Reversal on Wind Farm
After giving the South Fork Wind Farm qualified support in May, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. reversed his position last week and now opposes the 15-turbine installation proposed for construction approximately 35 miles off Montauk.
In a statement last Thursday, Mr. Thiele cited what he called “the classic ‘bait and switch’ ” on the part of the wind farm’s developer, Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind, formerly Deepwater Wind.
“Since my statement in May, two important changes have occurred,” Mr. Thiele wrote. One is Deepwater Wind’s acquisition by Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind, Denmark’s largest energy company and the world’s largest offshore wind developer. “Second, shortly after acquisition by Orsted, I have read that the project would utilize larger turbines and that the size of the project would increase from 90 megawatts to 130 megawatts, or a 44-percent increase.”
“What we were originally told about the project and its goals are no longer true. A project originally proposed by an American company to address the growing energy needs of eastern Long Island, now is to be part of the portfolio of an international energy giant, whose first decision was a 44-percent increase in the size of the project. We are left to imagine what other changes might be made or what other projects might show up on our doorstep in the future. . . . Because of the ‘bait and switch’ tactics of Deepwater/Orsted, I cannot trust them with my community’s future.”
A spokesman for Orsted said the company was confused by Mr. Thiele’s about-face, but Mr. Thiele said on Monday that calls and emails support his present position 10 to 1. He said that he would meet with company officials, who, he said, had requested a meeting in the wake of his announcement.
In his May 2018 statement, issued as the East Hampton Town Board and the town trustees were debating an easement or lease to the offshore wind developer so that it could bring the wind farm’s transmission cable ashore in the town and bury it on a path to a Long Island Power Authority substation, Mr. Thiele expressed his support for renewable energy, including wind power.
“Through legislation, capital investment, and public statements, I have demonstrated support for a clean energy future for eastern Long Island and New York State that is based upon renewable energy,” he wrote last week. “I have also supported producing and conserving energy locally to avoid the need for more above-ground transmission lines to import power to our communities.”
However, he wrote, his support for offshore wind power in May should not have been construed as a rubber stamp for every offshore wind proposal. He referred to the concerns of the commercial fishing industry, which is almost uniformly opposed to the South Fork Wind Farm.
On Monday, Mr. Thiele said that he was disappointed by what he called a lack of communication on the part of the wind farm developer. “They were in my office, or wanted to be, and were calling all the time when they needed help and wanted people to convince the trustees or town board to support a property easement for their cable,” he said. “I was willing to take a chance on this particular project. Now, however, when they sold their company to Orsted, I never heard from them. When they changed the project by 44 percent — whether you think that is good or bad, no one can argue it wasn’t substantive — I never heard from them. I had to learn about it from other places. . . . If they want to work with elected officials, they should be keeping them informed. That’s not what happened here.”
A spokesman for Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind offered a different version of events in an email last Thursday. “We’ve requested multiple times over the course of the last four months to meet with Assemblyman Thiele to brief him on the facts — that offer still stands,” the spokesman said. “Frankly, we’re confused why Assemblyman Thiele was such a strong and vocal supporter of the 90-megawatt project, but now opposes the project when it’s capable of producing even more clean energy for his constituents at a lower price.”
The change in output capacity, Clint Plummer, Orsted’s head of market strategies and new projects, had said in November, was a result of advances in turbine technology, larger and more efficient models having been developed since the wind farm was first designed. The initial proposal for the installation, made in 2015, was based on 6-megawatt turbines, whereas 8, 10, and 12-megawatt turbines have since become available.
In addition to being critical of the change in ownership and the increased size of the turbines, Mr. Thiele cited concern about LIPA’s “ill-considered policy of denying public access to the Deepwater agreement under the guise of confidentiality,” for which he said there is no legitimate basis. He said that he would introduce legislation during the upcoming session “making it clear that these kinds of agreements are subject to the Freedom of Information Act. LIPA can either make the agreement public now or be compelled to make it public when my bill is enacted into law.”
“My point,” he said on Monday, “is that I’m all for renewable energy, I’m still for offshore wind and things of that nature. But I think it’s also very important who is the applicant. What are their corporate ethics, do they have a sense of responsibility to the community they’re in? Based on what I just told you, my instinct tells me we should be thinking twice about trusting a corporation.”
The Orsted spokesman said in last Thursday’s email that, “We are as committed as ever to building an offshore wind farm that the South Fork can be proud of. The South Fork Wind Farm is the most affordable solution for the South Fork’s energy needs, and that’s a major reason why the community has overwhelmingly supported the project for years. We stand ready to make historic investments in East Hampton, including support of the commercial fishing community.”