Volume 87 No. 6
August 2023
“The Voice of Port Industries” @VAmaritime
SHAPING THE NEXT WAVE OF OFFSHORE WIND NORFOLK | The Biden-Harris administration has set a goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030. As part of this effort, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has announced three final Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) offshore Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. These WEAs were developed following extensive engagement and feedback from states, Tribes, local residents, ocean users, federal government partners, and other members of the public. If fully developed, the final WEAs could support between four and eight gigawatts of energy production.
WEA (A-2) is 101,767 acres and located 26 nautical miles from Delaware Bay. The second WEA (B-1) is 78,285 acres and about 23.5 nautical miles offshore Ocean City, Maryland. The third WEA (C-1) is 176,506 acres and located about 35 nautical miles from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, immediately behind Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project. Over a decade ago, the VMA was involved in the initial planning and shaping of the CVOW lease, which is perfectly placed to minimize conflicts with commercial shipping and DOD activities. The Association was heavily involved in the siting and shaping of the second round of WEA’s in the Central Atlantic, again bringing key stakeholders together to ensure that key industries in the Commonwealth, such as commercial shipping, NASA operations, and DOD operations weren’t hindered. This included several years of work with the U.S. Coast Guard to establish Safety Fairways off Virginia’s coast to ensure commercial vessels could continue to access our port without being too close to development projects. “By bringing all of Virginia’s ocean users together early on, we were able to ensure that at the end of the day, Virginia would win across multiple industry sectors, including offshore wind,” stated the VMA’s Will Fediw. “We’re now uniquely poised to win in several economic Continue Reading on Page 4
The three WEAs total approximately 356,550 acres. The first
DIESEL EMISSIONS REDUCTION FUNDS AVAILABLE WASHINGTON, DC | The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the 2022-2023 Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) National Grant Program. The DERA Grant Program will award approximately $115 million in grants and aims to accelerate the upgrade and turnover of the legacy diesel fleet. “Throughout the years, this crucial program to reduce diesel emissions has improved air quality and provided far-reaching public health benefits by reducing hundreds of thousands of
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tons of air pollution and saving millions in gallons of fuel,” said Joseph Goffman, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation. Projects can be funded through state and local agencies with jurisdiction over transportation or air quality, as well as through certain nonprofit organizations. Eligible activities include the retrofit or replacement of existing diesel engines, vehicles and equipment with EPA and California Air Resources Board (CARB) certified engine configurations and verified retrofit and idle reduction technologies. Continue Reading on Page 5
h VMA23 Program Spotlight (4)
h VMA New Members (7)
h ODU’s Port Day (2)
h Port Statistics (5)
h VMA Membership Dues Increase (7)
h VMA Committees (3)
h Association in Action (6)
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