Fishermen's Offshore Wind Lawsuit
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The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) is a coalition of commercial fishing industry boats, associations, companies, and processors of sustainable, US wild-caught seafood. Producers and consumers of fresh local fish are the foundation of our year-round coastal economies. Whether you’re a captain, crewman, gear-maker, bait/ice supplier, processor, fish buyer, boat mechanic, dock-to-dish foodie, or just love your favorite restaurant’s calamari, we need your help!
We’re suing on the government’s decision to approve Vineyard Wind 1, the first large-scale offshore wind project in the country, 12-miles south of Nantucket Island off of Massachusetts. Up to 84 steel turbines will be hydraulically hammered into the ocean floor, standing 850-feet tall when finished. Then up to 200 miles of electric cables will be trenched into the ocean floor, passing through thriving marine ecosystems for many abundant and sustainably caught fish species, the North Atlantic right whale, and other important marine life.
In the words of Vineyard Wind’s CEO, this decision “is not about the start of a single project, but the launch of a new industry.” Scores of other big offshore wind projects have been or are in queue to be approved along every coastline in U.S. waters. This lawsuit challenges the federal regulations common to all these projects.
We all want to protect the ocean, limit climate change, and strongly support renewable energy. But turning bountiful, vibrant US ocean waters into dozens of 100,000+ acre industrial power plants poses huge ecological risks. This requires precaution, due diligence, and a science-based approach to minimize economic and environmental damage before steel goes in the water.
But that’s not the policy in place. Small US businesses are now pitted against multi-national foreign conglomerates without a fair regulatory process in place. Vineyard Wind, originally sponsored by asset managers Blackstone Group, is now jointly owned by a Danish investment firm and a Spanish utilities company. We need strong regulations to protect our US jobs, coastal infrastructure, cultural heritage, and ocean resources before handing over our public trust resources to politically powerful energy firms.
If reasonable siting plans and mitigation don’t precede this construction, the loss of US sustainable wild-caught seafood could impact all of us. From boats to consumers’ plates, and the trickle down to supply-chain small businesses, tens of thousands of Americans could lose their jobs plus millions of Americans would lose access to wild-caught sustainable domestic fish, the gold standard among the world’s fisheries in quality and environmental oversight.
During the COVID-19 pandemic we learned as essential workers that supply chains are extremely important and often fragile. The last thing we want to do is import more, less-sustainable seafood, and drive up prices of a local, high value-add, low-carbon food source.
RODA has made every effort to make the fishing industry’s concerns known from the beginning. These plans impact our safety, our livelihoods, and the ocean ecosystem where we live and work every day. We have no choice left but to fight, and we need your help. For our livelihoods, for the future of sustainable US wild-caught seafood, and the future of our oceans too.
Please help us by donating. Thank you.
We’re suing on the government’s decision to approve Vineyard Wind 1, the first large-scale offshore wind project in the country, 12-miles south of Nantucket Island off of Massachusetts. Up to 84 steel turbines will be hydraulically hammered into the ocean floor, standing 850-feet tall when finished. Then up to 200 miles of electric cables will be trenched into the ocean floor, passing through thriving marine ecosystems for many abundant and sustainably caught fish species, the North Atlantic right whale, and other important marine life.
In the words of Vineyard Wind’s CEO, this decision “is not about the start of a single project, but the launch of a new industry.” Scores of other big offshore wind projects have been or are in queue to be approved along every coastline in U.S. waters. This lawsuit challenges the federal regulations common to all these projects.
We all want to protect the ocean, limit climate change, and strongly support renewable energy. But turning bountiful, vibrant US ocean waters into dozens of 100,000+ acre industrial power plants poses huge ecological risks. This requires precaution, due diligence, and a science-based approach to minimize economic and environmental damage before steel goes in the water.
But that’s not the policy in place. Small US businesses are now pitted against multi-national foreign conglomerates without a fair regulatory process in place. Vineyard Wind, originally sponsored by asset managers Blackstone Group, is now jointly owned by a Danish investment firm and a Spanish utilities company. We need strong regulations to protect our US jobs, coastal infrastructure, cultural heritage, and ocean resources before handing over our public trust resources to politically powerful energy firms.
If reasonable siting plans and mitigation don’t precede this construction, the loss of US sustainable wild-caught seafood could impact all of us. From boats to consumers’ plates, and the trickle down to supply-chain small businesses, tens of thousands of Americans could lose their jobs plus millions of Americans would lose access to wild-caught sustainable domestic fish, the gold standard among the world’s fisheries in quality and environmental oversight.
During the COVID-19 pandemic we learned as essential workers that supply chains are extremely important and often fragile. The last thing we want to do is import more, less-sustainable seafood, and drive up prices of a local, high value-add, low-carbon food source.
RODA has made every effort to make the fishing industry’s concerns known from the beginning. These plans impact our safety, our livelihoods, and the ocean ecosystem where we live and work every day. We have no choice left but to fight, and we need your help. For our livelihoods, for the future of sustainable US wild-caught seafood, and the future of our oceans too.
Please help us by donating. Thank you.
Learn more about RODA here !
Read the lawsuit complaint here!
Please contact us directly for large/corporate donations.
Organizer
Responsible Offshore Development Alliance
Organizer
Washington D.C., DC
