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Virginia Coast News

12 Oct 2021

Racing for 30GW—and a Piece of the US Offshore Wind Pie

© DJ / Adobe Stock

“30 by 30” is the rallying cry for all concerned with the burgeoning U.S. offshore wind business. In Spring 2021, the Secretaries of Energy, Interior and Commerce resolved to deploy 30 gigawatts (GW) of electricity generated from offshore turbines by 2030. Consultants McKinsey, in a recent article frame the value proposition for this clean fuel source, writing: “During the industry’s 30-year evolution, costs have fallen so sharply that offshore wind now compares favorably with competing energy sources.” For vessel owners, renewable energy brings opportunity.The thrust of near-term U.S.

12 Mar 2019

HazSub Spill Response Plans

© VanderWolf Images/AdobeStock

On August 18, 1990, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) was enacted into law. Section 4202 of that Act amended the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA or Clean Water Act) to require tank vessels and marine transportation-related facilities to prepare and submit to the US Coast Guard plans for responding, to the maximum extent practicable, to a worse case discharge, and to a substantial threat of such a discharge, of oil or a hazardous substance carried in bulk as cargo.

11 Jul 2017

Virgina Offshore Wind Project Moves Forward

One of DONG Energy's turbines in the U.K. (Photo: DONG Energy)

An offshore wind project in the U.S. mid-Atlantic is moving forward, as project owner Dominion Energy Virginia has signed an agreement and strategic partnership with DONG Energy to build two 6-megawatt turbines 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. The two companies will now begin refining agreements for engineering, procurement and construction. Dominion Energy remains the sole owner of the project. Engineering and development work on the newly named Coastal Virginia Offshore…

24 Mar 2016

BOEM Approves Virginia’s Offshore Wind Research

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced its approval of the first wind energy Research Activities Plan (RAP) for a facility to be located in U.S. federal waters, as part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to create American jobs, develop clean energy sources and cut carbon pollution. Last year, BOEM awarded a research lease to the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME) on the Outer Continental Shelf off the coast of Virginia. Today’s action clears the way for the installation and operation of two 6-megawatt (MW) turbines and associated cabling to shore, pending final engineering review of the project. The electricity generated by these turbines could power 3,000 homes.

20 Mar 2016

Mishap Aboard Ike Injures Sailors

Eight Sailors aboard the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) were injured  when an arresting gear parted during a routine landing by an E-2C Hawkeye aircraft. There were no fatalities and the Sailors are listed in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries. The injured Sailors were working on the flight deck at the time of the mishap. Six have been transported to Norfolk Sentara General Hospital for treatment. Two remain aboard IKE. The names of the injured personnel will not be released. Their families are being (have been) notified. The aircraft regained flight and returned safely to its base at Norfolk Naval Station Chambers Field. Initial reports are the aircraft was not damaged and no aircrew members were injured.

06 Oct 2015

USCG Search for Missing Crew of El Faro

Coast Guard search and rescue crews continue searching for possible survivors from the cargo ship El Faro Monday night, covering a total search area of more than 160,574 square nautical miles. While searching in the vicinity of the ship's last known position 35 nautical miles northeast of Crooked Islands, Bahamas, the Coast Guard located a deceased person in a survival suit in the water. A heavily damaged life boat with markings consistent with those on board the El Faro was also located Sunday. Additional items located by Coast Guard aircrews within a 225 square nautical mile search area include a partially submerged life raft, life jackets, life rings, cargo containers and an oil sheen Sunday. Coast Guard Cutter Resolute, a 210-foot medium endurance cutter homeported in St.

09 Jun 2015

USCG Medevacs Man Aboard Cruise Ship off Virginia Coast

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced an ailing man from a cruise ship Monday approximately 140 miles east of Cape Charles. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard 5th District Command Center in Portsmouth received a call from the 951-foot cruise ship Carnival Splendor at approximately 5 p.m., requesting a medevac for a 73-year-old passenger experiencing health complications. An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew and an HC-130 Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, launched at approximately 6 p.m. The helicopter crew arrived on scene at approximately 7 p.m., hoisted the man and a ship's nurse to the helicopter and took them to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk.

22 Oct 2014

Video: USCG Medevacs Navy Sailor off Virginia

A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., medevacs a man from a U.S. Navy vessel off the Virginia coast

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) medevaced a man Wednesday from a Navy vessel off the Virginia coast after watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads in Portsmouth received a request for the medevac from the USS Barry who reported a 36-year-old crewmember was experiencing chest pains at approximately 3 a.m. A Coast Guard video of the medevac is available here. A USCG MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew was launched from Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and arrived on scene approximately 40 miles east of Virginia Beach at about 5:10 a.m.

18 Jul 2014

US Approves Plan to Open Atlantic to Oil Reserve Surveys

The Obama administration on Friday approved a plan that would allow companies to assess oil resources off the Atlantic Coast, angering environmental groups that worried the plan will harm marine life and open the door to offshore drilling. First outlined by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in February, the plan lays out the mitigation measures companies would be required to undertake before conducting seismic testing to gauge the oil reserves in the Atlantic Ocean. "We are taking every step we think is reasonable to take to try and put those protections in place, while still allowing surveys to occur," Acting BOEM Director Walter Cruickshank said on a press call.

20 Jun 2014

Disasters at Sea & Their Impact on Shipping Regulation

MV Argo Merchant was a Liberian-flagged oil tanker that ran aground and sank southeast of Nantucket Island, Mass., on Dec. 15, 1976, causing one of the largest marine oil spills in history. U.S. Coast Guard Archives

The history of marine safety is soaked in water and written in blood. “I think that most people will tell you that changes in marine safety are almost exclusively disaster-driven,” agrees Dr. Josh Smith, a professor at Kings Point and interim director of the American Merchant Marine Museum. It hasn’t always been that way. Actually, it’s been worse. Despite some efforts early on to exert some control over shipping practices, going to sea has been accepted as a risky undertaking as long as man has floated vessels.

18 May 2014

US Coast Guard Medevacs Man From Fishing Boat Off Virginia Coast

The Coast Guard medevaced a 27-year-old crewmember Saturday from a fishing boat approximately 40 miles east of Chincoteague, Virginia Coast. The master of the fishing boat Kirsten Lee contacted Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads watchstanders at 11:15 a.m. Saturday stating a crewmember was suffering from chest pain and needed medical attention. Sector watchstanders launched a crew aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, to assist. The helicopter crew arrived on scene at approximately 1:40 p.m. hoisted the man and took him Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, Maryland. USCG

04 Sep 2013

Latest Lease Sale Shows US Commitment to Offshore Wind Development

National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) President Randall Luthi today issued the following statement Washington, D.C. "Following the Bureau of Ocean ManagementÂ’s auction in July, off the shores of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, todayÂ’s Lease Sale of 112,800 acres off the Virginia coast underscores the AdministrationÂ’s commitment to developing renewable energy resources on the Outer Continental Shelf. NOIA represents all companies involved in the production of OCS energy and applauds the Interior Department for continuing to move forward with the development of this relatively new resource. Our nationÂ’s oceans are a major source of energy and hold vast, untapped resources yet-to-be developed.

11 Feb 2013

Stiletto Maritime Demonstration Program hosts Capability Demonstration

The Stiletto Maritime Demonstration Program conducted its first Capability Demonstration, Jan. 14-27. The initial demonstration was hosted for the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) off the Virginia coast near the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Fort Story in Virginia Beach, Va. The Capability Demonstration provided NECC Sailors an opportunity to observe new technologies developed by industry in a realistic military maritime environment. The program also provided the 15 participating industry partners an opportunity to receive immediate end-user feedback toward increasing technology readiness levels. “Warfighting needs are rapidly changing…

03 Aug 2009

Lockheed Team Submits LCS FY10 Proposal

The Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) -led industry team submitted its proposal for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) fiscal year 2010 contract to the U.S. Navy on July 31. The Program Executive Office, Ships, is expected to award a contract this coming fiscal year for additional Littoral Combat Ships. The U.S. Navy is proceeding with a limited competition with winners of the Flight 0 phase of the program, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. The U.S. Navy awarded the Lockheed Martin team a fixed price incentive fee contract in March 2009 to build the Navy's third LCS. LCS 3, the Navy's future USS Fort Worth, is being built in Marinette, Wis., with more than half of the ship's modules currently under construction.

08 Sep 2008

Speed & Control @ MACH2

The Mach2 Hurricane features a fully-suspended integrated helm. By integrating the seats and the helm, the pilot's console moves in-sync with the seats (and pilot's eyes) making it easier to monitor the instruments.

Speed. When Zodiac unveiled its Hurricane MACH2 earlier this year, its eye-popping 60+ knot speed caught the attention of potential military and port security clients. "Today, if you're not 50 knots plus, you're not in the running," said J.J. Marie, president, Zodiac, at the Mach2's in-water running earlier this summer at the MACC 2008 exhibition, While the 11-m RIB is indeed fast, powered by a trio of 300-hp Mercury outboards as tested in Virginia, the boat is designed to be a flexible…

04 Mar 2004

Bow Mariner Update: Oil Recovery Ops Continue

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.

08 Mar 2004

Bow Mariner oil skimming successful

Oil skimming was suspended this weekend as bad weather moved toward the site where the tanker T/V BOW MARINER exploded and sank off the Virginia coast Saturday night. Helicopter over-flights showed the oil was mostly in thin sheens on the water, strung out in long streamers, and widely separated, limiting the amount the skimming vessel, the VIRGINIA RESPONDER, was able to recover. The sixth and final member of the crew was released from Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. All of the survivors have had an opportunity to meet with diplomatic officials from their native Philippine Islands, and have had an opportunity to call their families. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration vessel RUDE made a second attempt to obtain images of the sunken vessel with its side-scan sonar.

29 Mar 2004

Bow Mariner Salvage Operation Ends

The operation to locate and recover the missing crew from the Bow Mariner and remove fuel oil ended Friday, March 26, with the approval of the Coast Guard. The salvage effort was called off after a comprehensive search using a sophisticated ROV (remotely operated vehicle), an analysis of high-resolution video images and evaluating extensive soundings of the sunken vessel's fuel tanks. "We are saddened because we did not locate any of the 18 missing seamen," said a joint statement by Ceres and Odfjell, respectively the managers and owners of the Bow Mariner. Salvage experts retained by Ceres and Odfjell presented the results of their findings to Coast Guard officers at Norfolk's Marine Safety Office Friday.

02 Oct 2000

The Abandoned Shipwreck Act: Useful Tool for Preservation or Paper Tiger?

In 1988, Congress enacted the Abandoned Shipwreck Act (Pub. L. 100-298, 43 U.S.C. §§ 2101-2106), in an effort to give states more authority to protect the historical provenance of abandoned shipwrecks in state waters. It was one of the more controversial laws Congress passed that year because it pitted treasure salvors and divers, on the one hand, against states and historic preservationists on the other. In the end, the states won passage of the legislation, but some twelve years later, the question remains whether the Act has had the intended effect. Two significant decisions since 1988 have called into question the law's stated Congressional policy. First, a description of the Act itself.

20 Feb 2001

Treasure Hunters Thwarted By Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a ruling that Spain owns the remains of two of its warships that sank off the Virginia coast hundreds of years ago, handing a setback to a treasure-hunting, maritime salvage company. Virginia asserted ownership of the shipwrecks of the Spanish Royal Naval vessels -- La Galga, which sank in 1750, and Juno, which went down in 1802. Virginia issued Sea Hunt, a salvage company, permits to recover artifacts from the wrecks. But Spain then filed a claim asserting ownership over the shipwrecks, citing a 1902 treaty between the United States and Spain protecting shipwrecks and military gravesites. Under the treaty, vessels may be abandoned only by express acts. A U.S. appeals court ruled last year that the two ships belonged to Spain.

17 Feb 2006

Bill Allowing Offshore Drilling Introduced in Congress

An effort to open Virginia's coast to offshore drilling gained new momentum in Congress when Virginia's senators introduced legislation giving states the option to drill for natural gas. The bill would give governors of coastal states the power to opt out of a federal moratorium that prohibits offshore drilling in most U.S. coastal waters. The new legislation comes one week after the Bush administration signaled its support for such proposals by calling for a study of potential gas and oil development in Virginia waters. Unlike other recent drilling bills, however, the new legislation is limited to natural gas drilling - thereby keeping in place a federal ban on offshore drilling for oil.

17 Feb 2006

Fla. Senators Fight Drilling Plan

Citing environmental concerns, Florida senators sought to scale back oil and gas drilling plans for a part of the Gulf of Mexico, hoping to push development farther from the state's coast, the Washington Post reported. But the Republican chairman and top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee indicated they would press ahead with legislation that would open more of the area to gas development at least 50 miles closer to Florida. Proponents of the exploration say the area offers the best chance for significant new natural gas production in the next five years. The bill would require the Interior Department to begin selling leases for oil and gas development in the "181 area" of the central Gulf within a year.

13 Feb 2006

House Panel Passes Gas Exploration Bill

A proposed state energy bill that supports oil and natural gas exploration off the Virginia coast was approved by a House subcommittee, lending more momentum to advocates seeking to lift an offshore drilling ban. The U.S. Department of the Interior targeted Virginia because of its willingness to entertain renewed offshore activity. Most other coastal states, including North Carolina, have said they want to leave the moratorium in place, imposed in 1990 because of environmental concerns. Anti-drilling lobbying groups said the proposal is all about leverage and that the oil industry of using Virginia to break the coastwide moratorium so that richer reserves off New England and North Carolina’s Outer Banks might be accessible. The state energy bill, sponsored by Sen. Frank W.

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