Public comments start for Beacon Wind project, cable in Long Island Sound

The federal government this week announced plans to start an environmental review for an offshore wind farm with a 200-mile power cable that will traverse the length of Long Island Sound, kicking off a public comment period that begins and ends this month.

Beacon Wind, a two-phase project by Norway-based Equinor and U.K.-based bp, will consist of up to 155 turbines more than 900 feet tall and two offshore substations in a 128,811-acre lease area 52 miles east of Montauk and 17 miles from the Massachusetts coast.

Phase one of the project, called Beacon Wind 1, will connect to the New York grid at Bayside, Queens, via a 202-nautical mile cable. The 1,230-megawatt project touts the ability to power more than 1 million New York homes.

Those wishing to comment on the company’s previously filed construction and operations plan have until the end of July. One public session will be held in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and another in Bayside on July 18 and 20, respectively, and there will be two virtual comment sessions and a third for federally recognized tribes. 

To register for the meetings, sign up  here.

None of the meetings are scheduled for Nassau or Suffolk, according to a schedule from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is administering the process and announced the environmental review. 

A plan for the second phase, Beacon Wind 2’s 1,200 megawatts of power, proposes that it also would connect via the same cable route through Long Island Sound, although it could move through Connecticut waters if that state contracts for the energy.

The 202-mile cable route would bring the power line into New York State waters between Montauk Point and Block Island, where it would travel northwest between Plum Island and Fishers Island before heading west from several miles to more than 10 miles off Long Island's North Shore under Long Island Sound. 

Equinor Wind US president Molly Morris, in a statement, called the start of the environmental review process “a significant milestone in Beacon Wind’s path toward regulatory approval.”

“It also initiates a public review period that provides an important opportunity to gather feedback as the project progresses,” Morris said.

In state waters, the submarine cables will have a "target burial depth of 3 to 6 feet below the seabed," the construction plan states, and a minimum of 15 feet in federal waters. 

"In areas where the target burial depth cannot be achieved due to existing seabed conditions or the presence of existing utilities [cables and/or pipeline] that must be crossed, it is anticipated that protection measures will be required, including 'rock installation protection,' atop the cables, the plan states.

In addition, "Use of blasting to address seabed conditions in areas such as at landfall locations is anticipated to be necessary in portions of the East River where hard substrates may limit the use of traditional dredging methods."

Fishing groups are expected to weigh in. 

Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, a Montauk industry group, said she believes the developers have "severely misunderstood" the amount of fishing and overall traffic that would traverse the cable path.

“It will affect so many different fishermen at such a level that normally use those waters,” she said, noting that trawlers, clammers and whelk trappers are among the biggest commercial fishing uses. 

In other areas of the South Shore where cables are being laid, Brady said, vessels that encounter rock in areas that would otherwise be trenched several feet down have taken to placing concrete mats or other material to cover the cables. Such measures, she said, can render the area unsuitable for fishing, particularly commercial trawling, with large nets that drag along the sea bottom.

“It’s a danger to fishermen, and it’s a taking of grounds without adequate compensation,” Brady said.

Phil Karlin, a commercial fisherman from Riverhead, said his primary concern would come during north-to-south trawls he makes in the Sound if the company installed new materials to overlay a portion of the cables.

"That probably would interfere with our fishing" he said, noting that he fishes nearly to the Connecticut line up to eight miles out. " . . . We'd be crossing that line." 

Karlin said he plans to learn more about the cable, including "how far off and what coordinates it would be." In any case, he said, "It doesn’t sound like it’s very good for us, but we can’t do much about it." 

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.