Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation Urges Halt to All Offshore Wind Projects
Press release from the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation:
In November of 2023, Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation (Nation) passed a resolution opposing offshore wind. The Nation urges the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to halt all scoping and permitting for offshore wind projects.
The Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation is a federally recognized Indian Nation located in the Pacific Northwest with over 80% of our ancestral territory being in the state of Oregon. As defined in our constitution the Nation’s ancestral territories encompass the lands and watersheds of Wilson Creek to the south, Sixes River to the north, east to the Applegate watershed in the coastal range, and west to the Pacific Ocean horizon, all sea stacks including Point St. George Lighthouse and all usual and accustomed places. The Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation Constitution and genesis mandates continued stewardship of natural and cultural resources within our ancestral territory, including those in the intertidal, nearshore, and offshore waters of the Pacific Ocean. Our relationship with the marine environment remains a sacred component of our culture and yet one that has been inadequately addressed in the current planning stages of offshore wind power generation.
The Ocean is a very powerful and important aspect of Tolowa Dee-ni’ Culture. In addition to the marine life and resources our people harvested for subsentences, our creation story tells us how we emerged from the ocean at Yan’-daa-k’vt, the center of our world. Our People have had our eyes and ears in tune with the movements of animals and the cycles of nature since the beginning of time. Despite enduring decades of murder, enslavement, and displacement by European American settlers, over 50% of our Tolowa Dee-ni’ Citizenship still live in and around Curry County and Del Norte County today. The practicing of our traditional skills and knowledge is an important part of our identity that has been passed down through many generations.
Climate change threatens indigenous peoples’ livelihoods and economies. Its impacts are projected to be especially critical for the 574 federally recognized tribes in the United States that depend on traditional places, foods, and lifestyles. Observed and future impacts from climate change threaten access to traditional foods, marine foods offer sustenance as well as cultural, economic, medicinal, and community health for future Tolowa Dee-ni’ generations. The Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation often works proactively with a variety of partners to integrate traditional knowledge with technology tools and diverse research methods. However, institutional barriers still exist in some important areas. Barriers include limited access to our traditional territories and limitations of existing policies, programs, and funding that account for the unique conditions of indigenous communities.
The offshore wind energy project lacks tribal involvement and research. It lacks studies or research about the environmental impacts these windmills will have on our ocean floor and marine species. The Federal government has a legal obligation to consult with Tribal Nations on any activities that may affect their lands and resources. We ask the administration to incorporate the essential value of tribal co-stewardship, co- decision-making, and co-management of traditional tribal lands and waters. Incorporating Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation’s Traditional Ecological Knowledge through co-management of Tribal Lands and associated life forms is critical to protecting the environment for years to come.
The Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation strongly urges the Department of Interior and Bureau of Ocean Emergency Management to halt all scoping and permitting for offshore wind projects until a comprehensive and transparent procedure adequately protecting the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation’s environmental and sovereign interest is developed and implemented. We encourage you all to write letters to your elected representatives, to halt all offshore wind projects, and to advocate for the protection of our limited coastal resources.
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
This is why we have “scoping” as part of the environmental approval process under the National Environmental Policy Act. The Tolowa and all other concerned parties can raise their issues during the planning stage. Here’s a summary:
Scoping happens early in the NEPA process. Its purpose is to “determin[e] the scope of issues to be addressed” in an EIS.1 Put another way, it is meant to help a federal agency figure out what issues it will study in depth and what issues it can leave out of the EIS.
When an agency starts scoping, it will provide a notice that explains the proposed action and will ask for input from the public and others about what issues it should study and which alternatives it should evaluate. Often, the scoping process will include one or more public meetings.
Looking from the alternative power source for the Oregon Coast being dams on the Columbia that have had huge environmental impacts. The wind power seems like a better approach to save the environment as a whole. Water levels help the dams power source and water levels keep dropping. If we don’t come up with an alternative we could be living with no power or unaffordable power and restrictions on it’s use. Please really consider this.
Of course they are opposed to getting off fossil fuels, They are funding themselves on that gas station up there.
Anything they say about saving the whales is bullsplat. The whales world wide from the heat if we do not get off their gasoline.
typo: the whales are going to die worldwide—every single one of them.
Their statement that “It lacks studies or research about the environmental impacts these windmills will have on our ocean floor and marine species” is patently fase.
Thousands of offshore wind projects have been studied for decades, and environmental effects have been found to be either minimal or nonexistent.
For decades now huh name one that’s been in for decades
That’s a silly question.
Of course there are none off the Coast of Northern California.
The US has been very late to the game.
But offshore wind dates back to 1991. https://windeurope.org/about-wind/history/timeline/one-of-the-first-wind-turbines-2-2-2-2-2-2/#:~:text
And there are now nearly 12,000 offshore wind turbines operating in nearly 300 offshore wind farms, many of which are in deep water and in parts of the ocean known for rough weather. https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/articles/offshore-wind-market-report-2023-edition#:~:text
So saying that offshore wind has not been thoroughly researched is a lie.
>”… many of which are in deep water and in parts of the ocean known for rough weather.”
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Really ? So… where are they ? I only know of 2 small ones they are feeding offshore drilling platforms (2 MW) in the North Atlantic Ocean ?
Europe has over a dozen deep water wind farms with the largest generating over 88 MW. https://windeurope.org/wp-content/uploads/files/policy/position-papers/Floating-offshore-wind-energy-a-policy-blueprint-for-Europe.pdf
>”Europe has over a dozen deep water wind farms with the largest generating over 88 MW.”
Hmmm… the 88 MW is a development project. Small turbines. Tied to oil platforms. Project is coupled to gas turbines to deliver power when the wind doesn’t blow. It doesn’t deliver power to land.
Hywind Tampen will be a test bed for further development of floating wind, exploring the use of new and larger turbines, installations methods, simplified moorings, concrete substructures and integration between gas and wind power generation systems.
— Meanwhile.
They lead three quarters of the 50+ FOW projects at different stages of development worldwide today.
In Europe, at least 6 pre-commercial projects are expected to be commissioned in the coming two years.
And at least 11 pre-commercial projects should be in operation within the next 5 years.
>”… except for one”.
Yup… the farm off Scotland shut down. Failed turbines.
Norwegian energy giant Equinor will temporarily remove all five floating wind turbines from the pioneering Hywind Scotland array later this year after discovering a need for “heavy maintenance” on the Siemens Gamesa machines deployed there, Recharge has learned.
The 6MW turbines will be towed back to Wergeland on the west coast of Norway as part of a maintenance programme that is likely to take around four months.
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You seem to have wandered off topic.
The claim that was made in the article was that there was a lack of research on the impacts offshore wind has on the environment.
And that is simply not true.
I don’t know why the tribe would lie. But they did.
“Lie”? Are you a psychic? What are your grounds for making that judgement?
The Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation and I may not see eye to eye on everything; but they are right on this.
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We are very concerned about the dangers of this enormous, first of its kind in depth & size, proposed “floating offshore” wind farm to the sacred life in our Humboldt coastal waters & skies.
It is absolutely essential to expand & build wind, solar & other alternative energy systems at this dire time, but this is a shortsighted & truly dangerous project.
Please watch (& share if it resonates with you) this well-researched & detailed presentation given by Mike Graybill, hosted by the redwood regional audubon society in Arcata, last October. He clearly articulates & illustrates what we believe to be the real dangers & serious logistical issues of this particular project:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iYy_4bg9jIAfUQ9kAr1oGqF9u5eNxXcH/view
http://www.rras.org/programs–coming-and-recorded.aspx
“Is Floating Offshore Wind a Good Option for the Pacific Northwest?”
Presented by Mike Graybill on Thursday, October 19, at 7:00 p.m.
“Over the past several years, the US Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has initiated efforts to lease large areas of the Pacific Ocean to businesses intending to develop floating, large-scale electric power plants. Unlike most other areas where offshore wind turbines have been installed, the continental shelf in the windy region of the Pacific Northwest is narrow, severely limiting the opportunities to mount wind turbines on foundations fixed directly to the seabed. Producing electricity from wind in the deep waters of the Pacific coast will involve the installation of hundreds of the largest (truly enormous) wind turbines ever built mounted on massive floating foundations anchored to the seabed.
Mike Graybill presented an overview of the technology and challenges associated with building, installing, maintaining, and distributing electricity produced using the winds that blow off our coast.
Mike is a marine scientist, educator, and conservation professional who has been based on the southern coast of Oregon for over 50 years. His familiarity with the coastal and ocean ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest has engaged him in a variety of coastal conservation and development activities including, nearly 30 years as the manager of the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve in Coos Bay, a protected watershed on the Coos Estuary dedicated to research and education focused on improving the management and understanding of coastal environments. ”
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Although it is not directly addressed in the video linked above, we must also consider the dangers this project would pose to our whale relatives & the countless other kin who make home in our coastal waters… not to mention the threat to the health of our seafloor.
Thank you to those of you who take the time to watch & share this detailed presentation.
Humans have already caused more than enough damage & disturbance to the sacred life in our oceans.
May we work together to protect our ocean from further preventable harm at this pivotal time.
Wishing you good health & peace regardless of your views
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