U.S. Offshore Wind Projects: Eco-Consequences on the Firing Line (Part II: Vineyard Wind)

By Sherri Lange -- January 7, 2021 3 Comments

“Vineyard Wind has withdrawn its construction and operation plans from the federal permitting process, suddenly throwing the future into limbo for the international consortium that has been at the front of the pack in the race to build offshore wind farms off the American eastern seaboard.”
– Noah Asimow | The Vineyard Gazette, December 14, 2020.

Part I yesterday reviewed the history and current status on three (of four) U.S. offshore wind projects: one proposed, one defunct, and one (barely) operational. They are:

Icebreaker (Ohio), a proposed six-turbine project eight miles offshore, that is currently dealing with significant and perhaps fatal environmental permitting requirements.
Block Island (Rhode Island), which has encountered significant operational problems, producing very low output and adding new costs.
Cape Wind (Massachusetts), a defunct proposal to erect 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound.

U.S. Offshore Wind Projects: Eco-Consequences on the Firing Line (Part I: Icebreaker, Cape Wind, Block Island)

By Sherri Lange -- January 6, 2021 2 Comments

A proposed six-turbine project eight miles offshore, Icebreaker (Ohio) has been in the cooker for a decade or more…. The consensus is that even with the “poison pill” feathering requirement removed, Icebreaker faces enormous obstacles and crippling delays.
Going back to 2001, the Cape Wind (Massachusetts) project planned to erect 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound. The opposition was relentless, and eventually, “no turbines were ever anchored to the ocean floor, no blades ever spun, no power was ever generated.”
It won permits and was constructed, but the $300 million Block Island, RI project has been a monument to planning failures. Transmission cables, improperly trenched and insufficiently buried, are floating dangerously, requiring a shut down of the turbines to facilitate costly repairs.

Wind turbines are the ultimate in environmental consequence, wasting and contaminating land, water, and vistas, as well as harming wildlife and people.…

Reflections … and the Year Ahead

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 4, 2021 3 Comments

“Soon enough, citizens and voters will wise up to the false promises and cronyism of political energy. MasterResource will be an intellectual resource to help win the day for the master resource and the human ingenuity behind it.”

There is life outside of energy research and related public policy. I discovered some of it during the last ten days with limited responsibilities on the avocation/vocation front. But it is time to re-engage–and take time to look back and forward.

A Look Back

MasterResource, “a free market energy blog,” just turned twelve years old. In our inaugural post (December 26, 2008), I wrote:

We are just getting started here, but some of us veterans of the energy debate from a private property, free-market perspective have teamed together to offer our thoughts on late breaking energy items.