Mendocino and Humboldt counties” ocean waters are once again identified as a world-class spot for offshore energy development.
This time, it”s wind energy.
A new report from the Obama Administration shows Northern California and Southern Oregon as the best offshore spot for wind power and wind speed in the nation. The report states that while waters are too deep for current wind technology, developers have put forward nominations for wind energy development in Northern California.
On Monday at the first of four hearings on offshore energy development, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar pushed wind power on the outer continental shelf as key to solving the nation”s energy woes.
Many locals, fired up to oppose new oil and gas development proposed off Mendocino County, plan to caravan to the third such hearing held by Salazar on Thursday, April 16 in San Francisco.
Salazar gave offshore wind power priority over the other form of energy on the table at the four hearings — offshore oil and gas drilling.
Several Atlantic state governors and congressmembers pledged support and action on wind power offshore. Those same officials all opposed new offshore oil drilling proposed in the Atlantic.
California”s top politicians, who have all opposed new oil drilling, will have a chance to go on the record about wind energy at the April 16 hearing.
Some speakers in New Jersey complained that the new 219-page report wasn”t finished and posted until Sunday, not giving them time to respond. While the Obama Administration has gotten high marks for taking rapid action on energy, water and environmental issues, critics worry that everything may be happening too fast.
“The Department of the Interior [has] released a hastily-prepared report estimating potential offshore renewable energy resources, as well as possible oil and gas deposits that might be found along America”s coastlines,” a Defenders of Wildlife press release stated.
“While the report will be a major focus of upcoming public meetings, it fails to adequately examine the other side of the equation: The potential for major long-term harm to other coastal resources from offshore energy development.”
Wind”s potential
While Salazar sees wave energy as not yet practical enough to be part of its energy plan and has slowed the Bush Administration”s efforts to develop oil and gas resources, the emerging Obama energy plan increasingly has literally had wind in its sails, both offshore and onshore.
“Offshore wind resources have substantial potential to supply a large portion of the nation”s electricity demand … Developing shallow water (up to 100 feet deep) wind resources, which are the most likely to be technically and commercially feasible at this time, could provide at least 20 percent of the electricity needs of almost all coastal states,” the new report states.
Only one spot in the nation is ranked in the report as “superb” in both wind speed and wind power density in the report. That top wind power spot starts just north of San Francisco and extends into Southern Oregon.
Stanford scientists studied wind energy off the entire state and found that Northern California showed the best offshore wind resource, “but this region lacks any large population centers and any large transmission lines near the coast, making large-scale development in that area somewhat problematic,” the new Interior report states.
Judith Vidaver, of the local Ocean Protection Coalition, thinks all the talk about offshore wind could benefit from the reality of a cold, hostile and fragile ocean.
“Given that our coast is one of the four most productive marine ecosystems in the world and is extremely rugged with huge waves, it is a dangerous idea for the environment and our local economy,” she said. “Ocean-based wind energy generation, like wave power generation, is extremely expensive and carries environmental risks that are, in my mind, unacceptable when compared to land-based projects, especially rooftop solar. Transmission of any power generated off our coast is another problem. PG&E can”t even keep us in power.”
The utility has not upgraded the local grid in many years, causing the sometimes lengthy winter power outages locals have become accustomed to. Some critics have worried that PG&E is waiting for energy to come ashore before doing local grid upgrades.
PG&E has recently proposed a more than 1,000-mile long pipeline to connect the power supply of Northern California with the Pacific Northwest.
Salazar quickly ended a feud over wave, ocean current and tidal energy that had raged inside the federal government during the Bush Administration. Salazar dumped all this “hydrokinetic” power onto Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), ending an intense rivalry between FERC and Interior”s Minerals Management Service.
The Obama Administration has said they did that to allow an increased focus on wind power.
“Over the past two decades, land-based wind energy has seen a significant reduction in cost, making it a viable source for electric power generation in some areas of the United States. Offshore winds are typically stronger and more consistent than on land, and are frequently located near high-energy demand centers,” the Interior report states.
Critics fear the win-win situation that “undeveloped ” and unclaimed areas offshore presents for wind developers and government leaves out local government and environmental regulatory process.
“The utility companies want to do it because they think the OCS is free land and they can get taxpayers” money to do projects without risking their own money and thereby gain potentially large profits,” Vidaver said.
The April 16 energy hearing in San Francisco promises to consider such input, as the Minerals Management Service works on rulemaking to provide a public process and environmental regulatory framework for offshore alternative energy production.
Salazar promised Monday in New Jersey that rulemaking, which also dragged on for years under the Bush Administration with no conclusion, would be finished in “a month or two.”
With everything happening so fast, Interior officials were unable to provide complete answers to questions from this reporter, such as any details about what wind energy nominations have come in for offshore Northern California, what local role there would be in wind rulemaking, will wind development be proposed to happen in conjunction with wave energy and/or oil and gas drilling, and could that allow wind energy in deeper waters.
The report only states, “MMS has received Interim Policy nominations and other inquiries showing interest for offshore wind power development off the coasts of California and Oregon.”
The report makes it clear that while local power potential is unrivaled, the water is just too deep for current action.
“In the future, it is anticipated that advanced technologies, such as floating turbines, will allow access to deeper waters farther offshore,” the report states.
Answers are expected by next week from Interior.
For now, the Obama Administration has made the Atlantic seaboard its test site for wind energy.
Wind energy developers also have had long lists of questions at the New Jersey hearing. They told Salazar that research support and a clear regulatory process are needed before the United States can follow European nations in building wave farms offshore.
