The U.S. Bureau of Energy and Ocean Management (BOEM) held the first two of the three meetings scheduled for this week to gain insight in public opinion on the development of offshore wind energy off the coast of South Carolina.
BOEM identified four areas for offshore wind development off South Carolina, which include Grand Strand, Winyah, Charleston, and Cape Romain.
The first public meeting took place on 5 January in Charleston, where residents expressed their support for offshore wind energy, but were also worried about the impact on wildlife, primarily birds.
In Charleston, the focus was the Cape Romain site, one of the four proposed lease areas.
Coastal Conservation League has argued the development might have a negative effect on wildlife, especially given the fact that Cape Romain is a national wildlife refuge. According to The Post and Courier, the league is opposing offshore wind development at the site in this stage of BOEM’s lease process, since it would be easier to have BOEM drop the site from its proposed lease areas at this point.
At the meeting on 6 January in Murrells Inlet, residents and BOEM’s officials discussed Grand Strand site, the largest of the four proposed offshore wind areas. Brian Krevor, BOEM’s environmental protection specialist, said that this area would likely accommodate more than one offshore wind project, should developers show strong interest in building wind farms there, The Sun News writes.
Grand Strand’s residents also voiced their concern over the impact offshore wind projects might have on wildlife, both during construction and operational phase.
BOEM will hold the third meeting today, 7 January, in North Myrtle Beach.
The meetings are part of a 60-day public comment period, which closes on 25 January, 2016.
Developers also have until 25 January to express interest in building offshore wind farms at the four lease areas, or a part of them. However, BOEM has not received any expressions of interest from developers so far. BOEM’s Project Coordinator Jeffrey Browning said companies are inclined to work “as low key as possible” in an effort not to provide an advantage to their competitors, so this is not that unusual.