Westport's newly formed Offshore Wind Advisory Committee (OSWAC) met for the second time this past Thursday, Dec. 12. It will convene again on Jan. 16, 2025, at 5:30pm in Westport Town Hall.
At its first meeting, the committee agreed to ask the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources if someone would join us who could provide an overview of the state's authority specific to offshore wind development, including onshore transmission corridor permitting and construction. The committee also voted to ask Vineyard Offshore if it might send someone who has expertise in cable and substation construction and operation to speak (Vineyard Offshore is the developer of the Vineyard Northeast project which, according to its construction and operations plan posted on the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's website, intends to land its extra-high voltage cabling on Horseneck Beach and trench it through the entire length of Westport).

Although Vineyard Offshore seems disinclined to engage in public dialogue, Assistant Secretary for Government Relations Johannes Buchanan responded with the news that he and five other officials from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) would be down for the December meeting. The other officials were:
Michael Judge, Undersecretary for Energy, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs

Alison Brizius, Assistant Secretary, Coastal Zone Management

Lisa Engler Berry, Deputy Managing Director, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center

Andrew Greene, Energy Facilities Siting Board

Dan McKeirnan, Director, Department of Marine Fisheries

The state officials gave a lengthy presentation touching on many aspects of the EEA's role in the offshore wind permitting processes on land and in Massachusetts' waters, which extend up to three nautical miles offshore. The entire meeting can be viewed on the Town of Westport MA Government TV website.

Comments by committee and audience members begin at 43:30. Our Boston guests left Westport knowing three things: There is strong opposition to any plans to land cables here. We are not dull witted. We will not roll over.

It is very much worth noting the historic nature of Westport's new offshore wind committee. To my knowledge Westport is the first town in the country to have formed a regularly convening committee for the express purpose of bringing discussions between town officials and industrial wind companies out from behind closed doors and into a public forum before a Host Community Agreement (HCA) has already been pretty much decided. Our select board deserves our gratitude for that.

If the standing room only attendance and heartfelt concerns of audience members are indicative, then there are many Westporters who are not happy about what they are hearing from the feds and the state, are cognizant of Vineyard Offshore’s clandestine maneuvering and deceptive practices and are ready to engage in this critically important town-wide discussion.

This makes me prouder than ever of our town. For in coming together to contemplate the gravity and generational consequences of what looks to be coming our way, we are truly enjoining the "WE" in Westport as we do our best to protect her. 

Constance Gee
Westport

Gee, a member of the Offshore Wind Advisory Committee, is the founder of the advocacy group Protect Our Westport Waters.