The Chief of the Environmental Sciences Section of BOEM presented the federal perspective that focused on identifying and addressing data gaps. The manager of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's Marine Resource Program and the Marine Affairs Coordinator for the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development acknowledged the...
The speaker provided the background of the conference and its objective. The groundwork for the current conference was laid in earlier workshops and studies. These include the 2007 scientific workshop, "Ecological Effects of Wave Energy Development in the Pacific Northwest", the report "Effects of EMFs from Undersea Power Cables on...
As the Chief of the Environmental Sciences Section of BOEM, the speaker welcomed participants and gave background on the topic from the federal perspective. She identified BOEM's need to share environmental research information as well as determine the largest data gaps to guide future research. From her perspective, the intent...
This presentation will provide an overview of how the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) uses environmental information for decision-making and the role BOEM’s Environmental Studies Program (ESP) plays in fulfilling information needs to inform Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) resource management decisions.
The ESP conducts and oversees top-quality scientific research...
There are many drivers for the pursuit of renewable energy extraction from coastal seas. In the United Kingdom these include moving away from fossil fuels to mitigate the impacts of climate change, improving energy security by diversifying supply options, increasing wealth generation in outlying coastal communities, and seeking alternative sources...
Offshore renewable energy development (ORED) could induce local ecological changes, negatively affecting species of conservation interest. If well planned and coordinated, on the other hand, ORED could be beneficial to the marine environment in the region of device deployment in several respects.
Because of the current scale and pace of...
Oregon has a strong framework for ocean planning rooted in the adoption of Oregon’s Ocean Resources Goal 19 in 1976. Goal 19 establishes that it is the State of Oregon’s policy to conserve marine resources and ecological functions for the purpose of providing long-term ecological, economic, and social value and...
Fishes are expected to interact with Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) projects in ways dependent upon both the nature of the project in question and on the ecology of the species considered (Figure 1). The siting of MRE projects will determine the habitat affected, the species expected to encounter the project,...
Construction of a wave energy facility is planned for a site off of Reedsport, Oregon. The initial licensed development will consist of ten buoys within a 0.25 mile2 area at depths of 50 - 69 m and will produce up to 1.5 megawatts (MW; Figure 1)a. A proposed project expansion...
The ocean deployment of arrays of Wave Energy Converters (WEC arrays) appears likely in the near future, and deployment of offshore wind turbines has already started. These technologies tap into a potential renewable energy resource but also involve complex systems with uncertain environmental consequences that will likely scale with the...