This article was published in the Salish Current on September 9, 2024.
Washington and Oregon are aggressively working to industrialize the coastal Pacific ocean and Salish Sea with offshore wind, wave, and tidal current energy projects.
Industrializing the coasts of Washington and Oregon for energy development would be a disaster for marine wildlife and natural communities already struggling from ship noise, toxic pollution, garbage, tourism, overfishing, ship strikes, and entanglements that too often take the lives of marine wildlife we love so much here in the Salish Sea.
Power demand is growing rapidly while supply is shrinking. The Pacific Northwest’s electricity demand is projected to increase 25% in the next decade, and almost 100% by 2050. Meanwhile, coal power plants are shutting down and there are no more rivers to dam. Washington and Oregon state authorities are scrambling to explore all avenues to generate electricity to meet this demand. At the same time, Washington hands out lucrative tax incentives to power-hungry industries like data centers, and thanks to Washington’s Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA) and Oregon’s Clean Energy Plan (CEP), electrifying transportation and heating is among these states’ highest priorities.
No one is talking about how to reduce energy demand. And so we see the result: a rush to develop new projects to meet the growing power demands of industry, consumption, and population growth at the expense of ecosystems and wildlife.
The projects underway include two massive floating offshore wind power plants (1,800 square miles) off the coast of Brookings and Coos Bay, Oregon; proposed floating offshore wind energy power plants off the coast of Grays Harbor, wave energy machines proposed along the coast of Washington, and tidal current energy machines being pursued by OPALCO in San Juan County. All of this industry poses a threat to marine and coastal ecosystems, will cost taxpayers and ratepayers billions of dollars, and will add to the energy that powers the growth and development that is so damaging to the natural environment of the Pacific Northwest.
These technologies are new; all largely unstudied. What few studies have been done have found impacts ranging from unacceptably loud noise from the machines themselves and from additional ship traffic to service them, to modification of coastal upwelling critical for bringing nutrients to shorelines where so many marine animals thrive.
The offshore wind projects would be among the first floating wind turbines installed in the United States (along with turbines planned for off the coast of Humboldt Bay, California).
For those familiar with grounded offshore wind turbines like we see in the Northeast, floating turbines are a whole new beast. The current generation of wind turbines being developed for offshore power plants are taller than the Eiffel Tower (about 1,300 feet tall) with blade lengths of 500 feet (longer than a football field), a swept area the size of five city blocks, and blade tip speeds in excess of 200 mph. They sit on bases the size of a football stadium, and are anchored to the sea bed with massive steel chains, mooring lines, and drag anchors. Now imagine hundreds of these machines along the coast of Washington and Oregon.
To service these industrial ocean power plants, new marine terminals, substations, grid lines and an army of specialized vessels must be built and maintained.
All told, the impact to the environment, both offshore and on, will be immense.
In early 2024, the Washington State governor’s office announced a new industry and government collaborative, the Blue Wind Collaborative, to develop offshore wind energy. They are promoting offshore wind energy development, building supply chains, and training workers. The governor’s office commissioned Gridworks to produce a report with recommendations on how best to proceed with offshore wind energy development.
Washington State is moving fast on this industrial development and few even know it’s happening.
Many of those who do know are strongly opposed to this development. Brookings City Council and the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians have both passed resolutions opposing offshore wind energy development off the Oregon Coast. Commercial fishers are opposed. Coastal communities are opposed. Representatives from Quinault, Quileute and Hoh tribes are extremely concerned. Yet the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the federal agency tasked with developing offshore wind energy, is pressing right ahead.
On closer shores, OPALCO is likewise pressing ahead with their project to put a machine the size of a 747 into the Salish Sea to supply tidal current energy despite almost no understanding of the possible impacts to marine ecosystems and the endangered Southern Resident orcas.
As always industry and growth are the primary concerns with almost no thought given to what all of this is doing to the natural world.
Industrial offshore energy development is coming to the Pacific Northwest. If we are to stop it, we must act now.
To learn more about offshore wind energy development in the Pacific Northwest, please watch the following two videos I created for Protect The Coast PNW. The videos describe offshore wind energy technology, with a focus on floating offshore wind technology, and the environmental impacts of these industrial projects.
Thanks for this, and your piece in Salish Current. I hadn't heard of Protect the Coast PNW. How do I get involved?
This is such an important topic. Thanks for posting it.
I know the Brookings area pretty well and wonder how such development would affect the local climate, which is known as Oregon's "Banana Belt" because it's a uniquely warm pocket. This area is also the northern most tip of the pre-colonial native ranges of the Coastal Redwood.