South Fork Wind

South Fork Wsouthforkwindind is the first of three projects off the coast of Block Island to be permitted. Proposed by a 50-50 partnership between Danish developer Ørsted and Eversource, it will produce 132 MW of energy (enough to power 70,000 homes) for New York. South Fork is located 19 miles off the coast of Block Island and consists of 12 turbines reaching 840 feet tall. The project is currently under construction and expects to be operational by the end of 2023. 

 BOEM issued its Record of Decision for South Fork—the last step of NEPA review—on November 23, 2021. The Town believes this decision was premature. In addition, as part of the Section 106 process, BOEM improperly executed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the developer and various agencies that purports to “resolve” adverse effects on historic properties. 

 

We reviewed the Construction and Operations plan for South Fork, various Historic Resources Visual Analyses and Cumulative Historic Resources Visual Analyses, as well as documentation identifying historic resources and adverse effects. We submitted comments to BOEM on numerous occasions pointing out problems in BOEM’s process, including those we identified in our comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Final Environmental Impact Statement, findings of adverse effect, technical reports, Record of Decision, Memorandum of Agreement, and Proposed Historic Preservation Treatment Plans. Below you will find copies of the Town’s comments, as well as visualizations and permitting documentation.

 

Town of New Shoreham and Southeast Lighthouse Foundation Comments on South Fork Wind

Visualizations

Cumulative Visualizations form Southeast Lighthouse

 

South Fork Permitting Documents and Meetings