The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will auction the first-ever wind energy leases off the Oregon Coast on Oct. 15.

The two areas for sale — near Coos Bay and Brookings off the Southern Oregon shoreline — could generate more than 3.1 gigawatts of peak renewable energy if fully developed. That is enough electricity to power about 1 million homes.

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But wind power off the Oregon Coast remains controversial, with fishing industry groups upset about the developments.

Fishing industry opposition

Yelena Nowak, executive director of the Oregon Trawl Commission, said the wind farms will be built at an unprecedented scale without an environmental assessment of potential harms.

“We’re not talking about small test projects. We’re talking about utility scale, massive areas covered,” she said.

Nowak added the wind farms will take trawling areas off the map, displacing boats and putting additional pressure on other fishing grounds.

Processors also could struggle on the south coast as a result, she said.

Bernie Lindley, a crabber out of Brookings, Ore., said trawlers also will go after other ocean harvests hard, such as Dungeness crab, which isn’t caught as far offshore.

“They’ve gotta do something to make a living,” said Lindley, an Episcopal priest who is on the state’s crab advisory board.

“Pieces of the pie will get smaller. There’s only so many crab each year. The more effort that goes into crab, the less the little guys are going to be able to get,” Lindley added.

He said another problem with windmills is they have to be anchored. “Once they set those anchors out, they’ll never retrieve them. Even if the whole thing is a failure and they remove all the windmills, they’re going to permanently ruin those grounds,” Lindley said.

Nowak said the impact of windmills and transmission lines on ocean life, including Dungeness crab, the West Coast’s top fishery, isn’t known.

“It’s very concerning how very little attention is being given to ecology in the fight against climate change. I don’t buy this narrative that in order to save the planet we need to destroy the ocean,” Nowak said.

And while the fishing industry is highly regulated, “It feels like wind energy is getting a pass,” she added.

Lease sales details

The Interior Department announced the wind energy lease sales Aug. 29.

“The advancement of the first offshore wind sale in Oregon marks years of engagement with state partners, Tribes, ocean users and industry,” said Deb Haaland, Interior Department secretary.

Wind power is part of a clean energy transition that will help address climate change and create jobs across the nation, Haaland said.

The area off Coos Bay is 32 miles offshore and consists of 61,203 acres.

The section of ocean off Brookings is about 18 miles from land and includes 133,792 acres.

Wind farm plans still would be subject to environmental, technical and public reviews prior to authorization.

Credit will be given to bidders who enter into community benefit agreements or invest in workforce training or supply chain development.

10th project approved

The Interior Department announced the approval of its 10th commercial scale offshore wind project near Maryland on Sept. 5.

Altogether, those projects could provide 15 gigawatts of clean energy, or enough power for 5.25 million homes.

A wind energy auction from mid-August for two lease areas off the Central Atlantic coast attracted nearly $93 million in winning bids.

Projects in those areas could power 2.2 million homes.

Five offshore energy lease areas off the California coastline were awarded in December 2022 for more than $757 million.