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Morro Bay offshore wind farm leases set for auction in December

October 19, 2022

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

A lease auction for five offshore wind development areas, three of which are off the coast of San Luis Obispo County, will take place on Dec. 6. [GV Wire]

The Dec. 6 lease sale will mark the first United States auction for commercial-scale floating offshore wind development. It will also be the first-ever lease sale for offshore wind energy on the West Coast, Biden Administration officials say.

Last year, the federal Department of the Interior, in coordination with the Department of Defense, identified a 399-square-mile area northwest of Morro Bay as a location that will support three gigawatts of offshore wind. The federal agency also announced it was advancing wind energy projects located offshore of Humboldt County.

Then in May, the Biden Administration announced plans to auction five offshore areas for wind development, three of which are northwest of Morro Bay and two of which are off of Humboldt County. The Department of the Interior publicized a proposed sale notice for the commercial wind energy leases offshore of Morro Bay and Humboldt County, with proposed auction prices starting at $8 million each.

A final sale notice for the auction will outline the lease terms for the five offshore wind areas. The lease terms will include stipulations to promote a domestic supply chain and to create union jobs.

“We’re not just committed to the country’s transition to a clean energy economy, one that combats climate change, creates good-paying jobs and ensures economic opportunities are accessible to all,” Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Amanda Lefton said. “We’re actually taking action and driving results.”

The five wind areas off the coast of California are expected to power more than 1.5 million homes and create thousands of new jobs, Lefton said.


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I laugh every time i read or hear about offshore wind farms ….latest study on Tsunami’s off California coast now includes from Monterey to Oregon and beyond coastlines at risk for major Tsunami events ….Humboldt County and north to Del Norte County everywhere you look along the coastal areas there has been Tsunami warning signs for a very long time . Entire towns and cities have been destroyed and damaged as recent as 2011 on the California north coastline from tsunami’s .. Imagine the damage to a wind farm a Tsunami could cause …IMO ocean wind farms are destined for natural destruction either through storms and earthquakes to at minimum massive amounts of maintenance and corrosion .. I’m not sure but isn’t the areas where the wind farms are planned for, located in international waters ??


6

IDBOUND said :” Imagine the damage to a wind farm a Tsunami could cause …IMO ocean wind farms are destined for natural destruction either through storms and earthquakes to at minimum massive amounts of maintenance and corrosion ..”


Just like Oil rigs, time to remove them for everyone’s safety.

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Also the North Sea is calm like a pond, no wave or storms, that’s why it’s safe for Many wind farms and oil rigs from Scotland to Norway. /s


-2

400 square miles of windmills, could never hope to generate half as much of Diablo’s 12.5 acres.


10

Another nail in the coffin of the local fishing industry.


20

399 SQ miles for 1.5 million homes (which I’m sure is an over estimate). Time to get out of this state!


32

The second step the pollution of our pristine coastline and beautiful Pacific Ocean. The first step was the approving of this boondoggle. Another example of the environmental hypocrisy of those in favor of this project that will bring damage and destruction of marine life, polluted ocean water, and death to ocean birds.

All for a minuscule amount of power, with outrages cost to the already over burden taxpayer just so these green shallow thinking nuts can feel good about themselves in their self-righteous arrogance.


27

“shallow thinking nuts can feel good about themselves in their self-righteous arrogance..”


-3

Thanks for reiterating and helping make my point.


2

Wind Turbine Blades Can’t Be Recycled, So They’re Piling Up in Landfills https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-02-05/wind-turbine-blades-can-t-be-recycled-so-they-re-piling-up-in-landfills?leadSource=uverify%20wall


33

So you think the other means of generating energy result in zero landfill waste, pollution, and other byproducts? Dream on! You won’t find any energy source that has zero byproducts, but 1) wind is better than most and 2) turbine blades actually CAN be recycled! https://blog.ucsusa.org/james-gignac/wind-turbine-blades-recycling/


-37

How many birds will be killed by these J A things?


33

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has some figures for you to ponder. They estimate that cats are responsible for the deaths of 2.4 billion birds each year. After that, collisions with building glass and vehicles are to blame for about another 800 million deaths. By comparison, about 230,000 birds are killed after colliding with a wind turbine every year. So if you really care about birds being killed, keeping your cat indoors will be far more effective than fussing about wind turbines.


-39

You lost me on “cats are responsible” for the deaths of birds. Don’t blame cats, blame a**hole people for not spay and neutering, and abandoning them so they breed out of control. Cats living outside on their own are just trying to survive.


-1

Can’t wait to see the view!


24

Two questions:


1) How far out to sea are these placed?


2) How many wind turbines = one Diablo Nuclear Power plant in terms of energy created?


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