Construction is under way on the nation’s first offshore wind farm, thanks to the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council’s Ocean Special Area Management Plan (Ocean SAMP), which was developed by the state to address increased interest in offshore resources for future use.
The developer, Deepwater Wind, installed the first of five jacketed structures, which will hold up the wind turbines in the waters off Block Island, on July 27. Since then, two more have been brought to the site, and installation continues.
The CRMC approved the Ocean SAMP in early 2010. It spans approximately 1,467 square miles over portions of Block Island Sound, Rhode Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. The nearly 1,000-page document was developed in two years by the CRMC, along with the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography and Coastal Resources Center, Rhode Island Sea Grant, Roger Williams University, and other stakeholders, organizations, federal and state agencies. The SAMP provides a comprehensive understanding of the complex and rich ecosystem of Rhode Island’s offshore waters. The document covers topics including climate change, ecology, cultural and historic resources, fisheries, marine transportation, renewable energy and other offshore development, future uses and regulations and policies.
Under the Ocean SAMP, the CRMC oversaw a collection of studies prior to the installation, to minimize environmental impacts and ensure all parties and stakeholders had a voice and a role in the process. This continues with the regular updates from the Fisherman’s Advisory Board (FAB), and from the Certified Verification Agent (CVA), an independent third party overseeing a number of aspects of the construction, who reports directly to the CRMC Council and executive director to ensure compliance with the CRMC permit.
The SAMP has been lauded as a national and international model for marine spatial planning, and is the first plan of its kind to zone offshore waters and provide a regulatory framework for alternative energy projects.
“Because the process was fully vetted by a state-convened public stakeholder group with divergent views, it gained wide support, avoiding litigation that dogged the Cape Wind process. Even the fisheries interests, initially opposed, supported the final plan,” said Rhode Island attorney and author John Boehnert in a recent op-ed published in the Providence Journal. “Federal regulators may have a lot to learn from Rhode Island…This demonstrates that environmental regulation need not be the bureaucratic equivalent of the neutron bomb, leaving the infrastructure in place but wiping out the people. Let’s hope Washington is paying attention.”
The Block Island project is a state-regulated pilot in state waters, with a larger, offshore wind project in federal waters. The Ocean SAMP is the key state regulatory document guiding the Block Island test turbine project.
“The CRMC congratulates Deepwater Wind in being the first offshore windfarm in the United States, and shares in that enthusiasm – of what this means for our future as a state and nation – because without the Council’s development of the Ocean SAMP, this would not be possible,” said CRMC Executive Director Grover Fugate. “Rhode Islanders should be proud of the marine spatial planning efforts that CRMC has undertaken, as it resulted in a number of firsts in the nation, with the Block Island Wind Farm being one of them.”