murphy Administration takes very seriously every potential threat to New Jersey’s treasured marine ecosystems and mammals, and we will always ground our policy decisions in the most up-to-date science and evidence,” a spokesperson for the governor told NJBIZ. “But the notion that either this administration or its federal counterparts have not adequately investigated tragic whale deaths is categorically false. Scientific experts at the NJDEP and NJBPU [New Jersey Board of Public Utilities] are working in close coordination with NOAA and other federal partners, who have been monitoring and studying this phenomenon for more than half a decade. The results of their investigations have been unanimous and unmistakeable: at this time, there is no evidence of specific links between recent whale mortalities and ongoing surveys for offshore wind development. In the absence of such evidence, the Murphy Administration will continue to responsibly pursue its offshore wind development goals amid the urgent climate crisis.”

“To date, no whale mortality has been attributed to offshore wind activities,” a BOEM spokesperson told NJBIZ in a statement. “The offshore wind industry typically uses high-resolution geophysical (HRG) surveys to map the seafloor and assist with their siting efforts. BOEM and NOAA Fisheries rigorously assessed the potential effects of HRG surveys associated with offshore wind development in the Atlantic, and the agencies concluded that these types of surveys are not likely to injure whales or other endangered species. Even so, BOEM requires strict protective measures for when the offshore wind lease holders conduct survey activities. All holders of offshore wind leases that undergo geophysical survey activity must have independent protected species observers to ensure that survey operations are conducted safely and minimize the possibility of vessel strikes. In addition, each survey must establish an ‘acoustic exclusion zone’ that is clear of any marine mammals and sea turtles for a certain amount of time before acoustic sound sources can operate.”

“At this point, there is no evidence to support speculation that noise resulting from offshore wind site characterization surveys could potentially cause mortality of whales,” a NOAA Fisheries spokesperson told NJBIZ in a statement. “We will continue to gather data to help us determine the cause of death for these mortality events.”

“Establishing a robust offshore wind industry is a once-in-a-generation economic opportunity for New Jersey. Offshore wind will create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs, generate billions of dollars to the state’s economy, and attract new supply chain manufacturers to our state,” a spokesperson for Murphy added. “Offshore wind development, and the three projects that have been awarded to date, are a vital part of Gov. Murphy’s commitment to combatting climate change and moving New Jersey to a 100% clean energy economy by 2035. The governor remains committed to moving forward with offshore wind development and moving toward the goal of 11,000 MW of offshore wind capacity by 2040.”