Surveys of the Morro Bay offshore wind leasing area started on July 2 with Golden State Wind.
Its site is located about 53 miles from Morro Bay in federally owned waters, and Golden State Wind’s Community Liaison Erica Crawford told New Times that the company will be collecting information about the contours of the seafloor.
“The features of the seafloor, archaeological resources, geological layers beneath it, and things that we need to kind of avoid in order to find or make informed engineering for our project,” she said. “So, we also need this information for permitting. We will be required to develop and submit a construction operation plan to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, so we will need the information and the data that we’re collecting through our 2024 geophysical survey campaign.”
Golden State is just one of the companies that was awarded leases in 2022 when the U.S. Department of Interior auctioned off the first California wind energy leasing areas off the coast of Humboldt and Morro Bay. The closest leasing area is located roughly 20 miles from Morro Bay.
Crawford said Golden State Wind should wrap up its survey from the Go Adventurer vessel by this fall but will need to conduct additional surveys on marine and terrestrial life.
“We just want to continue to better understand the environmental resources and socio-economic resources even to support the designing and permitting of the project,” she said.
Groups such as Save the Whales in Salinas and the REACT Alliance in Morro Bay claim that sonar surveying and offshore wind farms harm the environment and kill whales.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) claims there’s no scientific evidence that noise resulting from offshore wind site surveys could potentially cause whale deaths, according to its frequently asked questions webpage. NOAA also states that there aren’t any known links between whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activities.
“We’re using NOAA qualified protective species observers on every survey vessel that we’ll use, and right now, we just have our Go Adventurer in the water, so we have consistent and constant protected species observers on deck, in the vessel, and around the vessel watching for marine mammals,” Crawford said.
Golden State Wind has strict rules regarding a clearance zone around marine mammals who swim into the leasing area, Crawford said.
“We have limited vessel speeds to 10 knots, and we have to maintain a 500 meter or greater separation distance from any sighted marine mammal,” she said. “So, when we see it, we have to maintain that distance away.”
Along with local concerns about implications to marine life, two local fishermen groups, Morro Bay Commercial Fishermen’s Organization and the Port of San Luis Commercial Fishermen’s Association, sued Golden State Wind, the California Coastal Commission, and other groups for harming local fishermen’s way of life.
“Fishermen don’t want offshore wind, especially now that it’s grown to this monstrosity. It’s not going to be good for our fisheries,” Fishermen spokesperson Sheri Hafer told New Times in previous reporting. “This would just harm our whole culture; it’s just going to change the whole face of Morro Bay and Port San Luis if they industrialize it.”
Crawford said the lawsuit hasn’t impacted Golden State’s timeline to survey in federal waters and that the company recognizes fishing as an integral part of the culture, history, and economic fabric of the Central Coast.
“We do believe that responsible development of offshore wind is contingent on sort of early and continuous collaboration with the fishing industry,” she said. “Really, the success of our project depends on the ability to coexist alongside other ocean users.” Δ
Correction: This story was updated to correct the date on which Golden State Wind started surveying its offshore wind leasing area. Surveys began on July 2. New Times regrets the error.
This article appears in Jul 4-14, 2024.