Massachusetts Coast News

Members of the U.S. commercial fishing industry are teaming up with an oil industry-backed lobbying group to fight offshore wind energy development on the East Coast, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and interviews with people involved.The unusual alliance reflects the breadth of opposition President Joe Biden faces as his administration pushes to expand offshore wind power and other clean energy sources dramatically to combat climate change.The fishing industry believes offshore wind farms will interfere with vessel navigation and hurt crucial stocks like squid and scallops…

Automation, where routine tasks are handled by machines, has been talked about throughout maritime sectors for much of the 21st Century. Initially touted by suppliers of engine room and bridge management systems for its cost savings (with reduced manning levels), its value proposition was then infused with risk management (reduced human error) and remote operations, where vessels could be managed from a shoreside control room. In early 2017, Rolls Royce —an early proponent of unmanned operations—teamed with tug operator Svitzer on a remotely operated vessel…

Vineyard Wind on Friday announced a deal to use union labor to help construct what will become the nation's first major offshore wind project off the Massachusetts coast near Martha's Vineyard.The labor agreement with the Southeastern Massachusetts Building Trades Council covers 500 jobs, most of which will go to local workers, the company said in a statement. It also includes hiring targets for women and people of color.The pact is the first in the nascent U.S. offshore wind industry and comes as President Joe Biden…

A federal agency said on Thursday it has again delayed a long-awaited environmental study crucial to permitting the first major U.S. offshore wind project, but final approval of the project is expected by mid-January.The study of the 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind project planned for the waters off the Massachusetts coast is expected to be released by December 11, according to a government timeline. It had been anticipated later this week.The document has been repeatedly pushed back…

The first major U.S. offshore wind farm, planned for the Massachusetts coast, reached a key permitting milestone on Tuesday with the release of a long-awaited federal environmental study that considers the project's impacts on fisheries and navigation.Publication of the document marks a step forward for the Vineyard Wind project, which has experienced delays over concerns that its wind turbines will hurt commercial fishing. The supplemental review by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management…

Vineyard Wind, the developer of the first major U.S. offshore wind farm, said on Tuesday it will miss its target to start sending power to Massachusetts by 2022 due to lengthy federal permitting delays.The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, part of the U.S. Department of Interior, posted a revised permitting timeline on its website on Tuesday that said it will issue a final decision on the project by Dec. 18, more than a year after its previous target of August 2019."While we need to analyze what a longer permitting timeline will mean for beginning construction…

A fishing vessel crewmember has been arrested and charged in federal court in connection with the murder of a fellow crewmember while their vessel was sailing off the coast of Massachusetts.Franklin Freddy Meave Vazquez, a Mexican national illegally present in the U.S., was charged with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the U.S.According to the charging document, on September 23, 2018, Vazquez allegedly assaulted a fellow crewmember with a hammer in one hand and a knife in the other while the U.S. flagged vessel Captain Billy Haver was sailing approximately 55 miles off the Massachusetts coast. The victim then saw that another crewmember was lying on the deck bleeding. Vazquez then struck a third crew member.

The December 2015 sinking of fishing vessel Orin C and fatality of a mariner on board were cause by structural failure of the vessel’s hull and subsequent flooding, according to a marine accident brief released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). After suffering an engine failure off the Massachusetts coast on December 3, 2015, the 51-foot Orin C was taken in tow by a Good Samaritan fishing vessel, the Foxy Lady. While in tow under adverse conditions, the Orin C sustained damage from a large wave, and the damage contributed to the flooding on the vessel.

Coast Guard pollution responders, and the Fairhaven Harbormaster responded to a report of a large oil sheen in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts Friday morning. At 2:00 p.m. Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England was notified by a local, experienced mariner of a possible pollution sheen in Buzzard's Bay. Response crews with a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod, a 29-foot response boat from Station Woods Hole, and a 45-foot response boat medium from Station Menemsha responded along with Coast Guard personnel from Marine Safety Detachment New Bedford and the Fairhaven Harbormaster. After Coast Guard assets arrived on-scene, they did not find any pollution; rather they discovered a large area of jellyfish.

The Coast Guard ended its active search for a missing 65-year-old man near Malletts Bay, in Lake Champlain, Vermont, at 8:05 p.m. Sunday, pending further developments or reports. Crews searched nearly 40 square miles for Brian Webb but found no sign of him. *U.S. The winds on scene were less than five knots and seas were less than one foot. The air temperature was 71 degrees and the water temperature was 70 degrees. Visibility was 10 miles. Initially, Webb's wife contacted the Coast Guard at 10:25 a.m. Sunday reporting her husband did not show up at church as scheduled. He reportedly spent the night aboard his 34-foot sailing vessel Hellen Louise, which was anchored and found unoccupied in Malletts Bay Sunday morning.

Coast Guard rescue crews assisted the crew and passengers aboard the Provincetown IV Ferry, which was disabled near Scituate, Massachusetts, Wednesday. Watchstanders at the Sector Boston Command Center received notification at 4:06 p.m. that the ferry had suffered an engine failure and was unable to make way. A Station Point Allerton 47-foot motor lifeboat crew and the Coast Guard Cutter Flyingfish rushed to the scene to provide a safety zone and monitor, while another ferry arrived on scene to also assist. The Provincetown IV crew eventually repaired the engine and were underway, while the Flyingfish and Station Point Allerton crews escorted them to port. The ferry docked safely in Boston at about 7:40 p.m.

The U.S. Coast Guard responded to reports of a disabled tug 18 miles east of Block Island, Rhode Island, Sunday. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, were notified at approximately 3:30 p.m., Sunday, of an engine fire aboard the 126-foot tug Viking. The vessel’s on board fixed fire-fighting system was able to extinguish the fire, leaving the vessel disabled with 10 people aboard. The owner of the tug dispatched two relief tugs to the scene. The Viking was able to restore their engines and are transiting to Buzzards Bay under escort by the tug Sebine. None of the ten people aboard the tug were injured, and no pollution was released as a result of the fire.

Cape Wind said on Wednesday it has secured $600 million in financing for its proposed $2.5 billion wind power farm off the Massachusetts coast, and expects to have the rest locked up by the end of the third quarter. Danish state-owned export credit agency EKF approved the loan pending due diligence, Cape Wind President Jim Gordon said at a power industry conference in Boston. EKF is the project's biggest financial commitment to date. "EKF is a very knowledgeable and experienced investor in the offshore wind industry and they recognize that Cape Wind makes sense both economically and environmentally," Gordon said. The project would have the capacity to produce 468 megawatts of electricity, enough to power nearly a half-million homes.

Simple annoyance or potential security threat? Spoof is defined as “a hoax or swindle.”  In the world of electronic networks, a spoofing attack is a situation in which one program successfully masquerades as another by falsifying data and thereby gaining an improper advantage. We have all heard of, and possibly fallen victim to, fraudulent card readers (often inserted on self-service fuel pumps). The fraudulent card readers copy security information from the credit card, which is then used to clone an illegitimate credit card and incur improper charges on the victim’s credit card account.

The Federal Aviation Administration has again ruled that the Cape Wind wind farm off the Massachusetts coast poses no hazard to local airplanes. According to source WSLS10, a federal appeals court had ordered the agency to reconsider its previous finding, and the FAA said in a recent statement that after an aeronautical study, it again found that the project's 130 wind turbines wouldn't endanger local air traffic. The clearance is the fourth time the FAA has approved the $2.6 billion project since it was proposed for Nantucket Sound in 2001. The project aims to be the nation's first offshore wind farm. Critics say it will be a hazard to air and sea navigation, will ruin the sound, and will offer overpriced power. Cape Wind has already committed buyers and hopes to produce power by 2015.

The UMass Dartmouth-based New England Marine Renewable Energy Center (MREC), and local and regional leaders, will mark the send-off of the barge as part of an effort to transform the region into an international hub of ocean-related energy technology research and development.

A company based in Marblehead was charged on Jan. 7 in federal court with dumping sewage into North Shore waters from a popular ferry it operates out of Salem. United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz, Rear Admiral J. L. Nimmich, United States Coast Guard, Commander, First Coast Guard District and William Schenkelberg, Special Agent in Charge of the Northeast Region of the Coast Guard Investigative Service, announced today that The Rockmore Company, Inc. was charged in a Criminal Information with two violations of the Rivers and Harbors Act arising out of its practice of dumping human waste into local waters. The Information alleges that, from 1990 to 2006, the company has operated a 59-ft long passenger vessel named the P/V Hannah Glover based in Salem.

The U.S. Coast Guard is working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ship Rude and will use Side Scan Sonar technology to check the condition of the T/V Bow Mariner that exploded and sank Saturday night. The 90-foot Norfolk, Va., based NOAA Ship Rude is equipped with side scan sonar technology and will sweep the area where the T/V Bow Mariner sank to acquire imagery of the condition of the vessel. This is not the first time the Rude has been used for missions like this. Previously, the RUDE assisted with the search and recovery of TWA flight 800 in 1996 and the search and recovery operations of John F. Kennedy Jr’s aircraft and Egypt Air flight 990 off the Massachusetts coast in 1999.

A federal judge in Boston on Friday cleared the way for rescuers to use a sedative to free a whale tangled in fishing line while fighting for its life off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass. District Judge George O'Toole rejected a motion by an environmental activist who said a sedative would kill the 50-ton North Atlantic right whale -- one of an estimated 100 to 500 of the endangered species remaining. The Center for Coastal Studies, a rescue group from Provincetown, Mass., plans to sedate the whale on Saturday and remove green fishing line deeply embedded in the whale's upper jaw. The whale suffers from a massive infection and has been uncooperative with rescuers. Environmental activist Richard Max Strahan argued the sedative, untested on right whales, would kill the animal.

According to the Coast Guard, the Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC) oil recovery vessel VIRGINIA RESPONDER began skimming operations, however, recoverable oil is widely dispersed and the amount recovered has been minimal to date. A helicopter has been flying throughout the day to locate patches of oil and direct the skimming vessel. The oil spill recovery vessel has been on-scene since Monday prepared to recover oil. Previous flights of the area located oil that was too spotty, patchy and widely dispersed to efficiently pick-up. On-scene conditions are favorable. During a Tuesday over flight, patches of oil were located in the area where the T/V BOW MARINER sank Saturday night.