Offshore Wind Advisory Committee - August 19, 2026

No worries.

Val, [snorts] are you ready? All set.

Thank you. Um, so I'll be calling to order the Offshore Wind Advisory Committee uh today, Wednesday, August 19th. We'll start with a pledge of allegiance.

[clears throat] I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[clears throat] Okay. So, we have a little bit of a short agenda tonight um to go through, but uh there have been some some events, some litigation, um even some legislative updates in Beacon Hill with respect to uh offshore wind. Obviously, in the past, I've gone kind of through the projects. I don't see any kind of a need to go through those projects right now. Um they're all kind of in the in a

similar state um as basically 6 months ago. The one thing uh that I do want to point out there are there is ongoing construction um for both Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind, which are the ones that are pretty much visible and off the coast um obviously of our south coast here in Westport. Those are the ones that right now um as recently as last week I could hear or feel some uh

thumping or pounding on the shoreline as they continue to put some turbines in.

And I believe that is specific for the Sunrise Wind uh development. The Revolution wind, which is still under construction, um is is getting further along. They have about 60 of the 65 turbines that is uh almost complete and they're still continuing to do some work on that. The Sunrise Wind is also an 84 turbine uh project and that power is actually going and landing cable landing

the, uh, offshore wind developers as well as, uh, attorneys generals and, uh, the federal government. And on July 16th, um our attorney general here in Massachusetts, Campbell, uh is working with seven other uh AGs to basically sue the federal government of the US Department of Interior. Uh that is with Connecticut Delaware Maine New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Not entirely sure about

Vermont. I guess they're part of the consortium, but not much coastline there with Vermont. Um but they are filing notices of intent to sue the US Department of Interior. Obviously their lawsuit is focusing on a lot of the agreements um a lot of the leasing and the permitting that have that has already gone into place or that they've that the federal government has pulled back on. Um this is dealing with both

some development both off New York offshore and also in the uh Gulf of Maine as well. So those are the projects that they're addressing. doesn't necessarily uh impact any ones right now that are either permitted, partially permitted, or allowed to uh go with their construction. So, I just want to let everyone know obviously that that is most likely pending. Uh they expect that probably uh in the August time frame. Uh

that was just a notice to uh back in July that they were going to move move forward um with that. And then in June also, Massachusetts joined a separate lawsuit challenging the Interior Department um with with New York and with other uh attorneys generals and the Trump's administration's ability to pull back permitting and licensing um for those projects that are out there. So, uh that is also ongoing litigation. Um

probably for the next couple years, uh then the administration won't be there anymore and we'll be back to square one.

also between vineyard wind and GE within that litigation and I don't I didn't didn't research constants was there any update on the GE Verona um ongoing litigation front I know you were at that case back in the beginning of the year I didn't know if it usually they drag on so there probably has not been it's being appealed u GE is appealing the judge's decision not to let them out of the contract okay

um and but I It's still in the courts. I don't think it's been uh I don't think it's gone into uh um what do you arbitration.

Arbitration. Yeah.

Um I did want to add that uh you're talking about the the cases that uh nine of the AGs are um have put up against the federal government. I think a lot of that is about uh speeding up the approval process. they feel that things have gotten stuck in the pipeline and that the Trump administration is dragging its feet in terms of uh the permitting process and so they are they're trying to get jumpst start that

again. Um and um oh go ahead. I I do have something I'd like to talk about about the south coast nor um New England wind and Atlantic shores. I think it's kind of fascinating in that at this point the active wind uh arrays uh there's it's sort of been bifurcated in that the there's been three different cases against South Coast New England wind one and two and Atlantic shores uh started by

private entities the town of Nantucket and uh save uh Long Beach Island where they have asked if the federal government balm in particular and Noah would revisit those permitting those permits and and in all cases with South Coast being the first a federal judge has said okay we're going to allow balm we're going to rem allow them to remand those particular all of each of those projects projects and then look uh

review do another review of the construction operation plans which balm is now saying that this balm is now saying the former balm and the construction operation plans that were approved uh were not uh in depth enough. They didn't they didn't um talk about cumulative uh damages. They uh they really didn't adhere to a lot of the tenants of the um outer continental shelf lands act. And so there and and

also there might be some uh issues about marine mammal protection. So it's um so what's happened is that this has been allowed to uh this is happening with the with the three pending uh projects that have not yet started physical construction. So those that have started physical construction, most of them here in our area and including Empire in New York and then uh the one down off Virginia Beach, they have

started physical construction. In fact, some of them are done or well on their way and therefore they're I think they're safe. But these other three which are very very large projects all of them are really in jeopardy. Um it will be very interesting to see uh how the uh construction operation plans are reviewed by balm and where they come uh down on this and if they in any of these

cases uh South Coast being the first if they come down and say [clears throat] they could say okay we we reviewed it go forth go strong you know go forth be strong whatever you just go ahead and and uh as your construction operation plan is written go ahead or we're going to put forward more conditions. So, we're going to ask you to go back and do some things differently or condition it

differently and more strictly or we're going to uh take away your approval. So these are very interesting cases to look at uh in with regard to how the Trump administration agency bomb is um is dealing with uh dealing with um permits that were done really at the very end of the Biden administration sort of on their way out to door the door a couple of them anyway. So that's I think a very

important thing to keep in mind is what's happening now with those that are going in and are active and physically being constructed and the three large projects that are in the pipeline that have been permitted but now they're going to they've remanded them and they're going to look at the the construction operation plans.

Thank you Constants.

Mr. Chair, yes, it's also thanks Constance for that update. Uh there's also it's not litigation but it has a similar impact a strategy or policy by the Trump administration to [clears throat] buy uh developers out of their leases uh pay them money uh with the requirement that they pursue other energy sources like gas oil coal.

And and that begs a question. If they buy someone out of the lease um and then the the pause ends at some point, can you go back and what happens to those? You have to do another round of uh RFPs or whatever they are.

Yeah.

What happens to those leases that get bought out?

Yeah.

And I don't I haven't heard an answer to that question. Well, it's actually more of of a refund of the money that they paid in for the leases originally, but there's also a requirement to pursue other energy sources.

Yes. Yeah.

So, you know, as we continue and continue to do these meetings, we can kind of see obviously over the past two years um with with the federal administration, it becomes obviously a back and forth with litigation both, you know, from the offshore wind and and suing the federal government um and obviously, you know, stripping stripping permitting and licensing. So, um, a lot of this is outside of the hands of

obviously the general public and us and there a lot of lawyers getting, uh, quite wealthy, um, defending both sides in this. Um, so that was basically just a quick, you know, kind of current events. I think the other thing that I did have on the agenda was a legislative update. And I think this is obviously a little bit more for uh, the general public. Uh the Massachusetts legislature

has adjourned uh for the summer, but uh they have a new policy in place that if obviously they pass um legislation on both sides and they do not actually um basically gel, uh they will go to a conference committee and be able to work that out outside of session. Uh so there is there are two bills that I think brings this kind of to light, especially here in Massachusetts. And I think uh

Constance made reference to um some of the local authority licensing permitting um that's either being taken away um with some of these bills, but the the one the two bills are H5175 and S3166.

It's actually in Beacon Hill terms, it's called an act to save people money, repair the climate, and grow the economy. Um it's a very ownorous bill.

Obviously, they'll be in conference committee kind of hashing things out.

Uh, a lot of it both sides were trying to figure out the statutory requirements that were in place as to obviously uh procuring certain megawatt hours of offshore wind uh over the next say year.

Actually, some of them are as close as 2027. There had been a push to kind of bump that further out. Um right now obviously the the the bill that that passed uh right now in Massachusetts the statuto requirement or target is to have 5600 megawatt hours of industrial offshore wind by June 30th of 2027. As of right now they're only around 800 megawws. Um right now the Senate bill is actually proposing to increase that

procurement target to 10,000 megawatt hours by 2040. Um so a lot of this is basically legislative speak. Uh they will be working through uh the conference committee to kind of uh put put this bill together or create a bill that uh will address um some of the basically utility costs. But there is a pretty important part in the bill that does um with the drying up of federal subsidies. a lot of the subsidies

the state now wants to take on to try to help or at least bail out some of the offshore wind um with respect to what they haven't been able to get from the federal government. And typically what happens is it you know trickles down to the consumer at the end of the day. I know uh Chris Christopher has given us a basically an analysis in the past on Eversource on the billing and and where

a lot of that comes from. Unfortunately, some of this bill, if you're going to be saddling um you know, obviously the utility companies, a lot of that will be passed on to the consumer, but it's just more for educational purposes. At this point, the bill has both passed the House and the Senate, and they will be working through a conference committee to come up with one omnibus bill um and

kind of the impacts of what that'll have both on local permitting, licensing, um obviously utility rates, uh and various other things. I think, you know, depending on which side of the aisle you are on on on offshore wind, um there are concerns at least in in Massachusetts, especially with these extreme weather events where you have 90 or 95 degree temperatures and you're becoming

dependent on at times maybe unreliable sources. So, I know there's we've talked in the past about uh New England ISO.

you can take a look at on a daily basis where the power sources are coming from, where we're getting our kilowatt hours, what the cost is on a day b day basis and a you know go forward basis. So um I think there are some concerns among among some people anecdotally is you know if you increase the need for mini splits electric cars and various other things yet you're dependent on um the

sources or supply and it and they may not they may be unreliable at times based on weather conditions. I think that's also a concern as well. Um so that's just you know to give everyone an update legislatively. I know we always hear that there are bills out there, but that is the larger bill that will be in conference committee and and kind of impacting us one way or the other because it has both passed passed both

houses and they will have to work together to um create a large bill that uh will have these either megawatt requirements in there or you know maybe it's 2040, maybe it's 2027. They will obviously negotiate and change those dates and numbers um as they see fit. Um so that's really legislatively in Massachusetts specifically um what has come out of their session this year. The the one thing I wanted to touch on and

uh we do have a special guest to speak tonight is you know the task of this committee has been to obviously address Westport specific concerns.

What uh how will Westport be impacted by the offshore wind? Um you know outside of you know what's out there? I mean the majority of what's out there has very little impact on us outside of visibility and marine life and we can argue and and talk about that. But I think the concern that we have specifically with the economic driver that our you know shoreline brings in is what is the

disaster recovery plan? And and I think the concern I think many of these communities have including Nantucket uh which we've you know and constants can touch upon that um either before or after we have our our guests come up is how do we address it as a community if there is a some sort of failure whether it's you know there are probably if I'm guessing eight different developers out

there so they're all each going to have if they have any at all plans in place as to deal with a blade failure or um spill of some sort, whether chemicals from the turbine or diesel or any of that sort of stuff. But uh getting the everyone to kind of work in the right direction. I I think the concern that we've seen and and I've had discussions with Chief Baldwin, I've had uh

discussions with uh Captain Bill Chase here with respect to what does Westport do and do we and can we put a plan in place um to deal with whatever that may be. Um there are some and constants kind of introduced me in the past to some um I guess private companies uh a company called South Coast Response that have been out you know trying to work or uh contract with many of the offshore wind

companies uh as a response to you know if there is a situation um you know we don't know what the result could be with a you know with impacts and more severe storms or hurricanes what what could actually happen out there. So, I did speak to Chief Baldwin. He is um willing to kind of work on some stuff with either the with the committee and with with Captain uh Chase as well. Um

because we do have essentially 223 turbines out there uh spread across a couple of uh I'm guessing right now probably four to five different companies presently. Um, and I know that Nantucket has been kind of battling uh with with Vineyard Wind uh and and what their plan is and and so I know that's been kind of an ongoing battle between their select board um with their um neighbor with their agreement that they

had in place. So, I did want to at least invite uh Captain Chase up to just address what he's seen with his research, what he thinks would be a maybe a possibility for us to to look at and maybe if we just have, you know, a document, whether it's two or three pages, uh and kind of a hazard mitigation plan as to how we address it.

We had seen it two years ago where it was washing up on, you know, our shorelines after Nantucket and me personally as a beach operator, I was picking it up with my hands and putting in trash bags to get it off the beach.

The DCR called Vineyard Offshore and they showed up with, you know, haz hazmat suits and picking up the fiberglass. So, I was wondering if I was subjecting myself to uh anything, but I and that obviously came a few days later. Um, so I think that we probably should have internally at least on our our public beaches and public facing beaches like East Beach and uh Cherry and Web how we will address that. So um

to that point, I'd like to invite Captain Chase up here uh just to give us kind of what he's looked at, what he thought, and I know he also they do have with Chief Baldwin and EMA plans in place for oil spills. cuz I know you guys did a uh a bit of a uh run through earlier this year in the in the at the mouth of the river. So, um kind of what

you've looked at, what you've researched and and what possibly could be at least something that Westport has in place.

Okay. Uh well, thanks for having me, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, members of the board.

Uh let me address that oil spill issue first. Back on the uh [clears throat] 13th of May, we had an a uh [clears throat] joint oil spill response drill with uh we had uh the Westport police, Westport fire, uh we had us of course we had Dartmouth fire as well, uh the Coast Guard was there, MIMA was there, and uh the mass D had a representative as well. So that

particular day was uh half of it was classroom where they kind of laid out how the structure works, response protocols, so on and so forth and uh the terms that they use for some of the uh their containment protocols.

Uh the second half of the day was spent actually deploying uh containment booms in the river.

Um, originally they wanted to have this over in Peyton Naram. Uh, and I think we were rather adamant this needed to happen in Westport. Peyton Naram's pretty benign u when it comes to tides, currents, and everything else compared to what we have here. So, this was a drill that needed to happen right here in Westport. So, uh, I thought it went very well. I feel confident. I think

Rick and Kevin and Andrew feel confident as well. uh should there be an oil spill within the river or just outside the harbor, I think we know how to respond to it and uh what that line of communication will be uh during that process. So I I I feel confident about that side of the response. This is another animal right here.

And I have to say I was really uninformed about everything that was going on from that point of view. So, I I reviewed three documents to kind of get myself up to speed. One was the u uh the hazard mitigation plan that the town just had approved just last week. I guess it was 77 pages of u instructions, ideas, protocols, you name it. I reviewed the uh vineyard wind uh plan. I

It was more like a plan for a plan. Um six pages. I want to see that. That was the most fluff I've ever seen in one document. I I have to tell you must be the first thing you read from Vineyard Gwyn. But well, I've seen a lot of these response plans. I I was in the oil transportation world at the end of my career. They've got a a plan for everything there. This

looked like it was kind of copied and pasted out of out of one of something I'd seen before. Um what was the third one? Oh, the uh the South Coast response plan. Uh which made an awful lot of sense quite honestly. Um, so there are a few assumptions I think we can make or I can make from that little review that I just did uh today.

One is that locally Westport's hazardous response plan, I mean, I only did one read through it. It's 77 pages. And granted, I didn't get it all. I didn't see Marine Services in there. I didn't see Hopper [clears throat] Master in there. Like, nobody included us in any of this. Um I do understand though this this is a living document and I guess what that means is it can be modified adjusted accordingly. Uh so I would

suggest we have another look at that at some point and see if we can't include the hopper master in uh in all of this.

I mean we work pretty close with with police and fire. If there's something that they need from us, they know how to get us. Uh, but I think if you want to put that down formally as you approach the issue of blade disintegration, I think that would be a good place to start.

Again, Vineyard Winds plan. I mean, give me a break. Uh, it was I don't know if I even should comp comment on it. It was just a plan to make a plan. So, I I think it seems like they're just kind of trying to just push it down the road a little bit without doing anything about it. That's my That's my assessment there. The uh South Coast response plan, um I've met Mr.

Butler and um who's Acriman was the other principal in that proposal.

Uh that is something I I think there's a future for that kind of response infrastructure.

You've already got it for oil, you know, the regional uh response vessels, Portland, New York, I guess. I don't know who the next one is south, probably Baltimore.

uh something along those lines that would be dedicated towards uh uh debris.

I mean, this is all debris, that big long definition of debris that we've seen that Noah uses and that the Coast Guard uses. Um I think there's a place for that in the future.

So, I I was just mentioning to Jake out in the park, I think Vineyard Win would be wise to get in touch with Mr. Butler about this and see if they couldn't put their heads together and and solve this problem because right now in my opinion we are completely unprotected from like what Nantucket just experienced.

Um it's not going to get fixed today, this week, this month and probably not this year. But I would advise us to come up with some kind of a local plan to deal with it because it's going to happen. It's just inevitable.

probabilities are there.

So, um I'm here to offer whatever help I can.

We've got six pretty decent boats that I think could be part of any kind of uh uh debris uh reclamation, whatever you want to call it. Uh so, I think we've got the equipment, we've got the knowledge, and the desire to help out here. So, um but again, right now, we're completely unprotected.

So, u Christopher was first and then John, I have I have a couple things, but I do have one specific question. So, you were talking alluding to the the South Coast plan. Who exactly are the parties to that? Is that is that a uh organization or is that a group like a group?

As I got it, Chris, there was this was two individuals putting forth the business plan.

It's a fledgling business plan. That makes a heck of a lot of sense.

It does. Two young mariners. I now I recall. Now I recall. Okay. Excellent.

Excellent.

You read it.

Well, I and I will just say it is unfortunate and frustrating that we're having to discuss this on on just a local level. This is something that should be in place. And I, you know, we we can argue the merits of offshore wind. We can argue the merits of of providing more subsidies uh and kind of doubling down as as a legislature is doing right now. It is extremely frustrating to me that there is still no

conversation about uh what happens when an inevitable disaster strikes again.

There's still very little requirements of the offshore wind producers in general uh on on a federal level and and now even a state level uh as to how to mitigate uh when when something does happen. So it it's frustrating we're having to have this conversation in in the dark. And I I I certainly don't envy your position on this just you know not having a lot to to go on. Um, so you you

mentioned you're certainly interested in, you know, talking on the town level to to add into the the mit the town level mitigation plan.

Um, just spec, you know, are there any specifics that immediately come to mind as to what could be put in there in in terms of a response to a a blade failure?

Well, first of all, I I think there needs to be some kind kind of criteria for notification.

Absolutely.

They're going to know a long time before we know. So, where does the call come from? Is it the CEO of Vineyard Win? Is it the ops manager? Who is it that makes the call? And who does he speak to? Is it the chairman of the select board? Is it highway department, police, fire? Who that just establishing a line of communication so we'd have some kind of a hint that something's coming would be

a really good first start.

That's very good.

Yeah, that's very interesting that you should say that because I've been uh talking with some people in Nantucket with uh um people from the Nantucket Land and Water Council. And um the plan that you're talking about from Vineyard Wind is actually just a plan summary because that's all that they were required to give the town of Nantucket itself. And it's just full of Swiss it's

just Swiss cheese. It's it's it doesn't there's so many gaping holes in it. uh legally. And so um the uh the Land and Water Council uh responded and uh made comments to ask questions about it and to try to get the actual plan itself.

And the town of um of Nantucket has been trying to get the actual plan itself, not just a three-page summary of the plan. And they are not having any success. Um the council put in a foyer request um to to uh Vineyard Wind and still has not received anything. But when we were talking, this question came up about why weren't other coastal communities that were impacted specifically that by

that blade failure asked to comment on this plan. Um, and then in the plan itself, it only talks about notification of people of officials from Nantucket and from Ma's Vineyard. Well, we we got a lot of that blade debris because of the we were down current from it. And some, like you said, I don't know what it is, but we seem to be like a magnet for stuff sometimes. And uh why wouldn't

Westport and other coastal villages that are around this area, why wouldn't they also be a part of that for notification, not just from Vineyard Win, but from any of the offshore projects if something goes down? And especially if you're a community that's down current of that, it seems like there ought to be some plan in place for them to pick up the telephone or whatever and [clears throat] say, "This is what's

happened." so that you can have the heads up of all right this this is something that we have to so let me ask you this constants when was Nantucket notified and how long after two days afterwards and only because a mariner only because a a a ship captain saw a big hunk of the fiberglass floating in the water and reported it did they and then then it became clear something had happened and that is when

the town of Nantucket heard from Vineyard Win.

Well, then I would think the logical question would be what did Vineyard Win know and when did they know it?

They knew it immediately.

Then why didn't they contact anyone?

I mean, I find it remarkable that these turbines are operational without some kind of protections.

And most of that blade is still on the ocean floor. They've never taken it up.

It's still sitting there next to that turbine. It are these all fiberglass. What what is the fiberglass resin um and poly uh foam you know?

Yeah.

John um thank you for your presentation as you began your presentation about how Westport deals with oil.

I think that is a really good thing to think about uh because I if you don't think about either oil or wind but you think about uh pollution impacts from energy whatever they are then I I think it may give us some hints on how to proceed.

And after the Bousard oil spill dumped a million gallons of oil right off our shores, uh legislation was passed to require uh two tugs, not one. And I think there was other legislation. And the other thing that happened uh and I'm not sure if this h I think it happened after Buchard and as a result of Buchard is people realize it's not a single town that gets impacted. It's a region that gets impacted

and uh as you talked about your training involved Westport, Dartmouth, some uh state agencies and federal agencies.

That's what they set up for oil response. And so the the as I see it, the overall strategy on oil is you want a disincentive to pollute and then you want to plan for if there is pollution, how to deal with it. And so in oil, the disincentive is if you pollute, the federal government is going to fine you the cost of cleaning up the pollution and it goes into a trust. I

was a trustee on Buchard for mitigation of natural resources. Uh and so if you know you're going to have to pay for it because there's legislation, then you're going to be more careful and there is a bit of a disincentive and that exists in oil. It would be nice if it existed in in wind. And then on the how do you clean it up? the network that was established to link all of the

coastal towns in Massachusetts and MIMA and the Coast Guard and Noah, you know, every federal agency. So, you're all used to working together. And so, the communication that you talked about and Christopher talked about is uh I don't have if I'm Vineyard Wind, I don't have to talk to 30 different entities, right? I call one and that immediately spreads out to everybody uh because you want rapid reaction and you

want coordinated reaction because as we've all said the impact was Nantucket was the vineyard was Westport you know it was in a lot of places. So if you have a team already set up to handle regional impacts, which you already have with oil, that's why I'm saying if if there's a mo if you use the model that you already have with oil for offshore wind, I I think the oil one's really good

and it's like either folding offshore wind into oil or xeroxing it and uh and copying it. But I think a lot of really good work has been done with the towns and the other agencies on oil and and that's instructive in terms of the best way to deal with uh pollution from offshore wind.

It's going to take litigation. I mean not litigation, it's going to take legislation.

Yeah.

But and both federal and state like the two tug thing was state legislation, right? And uh but I think there's also f the the uh penalties and trust is federal legislation.

So it's probably going to take both constant.

Well, yeah, I agree. And the um the Nantucket folks were saying that there might be a that they would welcome some help from other communities in terms of how do you begin to put this together regionally? How do you put it together where it's all all of the communities are involved in this and the everyone needs to know if there is um uh if something happens.

Well, you know, Constance, you could start with the Buzzers Bay Task Force.

Yeah.

I got a call the other night 10:00 when the fire started over at Crow Island in Fair Haven. That was Buzz's Bay Task Force activating.

If a guy in Westbrook can find out about a fire in Fair Haven within minutes, Yeah. You would think exactly it we could be notified in a reasonable amount of time.

That's why I'm saying that model works and you guys practice uh you train on it, you practice on it. The networks are all there, the personal relationships are all there.

And if you just say, well, in addition to oil, let's talk about offshore wind.

Same thing, same response. We need to clean stuff off the beach. The closest res emergency response team is in um is in New Jersey, 17 hours away by boat that can deal with a major chemical or oil spill that would happen out in these wind tur turbine areas and and has the equipment to really deal with it. That's 17 hours away by boat.

Well, that that vessel is designed to recover oil, right? I mean, I'm sure there are a lot of similarities like John was mentioning.

Um, I almost think ultimately, [clears throat] like John mentioned, you need to basically duplicate that process with vessels targeted for debris collection as opposed to oil.

How do we get that started? I mean, it how do we begin to pull that effort together? Because I think it does it has to be a regional effort more than just little Westport has. And I think my and I think my question might help the Buzzes Bay task force is that just all the communities is a fair haven, New Bedford Dartmouth Westport everyone Marian where up so that's the entire I

mean would that be the probably the starting point for that is to have they even thought about it or addressed it because to Constance's point to John's point unfortunately I think the only action we're going to get is after the fact after you have you know everything happens after a tragedy or something that happened. I don't think we're going to get the legislature to, you know, when they're trying to incentivize

offshore wind to make it more difficult for them. I mean, if if you look at the incident response plan that they that currently is out there, you know, it basically starts with reaching out to the US Coast Guard and marine containment, you know, and going from there. I'm afraid that the delay has been pointed out that, you know, I'd much rather clean up our beaches as best we can if need be. Um because Nantucket

actually two years ago I think they ended up getting a payout from offshore wind for the impact on their tourism for the I think they closed that beach for two weeks at least from GE G paid it. But I think that I think that's the concern is that if we're looking at a federal issue depending on who cares. Yeah.

But after the fact is when you know Yeah, [clears throat] Mr. Chair is when you can get legislation done. The key is uh who proposes the legislation, right?

So that the legislation is intelligent.

But again, I think what you've already got in the oil response plan is just having that network of people say, "Okay, how is this different if it's a blade failure or or some other failure with offshore wind?" But you've already got the network set up.

And if and you use the incident of the blade failure to say whether you're talking to federal legislation or whether you're talking to state legislation, hey, we should learn from this, right? And we should prevent it.

That's the idea of the two tugs on a barge, right? To prevent the next one from happening.

But we need a lot of equipment. I mean it would take it would take some a lot of equipment to really get up to speed to be able to but with oil I think the a lot of equipment is that every town you know I don't know how many municipalities there are have equipment [clears throat] and so when there's a spill somewhere you all come to each other's aid on that you

got Frank Corp you got you know other companies that do that stuff well they come out of the woodwork when you call them oh Yeah. Well, and and just just to I guess reiterate here, the issue is that all of these all of these requirements for oil producers and all these mitigation response plans, they're all there for a very good reason. And what we're missing is the disincentive you spoke of. And

that's that's the very frustrating part about this. This should not be a conversation that we're we're we're having to badger a single harbor master in a single town. This is this should we didn't badger something, you know.

very every very every very every very broad should this no worries bring it but but uh no it it is it is just so frustrating that again we're not arguing about the merits we're just saying you're missing half of what needs to be in legislation because uh you know no matter if it's oil if it's wind you need to be responsible for cleaning up your mess and we're just completely missing that from offshore wind right now

and I think if you went to the feds and say you have this with oil, right? You already have the ability to go make the poller uh pay money into a trust. Just copy it for offshore wing. Just copy it.

Well, these you've already done it once. It's good.

These two young men tried to do that repeatedly and um with both Noah and Bal and actually I think they came to the New Bedford Ocean Cluster uh with this idea. I I don't remember them coming to us but and was uh encouraged to go and talk with Vineyard Win and so they tried doing that and Vineyard Win wasn't particularly interested in talking with them and never got back with them. Um

because another piece of this isn't just the emergency response according to the the South Coast response uh business plan which we're looking at which I think makes a lot of sense. It's it's underdeveloped but I mean there's some good stuff in there to think about. um is that it's not only just an emergency response um ability or capability business. It's also a monitoring. It's an ongoing

monitoring um having a boat or two out there because these I mean it's covering ultimately this is going to this is covering like what 1500 um miles square miles out there. So, it's also keeping tabs on is there an oil is something happening with one of the turbines? Is is there oil coming off of it or is there a chemical spill? And we've got now we've got these huge um uh uh

substations out there. I mean, they are huge. So, that wouldn't hurt to have some sort of monitoring that's that's for our region and not being done only inhouse. because can you really trust all the companies to report something when it's happening? So the one part of this I think that was a little bit more problematic but I think is worth thinking about is the ongoing monitoring of what's going on out there

because we don't know one knows you know um you mentioned constants that the blade failure was discovered by a mariner um and Vineyard Wind I think hired 58 fishing boats uh out of different ports to do different aspects that they needed. And believe me, the the fishing boats who participated uh appreciated the the extra income they got uh to do uh security patrols, other things like that. So that

uh they're are already out there and Vineyard Wind to take one example is used to [snorts] hiring fishing vessels to do tasks that are necessary.

And so I don't think it's a huge leap. I agree with you on the monitoring to uh realize they're already out there 365 days a year. Uh if they have uh a responsibility or a retainer or whatever it is, uh then you've got the network there. It's just a question of how do you do the compensation and the training so that they can do the monitoring and they're independent of vineyard win,

right? And of all of the and we're not we're not just talking about Vineyard Win, we're talking about all of all of them in this region.

What's important on not just the monitoring, but there needs to be a chain of of communication. So, like you said, if if something happens, how are you going to hear about it? And again, that just doesn't exist as it stands right now. But that's remarkable as well. In an age of instant communication, there should be some sort of protocol.

Yeah. About that.

Um, sorry. Go ahead, Mr. Chair. I just I have one question for you here. So, the it is the nature that this is an advisory committee. Um, this does strike me as some as something that perhaps a select board could look into to reach out to other communities on the south coast to reach out to the buzz buzzards bay coalition or to try and I guess begin the process of of creating some sort of of regionwide

plan. I know you know Nantucket is certainly in the middle of of the negotiation or I guess negotiations but they're not really getting that far. I this this can't just be one town. It needs to be an entire regional effort.

No.

I'm just wondering if that's something that could be No. And I think that's I think just with the few people we have around this table, we've come up with some very good ideas. Um I think I think it probably would flow through best with communication with Captain Chase and the Buzzes Bay task force. Um, I'd be happy to work with um, Captain Chase and and uh, Chief Baldwin and and others to at

least and and I'd already touch he's actually already touched base with a few others and needless to say, like uh, Captain Chase has here, we weren't uh, overly impressed with the uh, what we were given back. So, I think that that what we've talked about today at least will help us as a community to kind of move forward with that. And I I think I think that's probably something we can

do with the connections that we have uh to see if that's something other communities nearby would want to do. And I I'm my goal in this is to have a response plan that's almost immediate like once we know I you know I don't want to be sitting there calling DCR and uh and others in the state in order for us to figure out the best way to contain this or do this. I think we have the

resources as a community. Um, Captain Chase has turned Marine Services into obviously uh a great agency. So, I think that we have what we need here and maybe unfortunately we may in a home rule scenario have to do what we have to do as a town as a town of Westport. But I think I think this may just at least shed light on it.

And I I appreciate uh Captain Chase coming here tonight to speak about it, but it sheds light on something that probably needs to be looked at a lot a lot more closely. something that would at least codify like a processification who to call who to call. Well, you know, just anything that that can be done and perhaps maybe somebody could take take up take it up on the legislature side maybe

because my guess is that Buzzards Bay task force I'm sure there's uh fishermen within that community that would be reporting back to their harbor masters or others or marine services and you know then word would spread that way unfortunately. Well, where Buzzards Bay might be important in terms of that organization, it's not really Buzzard's Bay that's got that gets affected by this as much. Um, we get it because

we're outside Buzzard's Bay and Nantucket got it and um and some of it washed up even as far away as Long Island. Um, and Compton I just bring that up as a means of communication example that that's all right. But I would recommend getting in touch with a few people out in Nantucket and I could help make that introduction because actually the people at the Nantucket Land and Water Trust mentioned, you know,

this is something that we should be talking with other towns about and maybe if we put our if we if we came together on this, we might be able to get a little bit further, especially with the state. Um and I you know I I mean given the fact that um these two young men have come up with this great business plan. I mean it why not bring one of

them? Why not bring um Nol um uh Nolan Butler?

Yeah. Why not bring why not bring him into it is it would be so nice to include somebody young that has that has really been looking at this issue and and give them a little pat on the back from all the work they've done. Um, and of course they're they're both mariners. They both uh graduated from the academy and they're out there working in the in the field. So they're not against offshore

wind. They just want to see what's going on out there held to the same standards that oil and gas and and to Mr. Bullet's point, you know, the the a protocol exists. It'd be pretty easy to just move it over. And and really I mean I think that plan now now that I remember exactly which which plan we're referring to they they model a lot of the response off of what is

already in place for oil and gas. One of there there were two organizations I think that have a buzzards bay um scale that after Buchard helped to link all the towns together in a response and um one of them was a Buzzbake coalition the other was Joe Costa's group the he's retired now the Buzzards Bay project but they both have ongoing relationships with all the towns and uh including the vineyard. I don't

know about Nantucket, so you'd have to add Nantucket to it, but you've got all of the towns, the Elizabeth Islands, uh and all the towns on this side of the bay. And Westport is borders Buzzard's Bay. So, um, but that network, that's the point I tried to make, exists because those organizations got into town halls, every town hall, and said, "Hey, you guys got to work together on this, otherwise we're going to have

another oil spill."

All these suggestions take time, right?

They just use the word legislature. You can just stick years on it. Yeah. And and I think the the biggest challenge of all of this is fact someone has to get paid to do the cleanup.

So you're talking about dispatching huge vessels, equipment, clean up, and no one's going to go and deploy millions of dollars worth of equipment that's going to cost hundreds of thousand dollars a day to have unless they know that the money is going to come from somewhere.

Yeah.

And like John, you were saying that, you know, there's a safety net with oil, right? there's people are accountable.

People know that FEMA or the government's going to come up with the money to clean it. Um without the framework of blade debris or uh spill from, you know, energy producer, I guess you could link wind turbines and solar and oil all in the same bucket if you wanted to, right? Yeah, but oil and gas, they actually have to pay into a um into a kitty into in into

a fund and it's run by I can't remember the name of the organization. I mean, they actually pay into it. And and um the wind companies, I got all this from from Ben and uh from Ben and um and Nolan's um um business plan. But um they also are paying into it, but at a fraction of the percentage that the oil and gas companies are. They're not really, you know, they're not really modeling

the oil and gas businesses in terms of how much it actually would take to clean up a chemical or fuel major fuel spill or if a turbine goes down during a storm or something. So, they're kind of get they're getting off real easy in terms of how much they're paying into this fund. This fund is already set up.

I just don't think that these companies are big enough to not allowed to fail.

All companies are big enough where they can't fail, right? They're they're going to support each other. The government will let them fail.

But and and that's the thing. These, you know, the if Vineyard Wind shuts shuts down tomorrow, there's nothing there. There's no, you know, there is no uh no law, no requirement for them to clean up their mess. But the wind companies are basically most of them are oil companies.

I mean they're the same companies.

They're just they just set up the joint ventures so that you know different one more thing Mr. Chair.

Yes.

Between now and whenever this all comes to fruition.

What do we do if that same if we have the same experience Nucket just had tomorrow? I'll be standing next to Jake picking up shards like this.

Um there's nothing in place right now, right?

What do you all suggest we do is between now and Nirvana?

Yeah, I I think right now is is you me I'm putting on a different hat as a select board member. uh working with you probably on that and and Chief Baldwin to figure out the best way to get something together here internally in in town and and and Chief Baldwin's aware of that because I reached out to him on this as well. So I think that's let's just whether it's a coordinated effort

between you and and police and fire like you do in other situations and we have it and and we know that something's happening. I think that that's the first step. I think and actually the first step even before all that is maybe we work on trying to uh get you at least included in that hazard mitigation plan.

Um that that's that's number one that I have on my list and then we can kind of work from there. Uh because I think it's probably just overlooked at the time, but like I said, what what your agency has turned into with the equipment you have, with the staff you have, I think you are an asset uh in any of these situations as a coastal community. So I think first step is let's let's figure

out how to make some amendments to a hazard mitigation plan and then uh I think next step is after that is you know speaking with other communities through the task force or through others to see if there's an appetite to to do something along those lines.

Okay. We've also there was a meeting I want to say it's September 15th police fire us DCR cherry web we had a couple of these meetings before the season started just to kind of coordinate. So, this is an after season debrief, if you will. So, that's going to happen in the middle of next month.

I'd be happy to attend that time.

I'll attend that.

All right.

And in both capacity, where is uh we've been having them in the uh training room over at the uh police department.

But yeah, that'll be something I can attend both in my capacity here and on the select board as well. So, th those meetings have been incredibly helpful.

Okay.

From a coordination point of view. So, well, I appreciate you, Captain Chase, coming in and I think this is just at least shedding light on it and we can uh we can now actually start doing and taking a little bit of action and have something in place.

Okay.

If it happens in the next week, you and I'll be picking up fiberglass with with gloves on and I'll be there at least warm out.

Thank you, Captain.

Thank you all. Appreciate it.

[clears throat] Uh so that was basically our introduction into figuring out obviously a disaster uh plan here for uh Westport with respect to offshore wind. Um I don't remember what the final decision was to how often we were going to be meeting with it's quarterly not twice a year. Okay.

Quarterly. I thought it was quarterly.

Okay.

To this make sure we had a summer date approximately three months from today would be okay. Shauna, would you like to pick a date?

I mean, look at my calendar.

So three and I would hope that obviously at that maybe it could be a situation if if the individuals from South Coast Response would want to be here. I think within 3 months we might have a better understanding as to what we're working with here and maybe have an update based on that. Uh, and then if there's any other ideas, it would be great if we could get them to come and speak about.

So, three months is Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving.

Can we do before Thanksgiving? probably want to do the 18th. Wait, do we do these on Wednesday?

Yes, Wednesday.

Yes. So, the 18th probably.

Okay. So, I say tenatively, but usually they always fall right into place. So, uh Wednesday, November 18th, uh would be the next meeting date.

Uh the approval of minutes, [sighs] I don't did we So, I do not have minutes from the last meeting. Mhm.

Cuz I was not in attendance, but I did I I I I don't recall if the meet if the minutes were approved from that meeting or not. So I will maybe make a motion to approve all outstanding minutes as as even if that number is zero.

And that's fine. And then I second that.

So all those in favor?

I No, I haven't seen them. I'm not going to Oh, well we did.

You you've seen the I haven't seen them recently. That's fine. It passed. I'm voting no.

Okay. there.

No, he there was just the last meeting.

We don't have any for the He had sent them around the first time.

Yeah, we're not talking about this.

You're not talking about the last I'm talking about the last set which I think and I don't know if I don't know if you all voted on them last.

I'm double checking. I think we did, but I'm double checking them anyway. We double approved them because because my wasetching about the fact that there was they were quite long.

I they were quite extensive and could you make them shorter, please?

Uh, all right. Um, motion to adjurnn.

Second.

All those in favor?

I I'm waiting.