Maria Mitchell Association Pulls Out Of "Good Neighbor Agreement" With Vineyard Wind

The Nantucket-based non-profit group The Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) announced Wednesday that it was pulling out of so-called "Good Neighbor Agreement" with Vineyard Wind, alleging the offshore wind company had breached the terms of the agreement signed back in August 2020.

"This decision was not made lightly," MMA executive director Joanna Roche wrote in a letter sent to supporters of the organization on Wednesday. "For the past several years, as more information became available regarding additional wind turbine projects, the aggregate impact of the lighting on each turbine, and the recent blade failure, it became increasingly clear to us that the impact on our night skies and our island community was not something we could support."

The MMA was a co-signer of the agreement along with the town of Nantucket and another non-profit group, the Nantucket Preservation Trust. The deal bound the town and those organizations to commit their support to the offshore wind energy project in exchange for $16 million to mitigate the potential historical, cultural, and economic impacts of the turbines on Nantucket. Vineyard Wind also agreed to several other concessions, including the removal of the row of turbines closest to the island, painting the turbines a “non-reflective off-white/light gray color to blend into the horizon” and installing an aircraft detection lighting system (ADLS) which will only turn on if there is an aircraft in proximity to the turbines.

The Good Neighbor Agreement has been roundly criticized by island residents opposed to the Vineyard Wind project, and following the blade failure on July 13 that sent debris onto Nantucket's beaches and beyond, those objections have only grown louder. A new non-profit group made up of island residents and businesses known as Keep Nantucket Wild is preparing to submit a petition to the Nantucket Select Board with more than 2,000 signatures urging the town to also withdraw from the agreement with Vineyard Wind.

Roche told the Current Wednesday that the MMA's decision to pull out of the agreement was the result of a unanimous vote of the organization's 16-person board of directors.

The MMA informed Vineyard Wind of the decision in a letter to Lars Thaaning Pedersen, the CEO of its parent company Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, a Danish investment firm, on Oct. 8. The letter claims Vineyard Wind breached the Good Neighbor Agreement in its conduct following the July 13 blade failure off Nantucket, as well as through its failure to get the ADLS system operational.

"Not only did your company fail to cooperate with us regarding the development, permitting, construction, operations, and maintenance of the Projects, but when this marine cataclysm occurred, Vineyard Wind failed to notify Nantucket officials and residents — including our Association — to enable us to respond to this environmental disaster," the letter states. "To date, remarkably, there has been no outreach from Vineyard Wind to the Association regarding the turbine failure or any other of your company’s other obligations under the Agreement."

Read the full letter from MMA to Vineyard Wind

Back in 2020 when the MMA signed onto the Good Neighbor Agreement, Roche did not hold the position of executive director at the non-profit agency. It was former executive director Jason Bridges, who was also a member of the Select Board at the time, who signed the deal on behalf of the MMA.

In her letter to Vineyard Wind, Roche emphasized that the risks of blade failure were never disclosed to the Maria Mitchell Association.

"Your company has been unable to explain what happened or offer any assurance that such a failure will not happen again," Roche stated. "Quite the opposite, this blade failure exposed a risk not previously disclosed to us when we signed the Good Neighbor Agreement — that these blades fail regularly and that it is likely that more blades at the Project will fail during its lifetime."

The ADLS system at Vineyard Wind - intended to reduce the visibility of the safety lighting at the project - was promised in the Good Neighbor Agreement, but remains inoperative. As the leading astronomy organization on Nantucket that is named for the island's groundbreaking female astronomer, the MMA was keenly interested in seeing that aspect of the promised mitigation reach completion.

Vineyard Wind initially pledged to have the system operational by Memorial Day weekend. After that deadline came and went, the company pledged in June that the ADLS would be up and running “within the next several weeks.” Now, more than three months after that statement, there is still no definitive timeline for when the system will be active.

According to the terms of the 2021 memorandum of agreement between Vineyard Wind, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), and Brona Simon, the Massachusetts Historic Preservation Officer, “The ADLS must be installed and operational prior to commencing commercial operation.” Vineyard Wind announced back in January 2024 that it had delivered power to the New England power grid for the first time.

"...the Memorandum of Agreement required Vineyard Wind to install this system before commencing commercial operation," Roche stated in her letter. "When Vineyard Wind announced that it had delivered power to the grid in January 2024, without installing the Aircraft Detection Lighting System, it essentially admitted that it was in breach of the Good Neighbor Agreement and the Memorandum of Agreement...As a result, our dark, starry skies — a treasured natural resource of Nantucket residents, and of particular importance to our Association, which is dedicated to preserving the legacy of one of our nation’s foremost astronomers — are marred by red and white lights blinking like a festive carnival, visible for miles. This is not what we bargained for in the Agreement—it is exactly the opposite."

Vineyard Wind, which is owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Renewables (a subsidiary of the Spanish energy giant Iberdrola), has so far paid $4 million of the promised $16 million in mitigation payments promised in the Good Neighbor Agreement. From that initial payment, $2.5 million was deposited into an account administered by the Nantucket Community Foundation, which in May distributed $780,000 in grants from the "Offshore Wind Community Fund."

Greg Werkheiser and his law firm Cultural Heritage Partners, who represented the town of Nantucket in negotiating the agreement with Vineyard Wind and remain its special counsel for offshore wind matters, told the Current last November that: "Vineyard Wind contributed $4 million as it promised to do so in the Good Neighbor Agreement. Maria Mitchell received a one-time disbursement from the initial payment, which reduced the amount available for competitive grants. In addition, the Town paid attorney’s fees from the contribution."

The amount paid to the Maria Mitchell Association was not specified, and Roche said this week that she could not comment on how much the MMA had received to date, whether it now must return any of it, or how much it was giving up in future payments.

"Vineyard Wind’s primary interest four years ago was to try to set the groundwork for a meaningful relationship with the town, which, as a municipality has dozens of interests, beyond but inclusive of MMA’s mission of preserving our dark skies," Werkheiser told the Current in a response to questions about the MMA's decision. "I imagine that right now Vineyard Wind has much bigger concerns about the state of that relationship than whether Maria Mitchell remains at the table."

Werkheiser declined to comment further.

Vineyard Wind, along with the Nantucket Preservation Trust, did not return messages seeking comment about the MMA's decision to withdraw from the Good Neighbor Agreement.

"In summary, the Association believes that Vineyard Wind has failed to live up to either the letter or the spirit of the Good Neighbor Agreement," Roche concluded in her letter. "Neighbors keep each other advised of significant developments, especially those that can cause harm or damage. Vineyard Wind’s failure to contact the Association about the blade failure and delayed its plans for the installation of the ADLS system is telling, and your silence speaks volumes. In conclusion, the Association views the Good Neighbor Agreement as terminated in its entirety, and therefore the Association is released form any obligation to continue to abide by the Agreement."