"We Deserve Answers." Town Hosting Offshore Wind Regulators For Public Forum
Jason Graziadei •
Federal regulators will attend a public forum hosted by the Nantucket Select Board on January 14 to answer questions about their role in the Vineyard Wind blade failure.
Representatives from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), which has regulatory authority over offshore wind developments, will attend the Zoom webinar and answer questions from island residents.
There are some ground rules, however, as BSEE officials will only respond to questions provided to them in advance, and the date to submit any inquiries is quickly approaching: Dec. 30.
The public is invited to email questions to bseepublicaffairs@bsee.gov by that date.
"It will not be a back-and-forth situation," Select Board chair Brooke Mohr stated. "They agreed to come only if we submitted questions in writing. Those are the parameters of their willingness to come and meet with the public."
Nearly six months have passed since one of Vineyard Wind's turbine blades failed, sending fiberglass and foam debris onto Nantucket's beaches, as well as the shores of neighboring communities on Cape Cod and as far away as Long Island.
The project was immediately suspended by BSEE, which continues to investigate the incident. While Vineyard Wind and its turbine manufacturer GE Vernova have claimed the blade failure was the result of a manufacturing deviation at a plant in Canada, questions remain about the safety of the blades and whether corners were cut during the manufacturing process.
While the project remains under a suspension order, BSEE recently allowed Vineyard Wind to resume blade installation at the lease area 15 miles southwest of Nantucket. The town was notified of the construction activity earlier this month by Roger Martella, the chief sustainability officer for GE Vernova. Despite the suspension order, Vineyard Wind stated back in October that BSEE would allow blades to be installed "once stringent safety and operational conditions are met.”
Next month's forum will give Nantucket residents the opportunity to question BSEE regarding its response to the blade failure and its ongoing investigation.
"These questions can be about what happened, what's happening now, or what do we expect in the future," Mohr said. "I would encourage the community to ask everything you want to know because these are the folks in charge...
"They recognize Nantucket is on the leading edge of the impact of offshore wind," Mohr added. "This meeting is a recognition of their recognition we've been highly impacted and we deserve answers."
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