COOS BAY, Ore. — Editor's note: the video above aired October 20, 2021.
A federal and state task force has outlined three zones off Southern Oregon as potential areas for offshore wind power leases.
Fishing industry representatives said the “call areas” offshore Coos Bay, Port Orford and Brookings are far bigger and potentially more damaging than they imagined.
“It was a complete shock,” Heather Mann, executive director of the Midwater Trawlers Cooperative, said. The group represents 30 trawl catcher vessels homeported in Brookings and Newport in Oregon, and in Seattle and Kodiak, Alaska.
“It seems like all the information we provided was largely ignored, because these three areas encompass some of the best fishing grounds that we have off the West Coast, and also some of the most sensitive habitats.”
The areas range from about a dozen to 40 miles off the coast and add up to 2,181 square miles.
In a presentation last Friday, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it aimed to establish areas “of sufficient size and flexibility for further refinement” and receive public comment on them.
Portions within the call areas that are of high interest for wind development would undergo BOEM environmental review and it was likely to be two years before any lease auctions were held, according to the presentation.
Task force organizers were not immediately available for comment.
Read the full story at the Portland Business Journal.
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