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Case Study

A Case Study in Offshore Wind Development: Protecting Marine Mammals

Vineyard Offshore is committed to developing, permitting, and deploying responsibly sited offshore wind projects.

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Vineyard Offshore is committed to developing, permitting, and deploying responsibly sited offshore wind projects. Through Vineyard Wind 1, the first commercial-scale offshore wind project in the U.S.,the Vineyard Offshore team set the industry standard for environmental protection in offshore wind development. It is this proactive and conservative approach to environmental stewardship, as part of the overall Vineyard method of offshore wind development, that Vineyard Offshore brings to future projects.

Developed through consultation with federal, state, and local agencies, Tribes, environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and multiple stakeholders, environmental protection measures prescribed for Vineyard Wind 1 cover all potential hazards to wildlife, their habitat, and human health, on land and in the ocean, as well as cultural and archaeological resources.

Permits for Vineyard Wind 1 include over 3,000 specific compliance obligations that the project tracks, reports, and acts on to ensure the responsible installation of offshore wind. While fulfilling its obligation to address environmental hazards comprehensively, Vineyard Offshore devotes special attention to the issues of greatest concern to federal, state, and local officials as well as Tribes, environmental organizations, academics, and the scientific community, as well as other stakeholders.

Off the Northeast coast, that means a focus on endangered and threatened marine mammals. Chief among these is the North Atlantic right whale (NARW), and in the building of Vineyard Wind 1, Vineyard Offshore has shown what it means to ensure the highest level of protection for this endangered species.

READ MORE IN OUR MARINE MAMMALS CASE STUDY

HOW VINEYARD OFFSHORE IS PROTECTING MARINE MAMMALS

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SUPPORTING SCIENCE AND INNOVATION

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GOING BIG ON BUBBLE CURTAINS

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UPHOLDING ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

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OPPORTUNITY FOR BUSINESS

“I can state unambiguously that I have never experienced any effort to understand, monitor and minimize risks to wildlife that compares to those efforts associated with [the Vineyard Wind 1] project. From top to bottom, the Vineyard Wind 1 team, which is led and staffed by Vineyard Offshore, is genuinely devoted to doing everything they can to protect the environment.”

Chris Clark

Ph.D., Senior Scientist Emeritus and Research Professor at Cornell University, a world-renowned expert on marine mammals, and a consultant for the project.