How might offshore wind impact Maine’s coastal waters? Will offshore wind affect Casco Bay?
We explored these questions and more at Winds of Change: Offshore Wind and Climate Change, A Casco Bay Matters Event. At the event Casco Baykeeper Ivy Frignoca moderated a panel of experts who provided an overview of Maine’s Offshore Wind Roadmap process and draft initial recommendations for how offshore wind farms might be developed without harming fisheries, wildlife, and the environment.*
Below is a link to a recording of the event for those of you who were unable to join us or would like to revisit the conversation.
Please note: At the live event, we asked the audience for feedback using Zoom polls. The Zoom poll questions and answers are not visible in the recording, though you will hear Ivy and our guests speaking about them.
At Friends, we view climate change as the greatest threat to the health of Casco Bay. To address this threat, we must reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. At federal, regional, and state levels, energy experts have identified offshore wind as a part of the solution as we shift toward clean, green, renewable energy. Friends of Casco Bay supports Maine’s proposed offshore wind research array so we can study and best understand how such wind farms might be sited and operated with minimal harm to our marine environment. We are also participating in the Maine Offshore Wind Roadmap, a state initiative guiding the development of offshore wind. Engaging in this process helps us influence the development of this energy source in ways that better protect Casco Bay, coastal habitats, and the environment.
It is important that the state hears from you in the Roadmap process. For those of you who attended Winds of Change: Offshore Wind and Climate Change, your feedback in the chat and answers to our poll questions have been shared with officials involved in the process. If you did not attend the event or have more feedback to contribute, we urge you to submit comments on the Roadmap’s draft initial recommendations. Your feedback will be evaluated and used to modify the recommendations. The deadline to submit comments is April 30. After this date there will be additional opportunities to engage with the Maine Offshore Wind Roadmap.
Click on the links below to read and comment on the Roadmap’s recommendations:
Environment and Wildlife Recommendations
- Read the Roadmap’s draft initial recommendations for environment and wildlife
- Comment on the Roadmap’s draft initial recommendations for environment and wildlife
Fisheries Recommendations
- Read the Roadmap’s draft initial recommendations for fisheries
- Comment on the Roadmap’s draft initial recommendations for fisheries
Thank you for joining us to learn about this issue and for using your voice to help improve and protect the health of Casco Bay.
*Draft initial recommendations for the development of offshore wind in Maine are a product of a state initiative called the Maine Offshore Wind Roadmap. The Roadmap is informed by an advisory committee that includes renewable energy, fisheries, environment, and wildlife experts. Follow the links above to read and submit comments on the Roadmap’s draft initial recommendations at this stage as they continue to be developed.
Thank you to our guest experts who joined us for this important conversation:
Celina Cunningham, Deputy Director of the Governor’s Energy Office and co-chair of Maine Offshore Wind Roadmap’s Energy Strategy and Markets Working Group
Meredith Mendelson, Deputy Commissioner of Maine Department of Marine Resources and co-chair of Maine Offshore Wind Roadmap’s Fisheries Working Group
Wing Goodale, Senior Science Director at Biodiversity Research Institute and co-chair of Maine Offshore Wind Roadmap’s Environment and Wildlife Working Group
