It’s an early Christmas present as dealers, boaters, sportsmen, conservationists and others celebrate the announcement that the proposed installation of the first offshore wind farm in the Great Lakes is dead.
It’s been a 14-year battle against a plan by the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. to install wind turbines in Lake Erie off Cleveland with the expectation that up to 1,600 more would follow. The LEEDCO development would have been the first freshwater wind farm in North America.
“It’s a huge victory for the future of good boating, fishing and the beauty of our precious Great Lakes,” says Michelle Burke, president of the Ohio Marine Trades Association. “The planned industrialization of these fresh waters posed a myriad of unresearched, undocumented environmental impact questions ranging from our fisheries to our primary drinking water supplies.”
LEEDCO’s official statement calls it a “temporary pause,” and that the “pause is necessitated by a confluence of adverse circumstances and numerous delays resulting in a current financial climate where the project’s commercial viability is in question.”
What it doesn’t note is that the U.S. Department of Energy is revoking $37 million (remaining from an original $50 million grant) awarded to the project. And without it, the project is deemed impossible. Moreover, while the Ohio Power Siting Board did grant a final permit to build over the objections of many groups, the Ohio General Assembly also reviewed critical questions surrounding the plan and previously refused to provide funds.
It all reflects recent actions on the East Coast by Danish energy giant Ørsted, which is ceasing development of two major wind projects off New Jersey. Ørsted said it’s ending Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2 (also known as Sunrise Wind) citing, among others reasons, adverse economics.
If the turbines in Lake Erie were built, the fear was that others would follow elsewhere in the Great Lakes. That was the developer’s stated goal. More than a decade ago, Ontario banned turbine development is its Lake Erie waters, citing environmental and economic issues.
In Michigan — the only state that borders four of the five Great Lakes — the official position of the Michigan Boating Industries Association has also been on record for many years. “While we are not opposed to renewable energy in general, we believe there’s been far too little research behind the impact of turbines in our fresh waters to build even one turbine. So we have supported our colleagues in Ohio in this battle,” said MBIA executive director Nicki Polan.
While some groups, including the Ohio Environmental Council, indicate they will continue to support the concept of offshore energy production, most observers agree the idea of wind turbines in Lake Erie has finally come to an end. And it points to the fact that persistent advocacy for protecting of our waterways pays off.
