SRW Releases Public Comments on NOAA/BOEM Draft Mitigation Strategy

The Save Right Whales Coalition today released a public comment on the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (‘BOEM’) and NOAA Fisheries’ joint draft North Atlantic Right Whale and Offshore Wind Strategy.

Members of the public are strongly encouraged to add comments here.

Summary

BOEM, in collaboration with NOAA has granted federal approval for the construction and operation of two offshore wind energy facilities, Vineyard Wind and South Fork Wind, to be situated in southern New England waters. These projects are expected to be fully operational within the next few years. Incidental harassment authorizations (‘IHA’) for North Atlantic right whales and other listed species have been issued by NOAA for the surveying and construction of turbines and associated transmission and substation platforms. To our knowledge no applications have been filed seeking letters of authorization (‘LOA’) for the operating turbines.

The Strategy is presented as a “living document” that will evolve as offshore wind facilities are brought online and more information about the impacts on NARW and their habitat is available. The Strategy cites a set of preliminary mitigation measures limited to entanglement, vessel strike, construction acoustics/noise and other human activity in, and around project sites that have already been imposed on developers. Beyond these mitigations, the Strategy offers little more than a general plan to monitor for operational effects with no concrete measures to address them.

There is a broad, but unstated assumption in the Strategy that the Parties will be able to identify and develop methods to avoid, minimize and mitigate for the effects on right whales. However, if the effects are unknown, there is no certainty they can be mitigated, or mitigated in a timely manner. Year 2030 is seven years away. The first wind turbines will be operational by 2025 with thousands of megawatts rapidly following. After an alleged 15-years investigating the impacts of offshore wind on the NARW, the best the Strategy offers is an intent to monitor, research, collaborate and share information. Workshops, working groups, whale monitoring and the litany of other activities cited in Section 2.5 are not mitigation measures.

The Strategy’s framework outlined in Section 3 misses the fundamental fact that the right whale is facing extinction. This is not an academic debate. A plan to investigate the risks after projects are placed in service is tantamount to an irreversible experiment that will have deadly consequences. Focus on vessel speeds and construction noise does not address the larger questions of habitat destruction, prey reduction, and whale displacement from important winter foraging areas. Given the dire, and declining condition of the NARW, the species does not have sufficient buffer to survive such an experiment. A single take will jeopardize the species’ survival. If the intent is to inform the Parties as they review future projects, there is no time to conduct meaningful studies and to take protective action.