At least five tribes along the West Coast have announced their opposition to proposed offshore wind development. Five areas off the California coast were auctioned off in late 2022 to build floating wind turbines. And the federal government is considering sales off the Southern Oregon coast.
Derek Bowman, a council member with the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria south of Eureka, said the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management hasn鈥檛 involved the tribes enough in the process.
鈥淲e have a huge amount of traditional ecological knowledge that could assist in a lot of assessments that they鈥檙e doing,鈥� Bowman said. 鈥淎nd we鈥檙e not really included in it. It feels like we鈥檙e just a checkbox that they have to check in order to say, 鈥楬ey, we talked to the tribes, we鈥檙e good to go.鈥� And we鈥檙e not alright with that.鈥�
The Northern Chumash Tribe in Southern California expressed concerns about the proposed sale of two offshore wind areas near Morro Bay in 2022 before they were auctioned off. Their opposition wasn鈥檛 about offshore wind in general, but because of the sites overlapping with a nearby .
This year, a number of other tribes came out in formal opposition to the projects. The first was the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians in mid-February.
鈥淏OEM鈥檚 press release states that it has 鈥榚ngaged鈥� with the Tribe, but that engagement has amounted to listening to the Tribe鈥檚 concerns and ignoring them and providing promises that they may be dealt with at some later stage of the process,鈥� said Tribal Council Chair Brad Kneaper in a statement.
More tribes quickly joined in opposition, including the Tolowa Dee-ni鈥� Nation, the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria and California鈥檚 largest tribe, the Yurok. All three announced their opposition in early March.
Bowman said that historically, logging and gold mining industries took natural resources and gave little back to tribal communities.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just hard for us to accept that what鈥檚 best for everyone actually means it鈥檚 good for us too,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ecause we always suffer when the government comes in to say, 鈥楾his is what鈥檚 best for everybody and we need to do it in your area to help people in another area.鈥� It never works out for us.鈥�
Beyond a lack of engagement, Bowman says there hasn鈥檛 been enough research into the environmental effects, both on the ocean and on land. Those include
possible effects of turbines on fishing and marine animal activities as well as transmission lines on land that could harm endangered species in the region.
鈥淢ore importantly, when it comes to overland transmission lines, it's the potential for fires. They cause fires all over California,鈥� Bowman said. 鈥淎nd now running right through our ancestral territory, there are going to be these very large transmission lines overland.鈥�
In a statement, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it agrees that tribes must have a seat at the table.
鈥淲e have taken coordinated actions to incorporate Indigenous Knowledge and Tribal input into our decision making process and we are working to help Tribes expand capacity to engage in environmental reviews, work with industry, and develop partnerships,鈥� said BOEM in a statement.
Development of offshore wind farms on the California coast are underway, but turbines won鈥檛 be deployed for at least four years. The agency is currently developing its environmental assessment for two offshore wind areas on the Southern Oregon coast.
