 All right. Good morning everybody. Hello and welcome to the offshore wind roadmap update presented by Maine Audubon. I am Nick Lund and I'll be joined today by two colleagues and a special guest to update you on the latest happenings regarding offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine, including a current opportunity to opportunity to offer feedback on Maine's path to realize the benefits and mitigate the impacts of offshore wind. In particular, we will be discussing progress on Maine's offshore wind roadmap, a state initiative to guide the development of offshore wind led by an expert advisory committee and working groups, including Maine Audubon staff. The roadmap focuses on a variety of topics related to the development of offshore wind, including energy markets, ports and infrastructure, socioeconomic benefits, equity, manufacturing and supply chains, workforce development, and especially important to Maine Audubon wildlife and environmental compatibility. Each of the four working groups have developed a set of recommendations. Those recommendations are open to feedback for the public with comments due by April 30, which is less than two weeks away. Among our goals today is to share the recommendations that are of great interest, greatest interest to Maine Audubon and encourage you, the listeners to offer your feedback. And to talk in much more detail about the roadmap and the draft recommendations are my guests today. First is Selena Cunningham, the deputy director of the governor's energy office below Selena. Good afternoon. It's great to be here. It is five after so you can say good afternoon. That's great. Also here of course is my colleague Sarah Haggerty, our conservation biologist and a GIS manager for Maine Audubon. Hi Sarah. And finally, my colleague Eliza Donahue, Maine Audubon's advocacy director and our offshore wind policy lead. Hey Eliza. Hey Nick. Hey everyone. Great. So we're going to get started. I'm just going to have to do my quick little tech rundown here. We are in webinar format, which means I cannot see or hear you attendees out there. We are recording this. It will be on Maine Audubon's website today or tomorrow. And if you were going to talk for a bit and then we'll take questions from the audience from the people watching. If you have questions, please do not type them into the chat where we were just putting our towns. Instead put them into the Q&A box down below and that's how we can make sure that they that we see them when the time is right. I think that's all I need to say and now let's just get going. I'm going to turn it over now to Selena Cunningham for her opening remarks. Great. Let me just go ahead and share my screen. How's that? Looks good. Great. Good afternoon everyone. So I'm Selena Cunningham. I'm from the governor's energy office, which is working across state government and with private and public sector folks to work on renewable energy issues. Including offshore wind. So I'll take just a few minutes to give you a little bit of background in terms of the state's work in offshore wind and then talk about the roadmap and a little bit more detail. So as you likely know, the state has some ambitious climate and clean energy goals that have been put in place. In 2019, the state set ambitious greenhouse gas reduction requirements of 45% below 1990 levels by 2030 and 80% by 2050. And over the course of year plus put together a four year climate action plan that was delivered in at the end of 2020. And a part of that work is pursuing a number of strategies that are across the economy in terms of how to reduce climate emissions. One of those key areas that is included is increasing renewable energy. That not only is important for the existing energy that we're using, but also as we need to electrify our transmission and residential heating and homes, we will need even more renewable energy resources. So in the governor's energy office, we've put together a number of reports, including an energy, energy assessment energy plan about how we are going to meet those goals. And what is clear is that we have a lot of available renewable energy potential in the state. We also want to pursue a diverse diverse portfolio. And so whether that's a solar large scale, small scale onshore wind or offshore wind and even in other energy sources, the state is taking a diverse approach. And a key part of that is offshore wind. The Gulf of Maine has some of the highest sustained winds in the country in terms of available resources and has believe over 156 gigawatts of potential energy from the Gulf of Maine. This can not only help power the state of Maine but also the rest of New England that has significant climate and renewable energy requirements as well. And so how the state has been doing this is we launched the main offshore wind initiative in 2019. And this was it was set up to explore how to responsibly support the growth of the offshore wind industry, taking a look at strategic planning, research and partnering with folks in Maine, the nation and the world to support a responsible development of the industry. I'm really looking at these four pillars, fighting climate change I talked about increasing renewable energy in the state, and then also supporting competitive jobs and economic growth. As we are seeing in Europe, and also in the south of on the East Coast, the offshore wind provides a tremendous economic opportunity, where we are exploring how the state can benefit not only from potentially projects in the Gulf of Maine, but participate in in other where the projects are south of here as well in terms of our supply chain. So really a key to this work is sustaining Maine's heritage, maritime heritage, and namely also supporting Maine's commercial fishing industry, as well as our important environment and so as we think about ways that we want to explore and advance offshore wind. A key part of that is thinking about how existing economic powerhouses like the fishing industry and our way of life can be sustained as we advance offshore wind. So what does this work look like. We are are doing a number of planning efforts in terms of the roadmap I'll talk about in a moment. In terms of how Maine's ports could help support the offshore wind industry, Department of Transportation is embarking on a stakeholder process related to that. We're also supporting research and innovation. The university is on track to have the first full scale. Floating turbine in state waters in Maine in 2024 this will be the first in the US and has a long history over a decade of work in terms of leading on floating offshore wind technology, which is required in the Gulf of Maine. And then on policy and legislative side, we have support for a small scale research project in federal waters that the state is in the early stages of planning. In addition to that, the legislature has invested in a research consortium to make sure that we can explore how to best coexist, have offshore wind energy coexist in the Gulf of Maine. And then also prioritizing federal waters so beyond three miles. And then a key part of that is partnering and we, we are working both informally and formally to make sure that we are taking lessons learned from other jurisdictions and communities about how to advance, advance floating technology and advance offshore wind in the state of Maine. So in terms of how we are doing that, the roadmap is a key pillar that we, we launched the roadmap in July of last year. And the reason why we want to do this is really to have a building on the over a year, decade of work that we've been doing in the state, how do we have mapped the future for how to advance this this industry. So we have a over $2 million from the US economic development administration that is helping put together a comprehensive economic development plan that allows for coexistence with Maine's coastal heritage existing ocean users but also providing this economic opportunity. And so we set up this advisory committee that includes both public and private sector leaders, as well as for working groups focus on different sectors of the industry. And we're grateful for the participation of Maine Audubon in this in this expert, one of the expert working groups. And so the working groups have been working hard over the last months putting together initial recommendations, working with some of them have been working with consultants to help put together technical documents and plans about how about what is needed and the priorities associated with offshore wind in Maine. And so just to give you a sense, we've had over nearly 100 people participating over 50 meetings, all of these are open to the public. And so we invite you to participate at any level that you are interested in, whether it's this webinar or more detail if you're interested. And then also we have a number of technical reports that are are helping the roadmap. Guidance and also supporting the recommendations that we're moving forward in terms of how where we are in the process. So we launched in July, we're at this first initial stage where this is the first time we're having conversations with people like you to tell you about what the work it is that we're doing, get that feedback and then we'll be putting together a another draft recommendations and final draft report that will go out for public comment again, and we'll finalize it by the end of December 2022. And a key part of this is obviously working to be inclusive through our process and open to feedback about how we can meet reach others and have as broad as broad of an effort as possible. And kind of preview share a little bit about some of the recommendations for the three of the working groups and then I'll let others go into more detail on the environment working group. So I'm co-chair of the energy markets and strategies working group along with Jeremy Payne from Renewable Energy Association. This group is really focusing on three key areas. These are these are pretty high level notes right here online. I'll give you a link later has a little bit more detail if you're interested in delving in. But really, we think it's important to establish and initiate an offshore wind requirement and procurement process. The state of Maine will need offshore wind over the long term. So thinking about how to procure and set up a clear strategy for bringing that offshore wind to the state of Maine. Next one is is making sure that we do this in a cost effective manner. Right now the floating technology is fairly new and the cost is declining rapidly but we want to make sure that we are smart about getting the affordable cost effective renewable energy for the state. And then the last one is pursuing regional collaboration in the in the industry, whether it is procurement, transmission, workforce supply chain, or environmental issues. It's important that we're considering how not only main mains of use but also how we can work with New Hampshire, Massachusetts to have a regional approach to this industry. I'm not going to go through this full list read it all but the fisheries working group. It's an active group shared by Meredith Mendelson from the Department of Marine Resources as well as Terry Alexander who's a ground fisherman from Maine. And fishing fishermen and have been coming to the table and along with fishing associations to talk about key priorities associated with with potential for offshore wind. And just because people are participating does not mean that they are supportive of offshore wind or this effort but we're really appreciative of people coming to the table to share ideas about how to minimize impacts and maximize benefits so I encourage you to just kind of read through these and see some key areas where we're looking at how to make sure that we're doing this in a safe and responsible manner and so these are still in our development here but just to give you a sense of what they are. And then the last one is the supply chain workforce development ports and marine transportation. And this is a very large group that has three subgroups one focusing on supply chain one on workforce and another on ports. And so that these are just a snapshot of the recommendations that they are working through including how to advance supply chain opportunities for companies of all sizes in Maine. From a workforce standpoint the state has been doing a lot of work to advance clean energy workforce efforts as well as working with our partners. And then lastly on the port side of the Department of Transportation is leading efforts related to stakeholder engagement and also looking at other aspects whether it be how to support working water waterfronts at pursuing federal funding and realizing the role that main ports can play in a broader offshore wind industry. So those are that was a quick overview. And so here at the bottom you can see a link that you can read the full recommendations as well as we are accepting comments through April 30 as Nick mentioned, and we are happy to have any comments of any that can be detailed or would more or less detail as you see fit, really interested in your thoughts about how we can make this process better how we can improve these recommendations to ensure that we have a sustainable offshore wind industry for years to come in the state of Maine. So with that I'll turn it back to Nick and happy to answer questions. Excellent Selena thank you so much. Thank you for the work that you are doing to make sure that offshore wind is done with every important consideration. Thought of an advance I appreciate it. And so now, again, if you have questions for Selena please put them in the q amp a box, we can find along the bottom of your screen. And so now I'm going to turn to Sarah Haggerty to give some more specific information on her working group. The one that Selena did not cover, and the one that is perhaps most relevant to main Audubon's interest so Sarah take it away. Thank you Nick. Let me just share my screen. What's good. Thank you. So as thanks Nick for the introduction and thanks Selena for that great overview of the roadmap and the roles of the different working groups I'm going to I sit on the environment and wildlife working group and so I want to walk you through how we're looking at these things and what we're considering and then go through our initial recommendations. So, our working group is charged with identifying best practices data gaps and research needs to avoid minimize or mitigate impacts of offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine and wildlife and to address broader environmental impacts to habitat. It's a pretty broad requirement that we are working under. We're really fortunate that the folks who are on the working group are experts in the field and that it's a real variety of folks who are involved. We are chaired our group is co-chaired by John Perry of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and Wing Goodale of Biodiversity Research Institute. And then the working group itself is made up of folks from federal agencies, state agencies, academia, other NGOs like Maine Audubon. I'm particularly happy that National Audubon is with us as well on the working group because not only do they bring biological information but they've been working to, they've been working with all the different states along the eastern seaboard and actually around the country to address impacts to wildlife from offshore wind and so they bring in a perspective of process that that many of us here in Maine don't have. So it's really great to have National Audubon on the working group as well. And Selena mentioned the other working groups that are out there and as you can imagine there's a lot of overlap between all the different working groups for us in particular. We have more overlap with the fisheries working group because they're looking at impacts to wildlife and habitats as well. And we actually have a little overlap with the group working on ports because we're trying to think about all of the impacts on the environment and that includes the infrastructure development that will support offshore wind. We borrowed this diagram from Wayne from BRI because I think it's such a great snapshot of all of the things that we are looking at. We're looking at all the different habitats that could be impacted from the benthic environment where, you know, how will the anchors impact the seafloor to the water column. We're going to have cables in the water column. We're going to have electromagnetic fields. We're going to have noise. We're always that impacting wildlife. Then we're thinking about the surface of the water with impacts from turbulence and boat traffic and then we're thinking about the air column above the top of the water and impacts to birds and bats from collision or avoidance and displacement. So we're thinking about all of those different habitats including the impacts of the cable going to shore and where it lands, where it comes to landfall. We're also looking at all of the different aspects of offshore wind development from siding to construction through operation all the way through to decommissioning. We're looking at the different impacts that we'll see. We expect to see and how we can minimize those impacts through our recommendations. We're also looking at all types of species. Of course we're looking at birds and bats but also marine mammals, fish and invertebrates. And we're trying to look at all of the potential impacts, both negative and positive and that could be collision, displacement, noise, electromagnetic fields, increased boat traffic, changes to water stratification. We're trying to think about all the potential impacts that can happen from this much needed renewable energy source. And we're also trying to keep the big picture in mind as well. Climate change is already here and we're already seeing the impacts on wildlife and habitats in the Gulf of Maine. So we need to make sure that our data are up to date. We can't be relying on data that maybe are 30 years old and maybe aren't applicable anymore. And we also need to think about the cumulative impacts of offshore wind. It's not just in the Gulf of Maine. The map on the right shows the wind energy areas that BOEM has already identified off the eastern, the northeast. So a lot of the species that we're concerned about in the Gulf of Maine or that we're thinking about migrate up and down the eastern seaboard. And so we need to think about the impacts that they'll be seeing from other offshore wind projects, which gets to Selina's point about really thinking about this beyond the borders of Maine and even beyond the Gulf of Maine. It's really a collaborative process we need to be doing. So we have worked since last summer and come up with our draft initial recommendations. We have five primary recommendations and these are really the immediate needs that we see. These are things that we need to be working on right now. And we're continuing our meetings and discussions to go through additional areas of concern. But these are the ones that really need to be addressed right now and I'll walk through them. So, both our working group and the fisheries working group very quickly came to the determination that we need to do a mapping exercise. We need to collect all the data that are out there. And there is a northeast ocean data portal so we can pull data from there. Work with the fisheries working group to get their information on the most important fisheries areas because those are wildlife species and habitats we're interested in as well. Pull them all together into into a mapping product and then make sure that we have additional experts bringing their data sets bringing their area of expertise to to review and evaluate and work on these maps. And we need to make sure that we're setting up the process so that as new data come in we're able to to create iterations of the map that are as we get more and more informed from from new data and so we need to make sure that it's not a static map that it's a map that we're continually adding to some of the types of data that we're interested in pulling together include information on forging areas for marine birds particularly the ones that are vulnerable most vulnerable to collision and displacement. We want to look at migratory pathways of both birds and bats. In particular we're looking at coastal islands the areas around them in between them. We need to be gathering data on important areas for endangered species for deep water corals and other unique types of habitats and species guilds. And we want to make sure that we're incorporating important spawning and feeding areas for fish and other species within the Gulf. We really want to try and understand areas of aggregation of Kalanus copepods this is one of the most prolific organisms in the in the ocean and they are the foundation of the food web. So when we can find figure out where they are, and what the important features are for them that will lead us to important areas for higher terrific levels as well. Our second recommendation is to collect habitat data this is really about the physical parts of the Gulf of Maine. We need to work with federal and state agencies to make sure that we are mapping the Gulf and we that we understand what the sea floor looks like, get some high data on our data light our data. This is a really big effort, our bathymetry data, the vast majority of it is from like the 50s and so we really need to update the data that we have, and use the newer tools that are available to us to get more precise data. This is a big effort that requires cooperation between the feds and the state for funding to get the mapping done. We want to be collecting Gulf of Maine baseline biological data. We want to understand what's going on above and below the water so that we have baseline information before any development happens. We want to understand nocturnal use of the airspace by both songbirds and shorebirds in migration and other movement times. Again we want that collaboration with New Hampshire and Massachusetts and we're all looking for the same sort of data so let's be efficient and work together to collect it. And again we need funding from both the federal agencies and state agencies. Our fourth recommendation is is more collection of biological data is to have tracking studies we need to know where species are and how they're using and moving through the Gulf of Maine. And that can be from a variety, so it's a variety of species that that we can use a variety of tracking tools on from MODIS which can be used to track birds and bats and insects. And we need more MODIS towers to capture offshore wind areas or offshore areas, we can use GPS to track birds radar and acoustics to track birds bats and marine mammals. There's fish tagging. There are a couple of different kinds of marine mammal tracking methodologies out there and these sorts of data sets can be the baseline foundations for our understanding of our monitoring needs going forward from the pre construction during construction and post construction. Our fifth recommendation is a little bit wonky. It is about regulatory oversight and cooperative actions between the federal agencies and the state agencies. So the Coastal Zone Management Act requires that there be federal consistency between the federal agencies and the state agencies. I'm not an expert on this but I've been doing a lot of reading on it and basically it says that if there's any action that a federal agency will take, whether it's in the coastal zone or not, if it will have an impact on the coastal zone, they need to undergo a federal consistency review where they need to make sure that whatever they're doing can meet the requirements of the state regulatory agencies and within the coastal zone. So this is something, offshore rent is sort of new in the federal consistency reviews because we don't have offshore rent yet. So we want to work with our neighbors who are a little bit ahead of us in the process. And so that we can all work together to figure out the best, strongest tools to use to make sure that our state agencies have a strong voice in making sure that any offshore rent activities have the least impact on our environment and wildlife. And one of the parts of this is to really take a look at what policies we already have policies and regulations because we may need to incorporate new regulations specifically to look at potential impacts for offshore wind. And we need to, as part of federal consistency, we need to understand the state's role in the cable route review where that cable is going to go, how it's going to make landfall, and how we can make sure that it has the least impact on the environment. So that's a whirlwind tour of our five immediate priorities right now our recommendations but we're still meeting we're still discussing a lot of things there's a lot more to dive into. We're looking at that transmission cable route where landfall will be. We're trying to develop some best management practices so that every offshore wind project has to meet the same BMPs and data standards for monitoring going forward so that we can have consistency. And again that's a great place for collaboration with our neighbors. We also need to look at mitigation requirements there will be impacts we're going to work really hard to make sure that they're the smallest impacts to the environment but where there are impacts we need to make sure that there's significant mitigation that that actually offsets the harm. And we want to look at where, what the rule of procurement can play in making sure that there are strong requirements to protect the environment as offshore wind is developed in the Gulf of Maine, and, and then having input from the main offshore research consortium and also there's a regional wildlife science collaborative for offshore wind as well so there are entities out there who are looking at this and we need to make sure that we're looking both locally and with our neighbors. We're also looking at how do we address those cumulative impacts along the eastern seaboard, except for off of block island there there aren't any wind farms there yet so it's hard to figure out what those cumulative impacts will be. We need to make sure that our data standards are consistent across all of offshore wind project so that they can. We can learn from any project that goes in even if it's not in the Gulf of Maine, and we also need to make sure that the data coming out of any research on any offshore wind project is available to the public so that we can learn and and work together to make sure that we have the smallest impacts. And then we're also talking about what the role of new technologies could be there. So when we find new technologies that are actually effective and reducing harm to the to wildlife in the environment. We need a way to make sure that's incorporated into new projects and whether it's. There's a mechanism for sort of adaptive management to incorporate new technologies into existing projects as well. There's a lot of topics and exciting and interesting topics that we're still discussing. So we have a wind tour. These are the five recommendations that we have for our initial recommendations and I'm going to turn it over to Eliza who can go into the process for commenting. Great thanks so much Sarah, and let me get to screen sharing on. All right, let me just confirm that what folks are seeing it has main offshore wind initiative in the top left quarter can maybe Nick can you give me a yes or no on that. Great. Thanks so much. Well, hello again everybody I'm Eliza down here director of advocacy for me not a bond big thanks to Sarah and Selena for great presentations, as you have all seen a ton of work has gone into developing this roadmap to date. And as Nick noted and as saline noted and Sarah to there is an opportunity for folks to offer feedback on the recommendations that Sarah just presented. I encourage everyone to offer feedback, particularly feedback on the recommendations from the environment and wildlife working group. Not only will your feedback strengthen the recommendations but they'll also demonstrate the desire of main people to be engaged in this important work. However, we also recognize that this is a lot to take in, and it's pretty technical stock so I'm going to briefly share with you both how to offer feedback, and offer some notes on the feedback that may not have on has submitted on the environment and wildlife working group recommendations should our organizational notes align with or inspire your own. The roadmap here that screen sharing the easy to use online form that the roadmap has created for people to offer feedback on there is one of these for each of the working groups and I've also put it in the chat there. The folks want to link to it themselves themselves. So this is quite straightforward. It includes four questions. And the first, all of them relate to the five different recommendations that Sarah went through so carefully. And the first two are pretty straightforward and just involves some checkmarks. The first question asks reader to pick the two environment and wildlife working group recommendations that they believe to be the most strategically important for main right now. So may not have on believes that each of the five recommendations are really crucial, however, for the sake of the exercise. In our response we selected collect the Gulf of Maine baseline data that's the second one right here, as well as conduct tracking studies right down here. So, as Sarah described, there exists significant wildlife and habitat data gaps that really need to be closed prior to developing offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine. It's imperative that we close those data gaps that we utilize federal funding opportunities state funding opportunities collaborate with both with bone other federal entities and with other states to close those gaps so that very thoughtful citing decisions can be made. So that's question one. The second question asks, which are the two lowest priority recommendations for Maine. May not have on views each of the recommendations as crucial but again for the sake of the exercise. You know we selected map the existing data and explore use of federal consistency again both of these are incredibly crucial. However, we have seen that there's pretty good momentum, particularly towards that first recommendation mapping exists in data, perhaps doesn't need as much of a push, and then I arguably that exploring the use of federal consistency. It very much is important that that gets underway right now but one could argue that it is not quite as immediate as the other recommendations that have been offered by the environment and wildlife working group. So the third and fourth questions are the ones where we get to be more creative. And I'll share with you some of the notes that that may not have on has passed along. So that third question asks, how the reader would improve or add to the initial recommendations. And in our response, we urge the environment and wildlife working group to include recommendations on the topics that Sarah described at the end of her presentation additional topics for discussion we're very hopeful that those elements are included in the final product created in the final roadmap roadmap product. So first of all, best management practices for pre and post constructive post construction monitoring and mitigation requirements. These things are essential for understanding how offshore wind development can coexist with wildlife in the golf so we want to make sure that there are more recommendations that that Sarah has gone through today. They are accompanied by even more recommendations that not only get us to the point of developing offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine but also help us effectively develop both through the actual implementation of offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine in a manner that avoids and minimizes impacts to wildlife and environment. We also included in our, in our recommendations, the want for consistent data collection. Sarah spoke about the fact that there is going to be offshore wind development up and down the east coast for us to really understand the impact of species that are all the entirety of the eastern seaboard their home. We need to make sure that we're able to kind of share and compare data across different projects, and again up and down the, the coast. And then finally, as new wildlife and habitat impact reduction technologies and information become available. Again, you know Sarah has shared that there are some places farther south on the eastern seaboard that are farther ahead of Maine we have the opportunity to learn a lot from those projects. We're hopeful that any of that learning and the new technologies that are developed as a result of those projects are adopted by projects in the Gulf of Maine, not only new projects but hopefully existing projects as well. I'm really excited about some of the technologies that I've learned about that help us help people understand just how birds in particular and then wildlife generally are interacting with these turbines. So the fourth and last question asks for other information or ideas that may be useful to the roadmap. And, you know, in our, in our answer to this, you know we gave a pretty high level answer and that's that we main Audubon is is very encouraging that people and decision makers move swiftly towards embracing offshore wind that is not only cited, operated and studied with wildlife and habitat in mind, but offshore wind that is also cost effective and that utilizes the skills and resources of main people. Well, of course, may not have on focus when it comes to offshore wind is the intersection of offshore wind and wildlife, as well as the role that offshore wind can play in helping me meet its renewable energy goals. We know that if offshore wind is going to work for Maine is going to work for the nation. It needs to work for all main people. That means creating jobs for main people that means reasonable electricity rates. That means utilizing technology developed here in the state of Maine, and many other aspects that are going to again play to the real sweeping benefits of offshore wind that are beyond, you know, what are some of the most paramount benefits and that is reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. So that's a whirlwind of of the feedback opportunity again this is I put the link in the chat middle that link will take you to this page that I have right here. I'm going to stop screen sharing and encourage folks to to give feedback before April 30. Thanks, Nick. Thank you Eliza and thank you to Sarah and Selena I'm wondering if Sarah Selena could start their video for the Q&A portion put you on the spot here. Thank you very much. Amazing stuff. Thank you so much. And to the folks listening, you know, this is how we make sure it's done right. Right. I mean, this is, you know, I believe that offshore wind can be a way to get off fossil fuels, but we know that there may be impacts and we need to make sure it's done right. This is how we do it is by sending in your recommendations and making our voices heard. So I encourage you all to click the link that Eliza put together, I'll be sending out some information later on to attend ease and to many other main Audubon members about our recommendations for making comments here. So please take heed and take action. And now I'd like to turn it over to questions. Again, if you have questions, please put them into the Q&A box and we'll get started. Although I do know that there were some up in the chat and I'll start with those one from John. And I'm not sure who would want to take this. Maybe Selina, maybe Sarah, but John asked, can you put in better perspective how much energy could be generated from offshore wind, perhaps a number of residences or some other figure that can translate. Sure. So you have a 112 megawatt turbine offshore. That's about 7000 homes. You had a 150, 156 megawatt project. That's about 100,000 homes. And if you're getting to 156 gigawatts, that's 100 million homes. So there is a lot of energy in the Gulf of Maine. And correct me if I'm wrong, there are not 100 million homes in Maine. So this would be a significant energy source, not just for Maine but for the nation. Yes. And it's just to illustrate the potential. We have far less in terms of our actual energy needs here. So it's a big deal. And Donald asks, you mentioned some concerns from the fishing industry. Who's wondering if you could summarize those concerns. I can share a few thoughts I don't want to speak for the fishing industry so just in terms of what I can share that I have heard. Number one is on a process side, the way that the fishing industry is regulated is very different than the way that offshore wind is planned and regulated. And so making sure that the fishing industry have a seat at the table and are able to provide input early on in the process I think is an important component. And thinking about through each stage of the development of the project so whether it's your transmission cable interconnecting to shore, how that may interact with fishing activity, or project offshore, whether it's possible to fish around the project and make fishermen feel comfortable where those projects are cited and is incredibly important to the fishing industry that's just a few Sarah and Eliza may also have have thoughts but that's what comes to mind. Thank you. I was just going to say one of the big pieces that we're hearing from the fishing industry is to make sure that we have really good communication that that they're being heard and that that they're understanding what what's going on and and throughout the entire process before and after fishing and after as well. Great. A couple of questions about birds that I like to direct to Sarah possible one from Jeff about. What do we know from other offshore wind installations about the potential impact on migratory birds and then from Lance. What are some ideas about how the impacts on birds could be monitored as you go forward. There, there actually is a lot of information out there from offshore wind in Europe. It is a little bit different. The turbines that were put in they've been out there for a couple of decades now. And they're not quite as tall as the turbines that we're going to end up with and their monopile so we're going to have floating floating turbines here in the Gulf of Maine. So there will be some differences there but but research is showing that some species just act like they're not there. It's totally fine. Some species are more vulnerable to collision and some species actually will avoid the turbines and so we need to think about what those species are in particular. So think turns and gulls when you think about collisions you know they're they're flying higher they're they're moving a lot more less so for puffins who are staying a little closer to the surface of the water. But any impact on the food sources that are in the in the marine environment is something that could affect the birds as well and so those are some of the things that that folks are thinking about the distance between the turbines can affect the effect some species will move between them if there's if they're far enough apart. Some will go around the entire array and so we need to to understand what's happening here with the turbines that will end up here. And what's the second part on how to how to minimize and avoid those or how to track them and monitor and monitor. Yeah, so. So we're looking at things like, like radar to get a feel for so. I think folks often will think about marine birds, but we also have to remember that songbirds and shorebirds migrate, and some of them will stay along the coast but many will cut across the Gulf of Maine. So we need to understand a little bit better and that's where the tracking can come in to understand who's, who's moving where when, and it's not just across the, the Gulf of Maine, it's also within the airspace right the air column, how high up are they moving it may be may not have any effect at all if they're all flying well below the, the, the rotor sweep zone, but whether can have a role on that too. In fact, they can be pushed down into the rotor sweep area instead of flying above them so there there's a lot of different stuff to look at and a lot of different technologies. And then there are some Eliza and I both talked a little bit about new technologies there's some technology that's being looked at it's still very very early to look at how to track actual collisions, whether it's with a bird or a bat, and, and how to understand what's leading to those collisions as well. Thanks, we have a bunch of questions coming in I'll take one from Carol Jean quickly who asked about solar what about solar. Just to say that may not want strongly supports the use of solar renewable energy in Maine on roofs and in other context, Sarah's grief her or her other hat and her onshore hat does a lot of work with solar sighting in Maine and she recently released the solar sighting tool, which is a GIS tool to help towns and other groups figure out where solar might work and certainly place to avoid and so yeah we're strong supporters of solar. In a lot of context especially on your roof if possible. Question from Barbara who asks, what do we see as the most likely obstacles to manors embracing offshore wind. Especially as there are various points of pushback that folks want to take a stab at that. Where are other, you know areas of hurdles so far. Sarah, I'll go for it. I mean I think number one is having conversations like this sharing information about the potential and the process and what it can mean for main to I think it is good policies that support home opportunities for companies, economic opportunities for young people. And to those are a few thoughts I also think that a lot of people are supportive of offshore wind. And then I think the last point would be to the concerns raised by fishing industry and others is having a process that is workable and continues to be in the communications point and Sarah's Sarah's point is I think really good so I'd say that we are taking steps to move in the right direction and need to continue to do this for the years to come. Sarah I'm not sure if you want to add anything. Now I think I think that covered it really well I think your first point is the most important one that I'm getting information out there and and this is new this is brand new we don't know what the impacts will be but there are places where we can learn that it hits the ground and so just making sure that we are communicating what we do know what we don't know and and working with the best information that we that we have. I just got a text from Eliza we have lost Eliza that's okay. She is okay or internet is out we are in the middle of a storm. I'm surprised. I'm glad we made it this far in so thanks to Eliza and good luck with getting your internet back. Just a quick question about you mean this is a really exciting sort of piece of the puzzle we haven't mentioned here. Selena perhaps you could talk about how you mean is involved here. Yeah, I mean the you mean is University of Maine, Dr. Have you got doggie and the composite center has done tremendous amount of work and continues to really lead in terms of floating technology. They've put in the water off the coast of Maine I think it was in 2008 one eighth scale floating technology have patents and number of patents to support that and planning that the project and targeted for 2024 and state waters and so they have a long history they are very good partners of the state and will continue to and and I think have big grander plans to advance the technology and that's another thing is that using those concrete foundations creates more local jobs here and so we've been supportive of their their effort to date and excited about their their work. One you to ask, and if you could quickly just discuss the working group talking about ports, and sort of how the, you know, how that's going to work, or what some of the recommendations are you did cover it in your side may have missed it. Sure. And so, so when you're thinking about building these offshore wind turbines are big, and you need a lot of physical space to manufacturer assemble and and deploy offshore wind. And so whenever you're thinking about offshore wind you need to think about where are you going to build this and so the Department of Transportation has done an initial assessment of the port of Sears port, as well as taking a look at other ports and how they can support different projects of the advancement of the industry. DOT has a working stakeholder group that they've launched to talk through some of those details and more and more detail and I believe Eliza or me and Audubon is is part of that to understand from a wildlife perspective from a bird perspective, potential impacts and how to reduce those. So recommendations are on the same timeline, April 30, is that correct that the end folks who find on the website. Yeah, for the port. Yeah, yeah, I think the port conversation is longer than that but it's initial recommendations happy to take comments by April 30. Sarah I'm wondering if you want to take a question about whales and marine mammals and maybe a quick summary of what the potential issues are and what folks are thinking about for recommendations or mitigations. So marine mammals, it's a big topic really important topic. And some of the issues that we're thinking about are any changes to the habitats, the marine habitats that might affect their food sources. You know, there will be cables in the water from the floating turbines and so there is a question the cables are huge they're going to be like tree trunks. I'm not worried about entanglement from the cables themselves but if there are, you know, old fishing fishing lines or nets that can get entangled on the cables, is there a secondary entanglement risk so they're looking at ways to make sure that those cables stay clean potential impacts from electromagnetic fields although that doesn't seem to be as big an issue for marine mammals as it is potentially for other species. So the potential for noise. The floating turbines has one benefit compared to the monopile in that when the monopiles are put in there's a lot of blasting and drilling that has to happen and it's very, very loud and during construction. It's a huge concern for marine mammals and so the floating turbines don't have that but there is noise generated by the functioning of those turbines and there are different ways to reduce that noise. So that's one of the things that there were, we're recommending be looked into to sort of keep the noise all up above, or just reduce it completely. And, and the other thing that we need to remember is that climate change is changing things already and so it's hard to know what those impacts will be so we really need to make sure that we keep collecting the data over time. We've had a couple questions in the chat about offshore the floating technology and how it stands up to strong winds hurricanes, other events like that. Can, can you speak to that and sort of talk about you know what it looks like under extreme conditions. Yeah, and the University of Maine has a test pool that they've been they've been using to test their technology. The, the university main technology I think has been tested for to withstand 500 year storms. And so it is an important component of any planning for an engineering standpoint and so far that the testing is going well for the university. Great. We'll take I think two more questions down here before we jump out and I want to read reiterate the link that Eliza put in the chat before the question from, well this is maybe a sort of combined question from Barbara and windy. Other other oceanic renewable energy technologies under consideration like offshore solar. Interesting or current or other types of wind generators is this this turbine style is is the best or what. There are other renewable offshore renewable technologies their title, there's wave, there's solar world, we've seen some some investigation of that worldwide. One thing I'll just briefly say is that the federal government is start is in the very early stages of planning for leasing associated with offshore renewable energy in the Gulf of Maine. And part of that will be collecting data whether there's anyone interested in pursuing anything beyond offshore wind, but primarily our focus has been for far offshore on offshore wind. All right. Well, I'm going to leave it there with the questions thank you so much and apologies to the ones we didn't get to want to circle. Well, that's not the right link that I just put down there. Sorry about that. If you're interested in avian flu I don't know why that that came in on my link. Let me try doing that again I want to re copy. It's not working. It's not letting me recopy the link. So, if you scroll up away from that and a couple up in the chat, you can see the comment that Eliza put in there with a link to where you can add your comments. I want to reiterate how important it is to share our voice to share a voice on behalf of wildlife and the environment in as we move forward here there's a lot of voices in the room. So we need to make sure that ours is heard and so you'll be getting some more information from me about what Eliza recommended for how to comment, and we strongly encourage you to do so. I want to thank Selena Cunningham. Thank you for joining us and for all the work you you're doing. Sarah, thank you, and Eliza thank you in absentia as as your internet is gone. Thank you all for joining it's really nice to see people's interest in this topic as we move forward this is a very exciting development for Maine and we hope that we can help the environment and the earth. Thanks all and we'll talk soon. Thank you.