Do they have assurance money for the destroyed turbine?

(Washington, DC) – Headed for a few days at the beach? Nantucket probably isn’t the place to go. The beaches on the south side are closed to swimming, and if you want to stroll in the sand, wear shoes and watch out for “sharp, fiberglass shards and debris.” That’s because a wind turbine from the Biden administration’s pet Vineyard Wind project 15 miles out to sea malfunctioned and fell apart, littering the beach with blade debris. And there may be more to come as the turbine’s condition deteriorates. Ironically, oil may follow solid debris into the ocean.

As government watchdog The Functional Government Initiative (FGI) wrote back in January, government documents revealed that the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) waived the customary financial assurance for decommissioning on the lease of the Vineyard Wind project off the Massachusetts coast. Decommissioning fees are typically required for every energy lease Interior grants so that if a project fails and the lessee goes bankrupt, taxpayers aren’t stuck with cleanup costs. Vineyard first asked for a deferment in 2017 and was denied by the Trump administration, but the Biden BOEM informed Vineyard the fee was deferred for 15 years into its 20-year lease.

BOEM’s reasoning: the fees were “unnecessarily burdensome for lessees because, at that point, they have not begun receiving project income.” Besides, Vineyard used “proven wind turbine technology,” and “guaranteed electricity sales prices that, coupled with the consistent supply of wind energy, ensure a predictable income over the life of the Project.”

Nantucketers are currently becoming familiar with that proven technology as it washes up on their beaches.

Meanwhile, BOEM was proposing changes to that same assurance rule that would cost small oil and gas companies drilling in the Gulf of Mexico $9 billion in insurance that even the surety industry itself claims would not be financially viable. The unnecessary rule change is sure to drive many of those companies out of business – exactly the outcome the Biden administration wants in its war on fossil fuels.

Peter McGinnis, spokesman for FGI, issued the following statement:

“Hopefully the money Vineyard Wind saved on the assurance fees will be available to fix this little disaster. I’m sure the residents and businesses of Nantucket aren’t enjoying serving as guinea pigs for the project’s ‘proven technology.’ The administration’s reckless push to get to ‘net zero’ has already driven fuel costs up. It’s frank about destroying livelihoods in the fossil fuel industry. Coastal economies like Nantucket’s may find they’re next.”

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