MANASQUAN — Over the course of the last three months, a group of residents have come together to fight against a proposed plan that will run what they call “high risk” power cables through residential streets in Sea Girt, Manasquan and Wall Township out to a substation in Howell.
Now, the residents are teaming up with local mayors, government representatives and others to talk about the plan in a meeting on Aug. 19 at 6:30 p.m. at the Manasquan Community Senior Center, located at 63 Atlantic Ave.
Stop The High-Risk Power Cables is a bipartisan, grassroots, self-funded group of residents who oppose the cable that is part of the Atlantic Shores Offshore Winds South Project, which includes plans to run power cables under the streets of the local community. They say their bright yellow lawn signs are just the start of the group’s efforts to educate their neighbors and those in the surrounding community about the potential dangers of the proposed project.
Lynette Viviani and Kimberly Paterson are leaders of a group of about 15.
“What I find when I walk around and talk to people is that many of them are really upset, but many of them feel powerless,” Paterson told The Coast Star. “They kind of just throw their hands up and say ‘you can’t beat city hall’ and ‘who’s on the take for this project?’ and they’re really wrong about that. If you are committed enough, you can have an impact. I just want people to know that they have a lot more power than they realize.”
The power cables are part of one of the largest offshore wind energy efforts in the country, according to Viviani, that are planned to happen off the coast of Atlantic City and make landfall in Sea Girt.
Viviani and Paterson made it clear that the group is not against alternative energy. “We fully support alternative energy. We are just concerned about this cable,” said Paterson.
According to Paterson, the upcoming informational meeting will cover the magnitude of the proposed project, the direct impact the power cables will have on the greater community and an education on “how this process has not been transparent” to local residents.
Paterson said the group invited several local government officials including Manasquan Mayor Mike Mangan, Sea Girt Mayor Donald Fetzer and Assemblyman Paul Kanitra. In addition, several citizen speakers including Mike Dean from Save the East Coast and Cindy Zipf from Clean Ocean Action will also be present to discuss the proposed project. Keith Moore, the director of government affairs for Defend Brigantine Beach, will discuss how Cape May citizens succeeded in stopping proposed plans for offshore wind in their area.
“It’s important for people to get the facts about offshore wind power transmission that is planned to go through our community,” Mayor Mangan told The Coast Star. “Manasquan remains committed, along with Sea Girt, Wall Township and Howell, to raise awareness of the concerns about the massive underground transmission cables that are planned to go through our towns. Manasquan remains opposed to this project due to environmental and health concerns that have yet to be addressed in a meaningful way by state officials.”
Stop High-Risk Power Cables was formed just under three months ago by a founding group of five people concerned about the communities that are slated to be impacted by the proposed project. In addition to the bright yellow lawn signs, the group has gone door to door, talking to residents at homes that lie on the proposed route of the power cables.
“We are not against renewable energy. We want it done smartly and safely and makes sense economically. We are not against this. We are proponents of renewable energy. The aspect of this one is very risky in our opinion and until someone can show us otherwise that there is no problem. This is not a not-in-my-backyard message. It’s a not-in-anyone’s-yard message until you can show that it will do no harm,” said Viviani.
Atlantic Shores Scope of Work
On July 2, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior (DPI), Atlantic Shores received the nation’s ninth commercial-scale offshore wind energy project approved under President Joe Biden’s administration.
While Washington, D.C. approved the Atlantic Shores South Wind Projects, the associated export cables that Stop High-Risk Power Cables is fervent on preventing are only proposed at this point in time and will not be finalized until contractor bids for the project are awarded and the contractors begin to work with towns on permits, according to Viviani.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), a subsidiary of the DPI, produced a record of decision on July 1, detailing the project’s construction and operation plan.
The project, titled Atlantic Shores South Project, consists of two wind-energy facilities off the coast of New Jersey. The company, Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind LLC, has proposed to develop and erect “up to 200 wind turbine generators, up to 10 offshore substations, up to one permanent meteorological tower interarray and interlink cables for both Projects, two onshore substations, one operation and management facility, and up to eight transmission cables making landfall at two New Jersey locations,” according to BOEM.
The turbines are planned to be constructed 8.7 miles off the coast of Atlantic City and the greater Atlantic County, according to BOEM. Export cables will connect to landfall locations in Atlantic City and Sea Girt. BOEM says energy acquired from the turbine area will travel through “export cable corridors” off the Jersey Shore coastline to each respective landfall site.
The first project, referred to as Project One, uses an export corridor referred to as “Atlantic export cable corridor” to transfer energy from the turbine area to the landfall site on the coast of Atlantic City. Power acquired from the farms will be transferred to substations in Atlantic County, with the existing Cardiff Substation as the point of interception.
Project Two, which is slated to have power cables run through Sea Girt, Manasquan and Wall Township, would use the Monmouth Export Cable Corridor to travel north from the turbine area along the coast of Atlantic, Ocean and Monmouth counties before making landfall at the Sea Girt Army Camp.
After making landfall at the Army Camp, the power cables would head down Sea Girt Avenue, into Manasquan, through a portion of Wall Township and out to the point of intersection at the Larrabee Substation in Howell Township, according to a rendering from BOEM.
Following the approval, Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Chief Executive Officer Joris Veldhovenand said in a July 10 press release “ New Jersey is ready for offshore wind renewable power, and so is Atlantic Shores.”
Veldhovenand’s company, Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, is a joint venture partnership between Shell New Energies and French owned company EDF Renewables.
According to its website, the company is a group of “purpose-driven professionals dedicated to delivering its five plus gigawatt offshore wind portfolio, strategically positioned to meet the growing demands of multiple east coast markets including New Jersey and New York.”
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