This link is to an article on the Commonwealth Wind project:
The Town Manager was advised of this action by Avangrid on Friday, December 16, 2022. After careful consideration, the Town Manager has paused Host Community Agreement negotiations and tasked the Legal Department with advising on the implications of Avangrid’s actions. As the details of said action become better understood, the Town Manager will advise the Town Council regarding next steps. Avangrid did notify the Town Manager that they intend to continue permitting for the Commonwealth Wind Project, and, therefore, the Town will continue to meet with Avangrid relative to the MEPA filing and any other permitting efforts that merit such action.
| Monday, December 5 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. via ZoomIf you are having any technical issues with zoom, please contact Rachel Lake atRachel.Lake@avangrid.com Thursday, January 19 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. at the Osterville Library 43 Wianno Ave, Osterville Thursday, February 23 5 p.m – 7 p.m. at the Osterville Library 43 Wianno Ave, Osterville Wednesday, March 22 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. via Zoom |
| Onshore Activity in Barnstable |
| AVANGRID is committed to responsible offshore wind development, environmental protection, and minimizing short-term impacts to Barnstable residents due to in-road utility installation. Sign up for project update emails HERE. If you have any questions about current onshore and near-shore activity, or the project at large, please contact a member of the Outreach team directly. Pat Johnson, Manager of External Affairs or Rachel Lake, MA Outreach Coordinator Patrick.Johnson@Avangrid.com 774-437-3979 Rachel.Lake@Avangrid.com 857-352-2039 CURRENT ACTIVITIES Geotechnical Onshore Survey work is currently taking place in Osterville, Centerville, Marstons Mills, and West Barnstable for the Commonwealth Wind Project. Estimated dates of work: November 15, 2022 to December 16, 2022. No work will be done from November 23, 2022 to November 27, 2022 due to the Thanksgiving Holiday. The purpose of the Geotechnical Onshore Survey is to analyze the soil conditions under public roadways in Barnstable. Soil borings will be taken to determine the viability of installing a duct bank and cable system under public roadways. There will be a single truck coned off in one traffic lane, with a detail officer or flagger directing traffic. There should be minimal disruption to traffic and abutters. Each boring is anticipated to take 3-4 hours. Here is a list of locations (from south to north), followed by a map: Dowses Beach Parking Lot in Osterville Dowses Beach Causeway in Osterville East Bay Road in Osterville (near boat ramps)Wianno Ave in Osterville (just north of intersection with E Bay Road)Wianno Ave in Osterville (just south of intersection with Bates Street)Main Street in Osterville (just south of the Fire Station)Main Street in Osterville (just north of intersection with Admirals Lane)Old Mill Road in Osterville (just south of intersection with Josh Lumbert Road)Old Mill Road in Osterville (just north of intersection with Swift Ave)Five Corners Road in Osterville (just south of intersection with Lumbert Mill Rd)Osterville-West Barnstable Road in Osterville (just north of intersection with Bumps River Road)Osterville-West Barnstable Road in Osterville (just north of intersection with Pennycress Drive)Lumbert Mill Road in Osterville (near intersection with Nye Road)Lumbert Mill Road in Osterville (near intersection with Ensign Road)Old Falmouth Road in Marstons Mills (just south of intersection with Fairhaven Lane)Old Falmouth Road in Marstons Mills (near intersection with Steere Way)Oak Street in West Barnstable (near intersection with Sesame Street)Oak Street in West Barnstable (near intersection with Allan Rd)Service Road in West Barnstable (just west of intersection with Oak Street) |
From approximately November 8 – November 14, 2022, subject to weather conditions, Commonwealth Wind sub-consultants Mott MacDonald and ADT will be performing four (4) geotechnical boring samples via the vessel ‘Vision’ off of Dowses Beach. The approved hours for this work are 7am to 7pm daily.
The purpose of this work is to study the soil/sand conditions under the sea bed to determine the viability of the project’s plans to use horizontal directional drilling to install cables from the offshore wind generation facility under Dowses Beach to make landfall, and proceed via duct bank instillation under public roads through the Town of Barnstable.
The Town of Barnstable continues to review permits filed with regulatory agencies regarding the proposed Phase 3 (Commonwealth Wind) landing of cable in Barnstable. At the presentation on March 17, 2022 the proposed landing locations for cable in Osterville were shared with the Town Council. Commonwealth Wind shared said information following their filing for Site Assessment approval with the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management documents that identified their proposed project including landing and cable route locations. Town Manager Ells continues to have general discussions with Commonwealth Wind (Phase 3) project representatives but have not commenced negotiations of a Host Community Agreement and shall not do so until authorized by Town Council. (Authorization was unanimously voted on 11/4/22) The most recent discussion focused on Commonwealth Wind’s request to conduct soil borings along the project route including at Dowses Beach, and that they are proceeding with a request to delay their filing with the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) in order to renegotiate their Power Purchasing Agreement but they had not changed their filing of environmental/project permitting for the Commonwealth Wind project. On September 30, 2022 Commonwealth Wind proceeded with filing an Environmental Notification Form (ENF) and supporting documents to the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency office (MEPA) of the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs. The document link below is to the form and various attachments, including attachment A, which is a narrative describing the project and the rationale for various siting and design considerations, including the landing and the route.
Commonwealth Wind anticipates that the public comment period for the ENF will extend through November 29, 2022 (extended from October 27, 2022). Link to MEPA website https://eeaonline.eea.state.ma.us/EEA/MEPA-eMonitor/home Staff is reviewing the ENF and plan to submit comments within the public comment period. We will continue to monitor the Attachment D Permits, Reviews and Approvals required for the project and respond appropriately. We will keep you advised of our progress on this matter.
Commonwealth Wind pursuing electrical cable landing at Dowses Beach in Barnstable
CAI | By Jennette Barnes
Published October 12, 2022 at 6:28 PM EDT
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A third offshore wind project is taking steps to land electrical cables in Barnstable.
Commonwealth Wind has filed an environmental notification form with the state seeking to land cables at Dowses Beach in Osterville. The cables would be routed underground to a new substation somewhere in Barnstable.
Barnstable Town Manager Mark Ells said negotiating a host-community agreement early in the permitting process would be better for the town.
“As you could imagine, with each permit that … they get from each agency, it’s kind of like we have less leverage to go in there to get a host-community agreement, because they’re already well down the road of getting their permits,” he said.
Host agreements typically include payments to the town if the project comes to fruition.
About a month ago, he asked the Barnstable Town Council to consider authorizing him to negotiate an agreement. But he withdrew the request because of objections from the public and because the Osterville precinct did not have a seated town councilor until the September election, he said.
“Now Councilor [Paul] Cusack is in there, and so I expect that this discussion will proceed,” he said. “I don’t know what the outcome will be.”
Barnstable already has host-community agreements with Vineyard Wind and Park City Wind for cable landings.
Ells said his recommendation to negotiate is not an endorsement of the project, though he knows the idea of negotiating is frustrating for people who oppose the cable landing.
“I understand that at times it’s frustrating, especially if you’re not in support of the concept of whatever’s proceeding. But that doesn’t mean that we have the authority to prevent it from proceeding,” he said.
The town could not prevent the cable landing unless it convinced the state there was a problem, he said.
Barnstable’s previous host-community agreement, for Park City Wind, called for the developer to pay the town $16 million over 25 years, in addition to commercial taxes.
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