State officials are still assessing Vineyard Wind’s offer to Massachusetts fishermen to compensate them for potential losses from their massive wind farm. Environmental economist Tom Sproul says they may be working with information that devalues that potential impact.
In a letter to coastal zone management officials, Sproul says the wind developer’s economic impact study omits several potential losses like impacts on shore-side businesses, increased transit costs, and life and safety risks.
“The ‘King Report’ takes all of these potential sources of loss and essentially sweeps them under the rug as if they don’t exist,” Sproul says. “And so what I’m trying to do is provide at least some quick calculations to show that these numbers are not reasonably zero and that they should be considered.”
The so-called “King Report”, named for its author, used fish landings data to put an annual economic value for commercial fisherman at about 197-thousand dollars. Vineyard Wind says the seemingly low-figure is a testament to placing their 84-turbine wind farm in a low-impact area.
