Coastal Services Center

Offshore farms of energy-producing wind turbines—already a reality in European waters—have yet to be sited off the U.S. coast. But proposals in Texas and Massachusetts appear to be vying to be the first offshore wind project built in American waters in a race fraught with regulatory hurdles, public opposition, and unknown environmental impacts.

With all eyes on the regulatory front-runners, another project—such as one in New York—could move ahead to take the title as state and federal coastal resource managers, along with environmental organizations and other groups, work to understand the issues and define the regulations.

The reward could be a clean, renewable domestic energy source that may help reduce the nation's dependence on imported oil and gas.

"If we make the smart decision to diversify and start adopting nontraditional energy sources, we have to be prudent where and how we site them and address a host of related issues," notes Bruce Carlisle, acting director of the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management.

The Contenders

Jerry Patterson, commissioner of the Texas General Land Office, signed an agreement in October 2005 with Galveston-Offshore Wind, LLC, to bring the first offshore wind-energy project in the U.S. to the Texas coast. A second lease was signed with Superior Renewable Energy in May of 2006.

Galveston-Offshore Wind, a division of Louisiana-based Wind Energy Systems Technologies, LLC (W.E.S.T.), has already constructed a meteorological tower to gather data on wind, bird migration patterns, and other information to determine where the project will be developed on an 11,355-acre lease about seven miles off the coast of Galveston Island.

Unlike most states whose territorial waters are generally three nautical miles from shore, the General Land Office controls coastal waters out to 10.3 miles, limiting the number of federal agencies needed to sign off on the proposal. After about a year of research, a permit to construct the 53 turbines W.E.S.T. proposes will have to be sought from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. State and federal consistency reviews will be conducted by the Texas General Land Office.

On March 30, Ian Bowles, the secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, signed off on the Final Environmental Impact Report of the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) for the controversial Cape Wind project, a proposal to build the country's first offshore wind farm in a 25-square-mile area in the waters of Cape Cod.

The step marked the completion of a state environmental review process that began when Cape Wind first filed in November 2001.

The project can now advance to the various state agencies from which it will need permits to begin construction. The portion of Cape Wind located in federal waters is currently under federal environmental review led by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS).

"Cape Wind was the first project of its kind," notes Carlisle. "Everybody was learning as we went—it involved different jurisdictions and federal authorities that weren't really set up to review this type of project. It eventually resulted in the creation of new authorities and processes to handle alternative energy projects."

The Power of Wind

While offshore wind energy facilities are still in the planning stages in the U.S., the on-land wind energy business is booming. According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), wind power capacity in the U.S. increased 27 percent in 2006 and is expected to make a similar jump in 2007.

The growth is due in part to advances in technology, making it cheaper to generate energy from wind.

In 2006, Texas became the national leader in wind power development, overtaking California in cumulative installed capacity for the first time since the modern wind industry began in 1981.

While wind energy facilities provide less than one percent of the U.S. electricity supply—powering 2.9 million homes—Denmark and some regions of Spain and Germany now have 10 to 25 percent of their electricity generated from wind power, including several offshore facilities.

Wind on the Water

The reason to look offshore for siting wind farms, says Susan Williams Sloan, an AWEA communications specialist based in Texas, is that offshore winds tend to be more consistent and to blow at peak demand times, which is important because electricity cannot be stored for later use.

Offshore wind farms also can be located in closer proximity to large cities and existing transmission lines.

Wind energy doesn't produce atmospheric emissions that cause ocean acidification or greenhouse gasses like coal or natural gas. It also is free of many of the traditional environmental concerns associated with fossil fuels, such as transportation and storage leaks.

Good Business

It is the economic promise of wind and other sustainable energy sources that is behind the aggressive campaign by Patterson to grow the industry in Texas and diversify the state's energy portfolio. The proceeds from the first offshore wind lease alone could earn more than $26.5 million over its 30-year life, which will go into a special fund for Texas schools.

"It's the money plain and simple," says Jim Suydam, Texas General Land Office press secretary. "At no expense, the state will receive data that could spur a new industry for Texas, creating jobs, tax revenue, and a renewable source of income for the state's Permanent School Fund."

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has made development of renewable energy an administration priority.

"Global climate change, sea level rise, dependence on foreign oil, and the health impacts of local and regional air pollution create an urgent need for sustainable alternatives to energy produced from fossil fuels," notes Secretary Bowles in a statement.

Cape Wind also is providing a $10 million mitigation package that includes natural resource preservation, marine habitat restoration, and coastal recreation enhancement projects, and will pay an estimated $5.6 million in federal lease payments over 20 years.

The Unknowns

While there appear to be many benefits from offshore wind power, there are just as many potential impacts to the environment and nearby communities.

Along with jurisdictional and political issues, there were concerns that the 130-turbine Cape Wind project would kill birds, mar ocean views, drive tourists away, conflict with fishing and recreation, and industrialize Nantucket Sound.

Other concerns about wind energy raised by environmentalists, regulators, and scientists include bats colliding with wind turbines, habitat fragmentation and loss, and changing the seafloor from soft sand to hard structures, which could attract different marine species.

Issues include the effect of electromagnetic fields on fish, damage to submerged vegetation, threats to navigation and aircraft, change in sediment transport, bottom scouring, and fishing gear or animals becoming entangled with buried undersea cables that transmit the energy from the wind turbines to facilities onshore.

There are also concerns about how wind farms may impact fish migration, protected species, and marine mammals such as dolphins and seals.

Williams Sloan points out that when issues have arisen, such as birds and bats being killed, the wind industry has aggressively worked to solve or greatly reduce the problem through siting and technological developments.

In the Right Place

The biggest solution seems to be properly siting the facilities in the first place. In addition to looking for sites with strong wind resources, shallow water depths, and relatively low ocean storm wave heights, companies should avoid bird and fish migratory routes and locate farms as far offshore as possible to reduce view impacts.

Ben Rhame, coastal management team leader for the Texas General Land Office's Coastal Resources program area, notes that aesthetics will probably not be an issue in his state.

"We already have oil and gas structures off our shore, so there's more of a culture of acceptance," Rhame explains.

The issues for Texas, says Winnie Burkett, interim executive director for the Houston Audubon Society, are that the state is both a "major bird migratory corridor" and home to a large bat population.

Taking Action

By the time the Texas General Land Office signed its second offshore wind lease, "the environmental community had an action plan in place," says Donna Hoffman, communications coordinator for the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club.

As a result, the Land Office's lease with Superior Renewable Energy requires the company to hire an avian specialist to study how wind turbines might affect bird migration during a four-year research and analysis phase, and sets out mitigation strategies if an Environmental Impact Statement is not required by the Army Corps during permitting.

"We just want them to do their projects very carefully and make wind energy truly a safe, green energy source," says Hoffman.

The Finish Line

It seems only a matter of time before the U.S. will have its first in what is sure to be a growing number of offshore wind farms, but it is difficult to call which state will cross the finish line first.

Construction of the W.E.S.T. project is expected to cost as much as $300 million and could take as long as five years.

Cape Wind expects to conclude its permitting phase by the middle of 2008 and to be fully built and functioning by the end of 2010, but plenty of potential hurdles remain, including the MMS comprehensive review, and likely challenges by project opponents.

At a minimum, coastal resource managers may be involved in federal consistency reviews of any future projects, and could have a larger role to play in the portion of plans that cross state waters, National Marine Sanctuaries, or National Estuarine Research Reserves.

"One thing that is important to do," notes Rhame, "is to bring the different parties to the table as early as possible. Make sure everyone's concerns are addressed up front so that things don't come up later in the game."

Carlisle says that even before that, "coastal program managers should go back to their approved program plans and make sure they have the various energy facility authorizations on their list of federal actions that undergo a federal consistency review, and include the pending MMS programs."

He adds, "I anticipate that state programs such as ours will be examining and revising our program policies to better address renewable energies, while protecting coastal resources and uses."

For more information on Texas' offshore wind energy projects, contact Ben Rhame at (512) 936-6447 or ben.rhame@glo.state.tx.us, or Jim Suydam, (512) 463-2716 or jim.suydam@glo.state.tx.us. For more information on Massachusetts' offshore wind projects, contact Bruce Carlisle at (617) 626-1205 or bruce.carlisle@state.ma.us.

For More Information on Wind Power

Danish study on the environmental impacts of wind energy, www.ens.dk/graphics/Publikationer/Havvindmoeller/havvindmoellebog_nov_2006_skrm.pdf

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management Web site on Energy and Government Facility Siting, http://coastalmanagement.noaa.gov/ene_gov.html

Minerals Management Service draft Programmatic EIS for its Alternative Energy and Alternate Use Program, available until May 21 for review and comment, http://ocsenergy.anl.gov