CESA-USOWC Webinar: Offshore Wind Ecological Studies – Findings from New Jersey Research Project

The U.S. Offshore Wind Collaborative and Clean Energy States Alliance hosted a webinar for the purpose of briefing participants on the comprehensive offshore wind ecological studies project conducted by the New Jersey Department of the Environment.

The New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection led a two-year research project to fill major data gaps for birds, sea turtles, marine mammals, and other natural resources and their environments in a large study area of over 1300 square miles off the NJ coast. The two-year $7 million study, completed in 2010, assessed the environmental impacts at sites proposed for several wind energy projects in waters adjacent to the state.

Dr. Gary Buchanan, Manager of NJ DEP’s Office of Science, provided an overview of the study and its key findings. The information generated by the New Jersey study may be of assistance to other states, federal agencies, and stakeholders in evaluating future offshore wind project proposals in other areas off the Atlantic Coast, in designing effective studies that supplement the NJ work, in selection of effective study methodologies, and in reducing regulatory review uncertainties.

Report – Ocean/Wind Power Ecological Baseline Studies