The following is a press release issued by Point Blue Conservation Science:
Point Blue, a leader in environmental research and conservation, has released a new analysis aimed at guiding the sustainable development of offshore wind energy off the coast of California. The analysis identified sites offshore from Mendocino, Humboldt, and Santa Barbara counties as having high wind energy potential and with lower potential environmental impacts. The project represents a significant step forward in understanding how to balance renewable energy goals with the need to minimize impact to the marine environment and the communities that depend on it.
This report is released at a crucial time, with the California Energy Commission (CEC) soon to conclude the public comment period for the Offshore Wind Strategic Plan, pursuant to Assembly Bill 525. This plan is aimed at reaching Governor Newsom’s proposed target of 25 GW by 2045.
The comprehensive analysis, spearheaded by Point Blue’s team of experts, utilized updated spatial data to assess the potential impacts of offshore wind energy development on marine environment, and human uses of the ocean. The model inputs included 180 datasets of marine birds, mammals and turtles, fish, habitats, and human uses. In addition to these datasets, Point Blue received 191 responses from expert surveys to quantify sensitivity to offshore wind impacts for all species.
By combining data on species abundance, habitats, and human activities with expert-derived information on sensitivity to negative impacts, the analysis identifies areas that maximize energy generation potential while preserving ocean ecosystems and existing uses.
“Our goal is to provide decision-makers with the information they need to make informed choices about offshore wind energy development,” says Dr. Jaime Jahncke, Director of the California Current Group at Point Blue. “We want to help California meet its renewable energy targets while minimizing harm to wildlife and habitats.”
Key findings from the analysis include the identification of priority wind energy installation areas off Punta Gorda (Humboldt County), Point Arena (Mendocino County), and Point Conception (Santa Barbara County). These areas, selected based on rigorous modeling and optimization analyses, offer high energy production potential while minimizing impacts on species and habitats.
“One of the things that surprised us the most about the results was that there are some clear areas that have a good mix of high energy generation benefit and lower marine impacts. The big challenge will be making development there technically and economically feasible and ensuring conflicts with emerging uses like new shipping fairways are addressed,” said Cotton Rockwood, a Senior Marine Ecologist who led much of the analysis in the report.
The analysis also examined individual sea space regions identified in California’s AB525, which guides the California Energy Commission in the development of offshore wind resources. Within the priority areas identified in that legislation, the analysis identified AB525 Mendocino Area_1 sea space region as the highest priority area for the next phases of wind development offshore of California. In addition, portions of the Mendocino Area_2, and both Humboldt Area sea space regions should be considered high-priority for development plans to meet the AB525 2045 goals. These areas comprise waters with high energy production, balanced and minimized combined impacts to species, habitats and existing human uses and reasonable access to grid interconnection.
The analysis is intended to inform the roll-out of offshore wind in California that will occur in the coming decades, so it intentionally omits some current limits on the technical capacity for floating wind installation, like a maximum current depth of 1300m. That is because floating wind infrastructure is evolving rapidly and installation may well be possible in deeper waters well before future lease areas are developed. This means that important planning and investment decisions will determine whether deeper-water development can be achieved along with the lower impacts and greater benefits those areas accrue.
Funding for the report was provided by the Ocean Protection Council with additional support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
To read the full report, visit: https://www.pointblue.org/tools-and-guidance/research/updated-report-offshore-wind-energy-areas/
Northeast beaches will be littered with the wreckage. (along with the dead seagulls, pelicans, shearwaters, and occasional albatross)
Absolutely fucking correct….Thank you!
North coast
Presumptuous
Non name mask.
Still presumptuous, despite you’re attempted diversion.
Totally wrong direction! This will devastate our marine life and the food they live off of. Keep your wind contraptions and your oil rigs out of west coast waters!!!
But but Joe Biden approved, get in line sheeple, obey Joe!
We have had the answer to abundant clean energy for decades.Got Nukes?
Answer?
Clean?
Tell that to the Navajo and Souix who have subsidized your “clean energy” with the cancerous bodies of their children and families for many decades.
And still not a single effective long term storage method for radioactive waste, some of which has a half-life of ~500,000yrs.
The SS storage casks used likely won’t last 100yrs.
We’ve seen plenty.of them corrode in <50yrs.
Check out Yucca Mt.
The industry promised it was the best possible option and got Billions from us to do it.
Somehow not 1 of their engineers thought to consider that Sandstone is PERMEABLE.
AND that sub-surface water from that region of the Great Basin surfaces in the Mojave Desert.
PLUS, not 1 single nuclear power station on the planet has EVER made a profit over the operation lifetime of a facility, even while they are HEAVILY subsidized by public $, that often reaches >50% of construction and operating costs.
Scandalous at best.
Modern reactors may be “safer to operate” vs Chernobyl, 3 Mile Island, & Fukushima fast breeder reactors, but the mining for fuel inputs and storage for waste outputs are still a MASSIVE PROBLEM being left to the next 25,000 generations of humanity.
Institutional Insanity.
A falsehood filled comment, by someone ignorant of the facts or is misrepresenting the truth for ideological reasons.
Stop these wind farms. Terrible
You are resisiting Joe Bidens orders.
Get in lockstep.
Resistence is futile.
Lol. Looking at all these NIMBYs in the comments. They all want the benefits of modern society, but aren’t willing to pony up. They are all more than fine with letting someone else pay the price.
That electric car, who cares if it is made in a totalitarian state that is using “re-education camps” for organ harvesting and slave labor.
That solar panel or cell phone, who cares if the base materials are mined in third world countries using child labor.
As long as it doesn’t interrupt their precious view or actually force them to see the real cost of our technology, they don’t care!
Everything has a cost and it’s always easy to let someone else pay for it.
Whales are going to get caught in the cables. Seabirds are going to be hit by the blades. There has to be a better way. I don’t think this is it. Our ocean is hardly “Pacific” (Peaceful) – especially in winter when the waves are tossed around. Wouldn’t it be better to figure out a way to harness the ocean’s energy instead?
They’ll burn massive amounts of fossil fuels for this project, then abandon it and declare bankruptcy to avoid cleanup costs.
Blind Absurdity.
Straws, grasping for straws
Wind turbine companies are running on a razor thin profit margin. Keeping the platforms anchored to the bottom of the violent Pacific Ocean and maintained will be a major expense.
All the raw materials used are extracted and transported using diesel powered equipment. Then there is the refining and manufacturing. The parts are transported, installed, maintained, repaired and upgraded using fossil fuel power. Then you have the tear down, transport and disposal using more diesel power.
Goodbye whales, goodbye sea life, Biden administration brought us this boondoogle!
The Tolowa Dee-Ni Nation to our north which covers Del Norte County and much of Southern Oregon recently announced it has passed a Resolution opposing Offshore Wind Energy.The Tolowa Dee Ni are a Federally Recognized Indian Nation (Tribe) and have urged the Department of Interior and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to halt all scoping and permiting of offshore wind projects.In my view if the Tribes get involed this could be very helpful at getting it stopped.
An environmental disaster in the making. Huffman’s pet project.
A good movie on the climate change industrial complex. Follow the money.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/03/watch-share-devastating-documentary-climate-movie-obliterates-climate/