June 23, 2022 10:50 a.m. 

On Wednesday, Congressman Peter DeFazio and Senator Ron Wyden raised concerns with the ongoing siting process for offshore wind facilities off the southern Oregon coast.

A release said the lawmakers have sent a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

BOEM has issued Call Areas for potential offshore wind leasing off Coos Bay and Brookings. These Call Areas are the first step in the leasing process and are meant to assess commercial interest and public input on offshore wind leasing activities in the designated areas. The release said stakeholders have raised critical issues that need to be addressed before the process should move forward.

In the letter, DeFazio and Wyden urge BOEM to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for wind energy off the entire Pacific Coast

*To address critical data gaps on environmental impact

*To move the Oregon Call Areas beyond a 1300-meter depth to minimize the impact on sustainable fishing operations

*Formally consult with all relevant stakeholders throughout the siting process

*Fully collaborate with federal partners

The lawmakers said the Call Areas would significantly disrupt sustainable fishing operations, noting that the seafood industry “…is economically critical to Oregon as a whole, and especially Oregon’s coastal communities”.

The full text of the letter is linked: https://defazio.house.gov/sites/defazio.house.gov/files/Defazio%20Wyden%20Letter%20to%20BOEM%20on%20Oregon%20Call%20Areas.pdf