Associated Press
April 6, 2018
Interior secretary: ‘Opposition’ to offshore drill plan
By WAYNE PARRY
PLAINSBORO, N.J. (AP) — Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Friday acknowledged there is “a lot of opposition” to President Donald Trump’s plan to open most of the nation’s coastline to oil and gas drilling.
Speaking at a forum on offshore wind energy in Plainsboro, New Jersey, Zinke touted Trump’s “all of the above” energy menu that calls for oil and gas, as well as renewable energy projects.
But he noted strong opposition to the drilling plan, adding there is little to no infrastructure in many of those areas to support drilling.
“There is a lot of opposition, particularly off the East Coast and the West Coast, on oil and gas,” Zinke said.
He said on the East Coast, only the Republican governors of Maine and Georgia have expressed support for the drilling plan, which has roiled environmentalists but cheered energy interests. Maine Gov. Paul LePage has endorsed the plan, but Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has hesitated to take a public position on it.
“The rest of the governors are strongly opposed,” Zinke said, promising to consider the desire of coastal states when deciding on the drilling plan.
Zinke also took note of the growing number of states that are employing state-level laws to thwart the possibility of drilling off their coasts by banning infrastructure that would support drilling in state waters.
“If local communities don’t want it in state waters, the states have a lot of leverage,” Zinke said.
Zinke said oil and gas production seems to be moving to waters off Latin America where regulations are less stringent, and added that oil and gas drilling is more environmentally risky than renewable energy such as wind projects, which he said have the greatest growth potential of all the options on America’s energy menu.
Yet Zinke would not commit to giving any state an exemption from the program, and specifically noted that Florida has not been exempted. In January, he said “Florida is different” and indicated the state would not be part of the drilling plan.
On Friday in New Jersey, Zinke said Florida has a drilling moratorium already in place.
“No one was exempted,” he said.
While the secretary was far from waving the white flag on the drilling proposal, elected officials and environmentalists smelled blood in the water. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo applauded the interior department’s plan to solicit interest in wind projects off the New York and New Jersey coasts, which was announced Friday, but renewed his request to be exempted from the drilling plan.
“We believe offshore wind is a better direction for our economy, for our environment and for our energy future,” the Democratic governor said.
New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., a Democrat representing part of the Jersey shore, was ready to ring the death knell for the drilling plan — even if Zinke wasn’t.
“While it is encouraging that Secretary Zinke has implied that the administration understands that drilling for oil and gas off of the East Coast is not a viable option, it is concerning that the secretary has not provided concrete assurance to New Jerseyans” about being left out of the plan, Pallone said.
Cindy Zipf of the Clean Ocean Action environmental group said Zinke should “back off and tell President Trump the Atlantic is a no-go zone for offshore oil and gas development.”
The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management also announced Friday it is proposing lease sales for two additional areas off Massachusetts for commercial wind energy projects totaling nearly 390,000 acres.
https://apnews.com/87dd43159aaa4b62a2f0f93bc6c95e68
Workboat
April 6, 2018
Zinke acknowledges drilling opposition; says wind energy can grow off East Coast
By Kirk Moore
The Trump administration faces strong opposition to offshore drilling among East Coast states, but also supports offshore wind energy as part of an “all of the above” U.S. energy strategy, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Friday.
“There is a lot of opposition, particularly off the East Coast and the West Coast, on oil and gas,” Zinke said in speaking before the Business Network for Offshore Wind conference near Princeton, N.J., the Associated Press reported.
Apart from the governors of Maine and Georgia, other states have made their opposition clear, and can have a lot of leverage with state laws to prevent new oil and gas infrastructure from being built, said Zinke.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke speaking at the Business Partnership for Offshore Wind April 6, 2018. Department of Interior photo.
As Zinke was meeting with officials from offshore wind companies, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management outlined plans to open more areas for wind energy leasing in the New York Bight and southern New England.
The agency published a call for information and nominations to help officials decide how much sea floor to offer in future leasing between the New York and New Jersey shorelines. Four areas – dubbed Fairway North, Fairway South, and Hudson North and Hudson South – are shown on maps released Friday, wedged between the traffic separation scheme shipping lanes out of New York Harbor.
Those areas, totaling 2,047 square nautical miles, expand potential wind energy zones outlined by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has set a goal of developing 2.4 gigawatts of offshore energy for his state by 2030.
The Hudson North area extends east and south from Statoil’s Empire Wind lease, 79,350 acres that if built will be an impressive sight to mariners heading in and out from Ambrose Light. NYSERDA officials say they are assembling advisory groups from the maritime and fishing industries to advise them on how to avoid spatial and other conflicts.
Commercial fishermen have gone to court seeking to block the Statoil project, and insist the state and federal government must do more to protect fisheries. Zinke acknowledged that issue and said it will be part of BOEM’s deliberations, Newsday reported.
“We don’t want to cripple or hurt the fishing industry,” he said. “They are concerned. Fishing is a very important industry.”
Calls for information from BOEM are likewise seeking input on where future leases should be sited. The agency is consulting with the Coast Guard on how far turbines should be set back from shipping lanes, but BOEM will have a final decision on mapping the leases.
On Friday BOEM also published a notice that it will again offer two offshore leases south of Massachusetts that went unclaimed in an earlier round. Those previous leases include one held by Deepwater Wind LLC, which this week announced intentions of building offshore service vessels and crew transfer vessels for its Revolution Wind project at Massachusetts shipyards.