CORE Hub October 2024 Newsletter

Happy autumn! Below are October’s highlights on offshore wind and related interests. 

In Memoriam:

At the end of August, we lost Fernando Campos. Fernando was a beautiful human, loving father, kind friend, passionate about labor in this country, and a damn good organizer. Fernando was a longtime leader in LiUNA Local 324. He was an important part of the CORE Hub Network and a real trusted partner in imagining how to shape offshore wind in a way that centered community agency and decision making and ensured protections and benefits in legally binding mechanisms. Fernando encouraged us to aim higher and reach for more. It was an honor to work with him and we will continue to live his legacy as we push for a just and equitable climate transition.

Thank you for what you taught and brought. Thank you for your lifetime of advancing worker protections and power. We will honor you with our actions going forward. 

Upcoming opportunities for funding, leadership and learning:

• A state renewable grant opportunity with NO MATCH requirement!
  • California Energy Commission (CEC) released an applied research solicitation in August: GFO-24-301 – Environmental Sustainability of a Clean Energy Transition (Enviro-SET) – due Nov. 8. It includes $1.2 million in possible funding for “Assessing and minimizing environmental and biological resource impacts of land-based clean energy installations”… like microgrids 
  • Almost out of time for this unusually large grant pool for very flexible uses—alert your partners with Tribal Nations!
• The Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Tribal Climate Resilience Annual Awards Program grant applications are due October 18th. This is not likely to be funded at this level in future years. Here are the Video & Slides from the July 30th informational webinar. 

• Applications Open for Participation on Advisory Group for Oregon’s Offshore Wind Energy Roadmap, applications are due by noon on Monday, October 14, 2024.
  •  In response to Oregon’s House Bill 4080, relating to offshore wind energy development, DLCD is seeking community members and other experts who are interested in or knowledgeable about offshore wind energy development to inform development of a state Offshore Wind Energy Roadmap. Information here.
    
• Lobstermen, Lobbyists, and Labor Unions: Knowledge Gaps and Power in Maine’s Offshore Wind Development
  • This is a lecture in person at Cal Poly Humboldt on Monday, October 14, 3:00-4:30 pm, Library Fishbowl (LIB 209).
  • Dr. Prakash Kashwan offers lessons for promoting policy development in the presence of competing interests and knowledge gaps. He shows that countering the cynical politics of entrenched opposition demands nimble and adaptive collaborations among actors cutting across the silos of state, society, and markets. He concludes by reflecting on the implications of this research for OSW policy development on the West Coast.
    
• Conference: Navigating Tribal Co-Stewardship and Co-Management | November 19-20 in Chandler Arizona
  • First Nations Development Institute and Native American Rights Fund are hosting this 2-day conference for Tribal and federal employees and representatives to grow the field of co-management. Click here for more info and to register.

Recent Events and Updates:

• CAISO visit
  • The California Independent System Operator visited the region September 30th. CAISO is responsible for transmission planning in California, including the two high voltage transmission lines and substation that will be constructed to facilitate offshore wind energy getting to the state wide grid. 
  • The CAISO team met with tribal partners, took an informational tour around Humboldt Bay on the Madaket, and participated in a community roundtable. They learned about the area, listened to priorities around transmission planning, and answered questions about their processes.
    • People asked questions about the developer selection process, requirements around community engagement, how their transmission plans intend to address regional energy vulnerabilities, and the feedback mechanisms between CAISO and developer partners. 
      
• FERC approves ISO interconnection reforms
  • The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a comprehensive series of reforms to the California Independent System Operator’s (ISO) interconnection process, ruling that the changes will help “ensure that interconnection customers are able to interconnect to the transmission system in a reliable, efficient, transparent, and timely manner.”
    
• BOEM Postpones Oregon Offshore Wind Energy Auction
  • The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced that it is delaying the offshore wind energy auction planned for potential lease areas offshore Oregon due to insufficient bidder interest at this time.
  • BOEM will continue to collaborate with representatives from federal, state and local agencies and Tribal governments, to coordinate on potential leasing and support ongoing stakeholder engagement processes on broader offshore wind considerations, such as the state-led development of a strategic roadmap for offshore wind.
    
• Tribes file lawsuit to delay Southern Oregon floating offshore wind auction
  • The Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians filed a lawsuit on Sept 16, 2024 claiming the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, failed to consider the environmental, cultural and economic impacts of the potential of floating offshore wind. The tribes’ intent is to get BOEM to conduct a thorough environmental impact statement that “honestly” looks at the impact wind energy would have on the Oregon Coast.

Academic Articles and In the news: 

• Study of OSW benefits and costs on the East and Gulf Coasts
  • Study by Resources for the Future, a DC based nonprofit, independent research institution published Oct. 2. 2024. 
  • This study projects and evaluates effects of 32 planned or proposed offshore wind farms along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, which would produce approximately 2.5% of US and Canadian electricity generation. 
  • They examine how those offshore wind farms would affect other electricity generation capacity, generation, emissions, health, costs for electricity and natural gas customers, profits of the electricity and natural gas supply industries, and net government revenues, in the year 2035.
    
• Department of Land Conservation and Development Youtube channel
  • The Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development has a youtube channel
  • The DLCD’s mission is to help communities plan for, protect, and improve the built and natural systems that provide a high quality of life. 
  • Look through this channel for virtual community meetings about OSW development in OR and other informational resources
    
• Oregon Offshore Wind Energy Roadmap
  • Information and application to serve on a roundtable for the Oregon OSW Energy Roadmap development.
  • House Bill 4080 in the 2024 Legislative Session directed the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) to develop an Offshore Wind Energy Roadmap that defines standards to be considered in the processes related to offshore wind energy development and approval. According to House Bill 4080, the standards defined in the Offshore Wind Roadmap must support:
    • Effective stakeholder engagement 
    • Local and regional coastal communities 
    • The creation of economic opportunities and sustainment of existing local and regional economies 
    • The creation of an offshore wind energy workforce that is local, trained, housed and equitable 
    • Protection of tribal cultural and archaeological resources, culturally significant viewsheds and other interests of Indian tribes 
    • Protection of the environment and marine species 
    • Achievement of state energy and climate policy objectives, including energy resource diversity, reliability and resilience of state and regional energy systems 
  • DLCD will appoint members of the Roundtable for the Offshore Wind Energy Roadmap (Roadmap Roundtable) to advise on development of the Roadmap content and engagement process. DLCD will be seeking information, perspectives, and suggestions related to the topic areas identified in HB 4080. 
  •  The Offshore Wind Roadmap development process will include opportunities for community engagement through June 2025.
    
• World’s First Semi-submersible offshore wind farm is churning out astonishing amount of energy
  • WindFloat Atlantic, located off the coast of Portugal, was the first semi-submersible wind farm in the world. Built in 2020, the installation has blown past projections for output in its four years of operation. The wind farm provides power for 25,000 houses each year and prevents 33,000 tons of planet-heating carbon dioxide from being produced.

Policy Updates:

• AB 2537 (Addis) was vetoed
  • AB 2537 would have created a state-wide fund for community and Tribal capacity to participate in and shape offshore wind development. The bill had no opposition, and no Democratic no votes, with a broad list of supporters from environmental and environmental justice groups to the offshore wind industry. However, the Governor vetoed the bill last month, unfortunately closing the door on important resources our region needs to be more engaged in offshore wind planning. 

• AB 1284 was signed into law! New California Law Means Clearer Path for Tribes to Co-Manage Lands and Waters
  • On September 27, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 1284, which supports cooperation on natural resources stewardship by clarifying and encouraging co-management agreements between federally acknowledged Tribal Nations and the state, for the purposes of shared responsibility, decision-making, and partnership in resource management and conservation within a tribes ancestral lands and waters. Click here for summary and text of the bill.
  • “The success of AB 1284 … is a victory for all tribal nations in California,” said Jeri Lynn Thompson, chairperson of the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation, one of the bill’s biggest supporters, said in a news release issued by Ramos’ office. “It paves the way for more equitable partnerships with the state in managing our natural resources.”