Port San Luis could gain economic benefits from future offshore wind projects in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area.
Port San Luis Harbor District Director Suzy Watkins told New Times it’s important for people to remember that this isn’t a Morro Bay project, contrary to its name.
“These areas are offshore in federal waters, which they refer to as Morro Bay, and it can get a little confusing,” she said. “I think that Morro Bay is just the closest harbor to the project, but it’s not actually in Morro Bay.”
Watkins also said that Port San Luis is one of the many ports that could be chosen to help provide landside support, but nothing is official yet.
“There’s a lot of information out there and this is a very big and complex exercise, so at this point we are remaining engaged and collecting information because we want to be able to have factual discussions about all the pros and cons involved and figure out what the best option is,” she said.
In May 2022, the U.S. Department of Interior auctioned off the first California wind energy leasing areas off the coast of Humboldt and Morro Bay. The two areas were divided into five lease areas and auctioned off for a total of $757.1 million, according to an Aug. 22, 2023, Morro Bay staff report. The wind energy areas are located roughly 20 miles offshore but have several deployment and operational needs that will require landside support facilities.
According to a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) study released in January 2023, for a port to be considered eligible to provide support for offshore wind, it must meet certain design criteria.
Some of those requirements include being a facility that can perform major maintenance on a fully assembled turbine system that can’t be performed offshore, such as replacing a blade; being a port site located in a navigable waterway that receives raw materials via road, rail, or waterborne transport; and being able to create larger components in the offshore wind supply chain.
BOEM identified 15 ports that would be a good match, including Port San Luis and ports at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant and in Morro Bay.
Watkins said participating in the project could bring much-needed investment to the port. Port San Luis repairs and maintenance are backlogged, Watkins said, and the harbor district constantly receives requests for upgraded facilities that it doesn’t have the money for. Offshore wind energy could give the harbor an opportunity to apply for more grants, which in turn provides the harbor district with more funding.
“This would lead to improvements on facilities and infrastructure that benefits all users, as well as help generate revenue that helps support our public facilities,” Watkins said. “Piers are very, very expensive to maintain and it would help us improve our maintenance of what we already have as well as provide new access for people.”
According to an April 2021 economic impact study by Cal Poly, offshore wind could create new jobs at the port that would extend into counties neighboring San Luis Obispo County through supply chain development—vendors, contractors, and component manufacturers.
“The regional economic model matches employment at the specialized wind port to the available workers in San Luis Obispo County, which implicitly assumes that available workers in San Luis Obispo County are employed at the specialized wind port before jobs are offered to workers outside the county,” the study states.
However, according to an Oct. 17, 2023, harbor district staff report, if Port San Luis participates in this project, it would go against both the port’s master plan and its State Tidelands Grant and could contradict the port’s mission statement.
“Our mission is to serve the public with an array of commercial and recreational boating, fishing, and coastal-related opportunities, while ensuring an environmentally responsible, safe, well-managed, and financially sustainable harbor that preserves our marine heritage and character,” the mission statement says.
Offshore wind energy could impact air quality, animals, wetlands, coastal habitats, and commercial and recreational fishing, according to BOEM’s environmental impact statement.
“Project structures above the water could affect the visual character defining historic properties, properties of traditional religious and cultural significance, and recreational and tourism areas,” the study states. “Additionally, the project could create space-use conflicts with military activities, air traffic, land-based radar services, cables, and scientific surveys.”
The public comment period for stakeholders, organizations, federal agencies, and tribal, state, and local governments to submit comments on the wind energy area’s programmatic environmental impact statement ends Feb. 20. On Feb. 6 and 8, BOEM is holding virtual public meetings; find out more at boem.gov. Δ
Editor’s note: This article was updated to include the image and external links.
This article appears in Jan 18-28, 2024.