Wind farm developer’s plan to ‘relocate’ unexploded ordnance draws criticism 

Empire Wind developer Equinor this month plans to “relocate” two pieces of unexploded ordnance found in its offshore lease area, including one that appears to be at the northwestern tip of the project 15 miles from shore, according to a company notice to mariners.

The work, which is scheduled to start Sunday and continue into early February, drew a quick response from a commercial fishing group, which wants the ordnance removed or blown up.

Equinor’s notice said a contractor vessel from ThayerMahan will be conducting survey work on “munitions and explosives of concern” or “unexploded ordnance” found in the lease area, which extends 15 to 30 miles from the South Shore in Nassau County near Long Beach.

The notice said the company will conduct “relocations” within the lease area, though it did not say precisely where. Critics of the wind farm, including commercial fishermen who fish the waters with trawling nets, say the Norway-based company should remove or detonate the ordnance so it is not a threat.

“If they move it somewhere, what happens to someone who [encounters] it in the future?” said Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association. “Worse case scenario, they tow it up and it blows up. The best case, someone tows it and the Coast Guard decides to scuttle your boat.

“They need to get rid of it, not just dump it in a neighbor’s backyard,” Brady added. “They have to deal with it in a way that doesn’t impact someone else.”

Equinor, in response to Newsday questions, said the work is part of a plan to make sure the project area “is safe for the upcoming offshore construction activities,” which will begin in the April-June period. The company said its response plan was analyzed by the U.S. Department of Defense, which “concluded that the relocation option is safest for the environment and human safety.” Detonation of the ordnance “is a last resort due to marine life hazard and human safety,” the company said.

In the notice, Equinor fisheries liaison Elizabeth Kordowski said she would share the new locations of the ordnance with fishermen “once confirmed,” and signed off by saying, “Safe fishing.”

In 2022, Newsday reported that Danish energy giant Orsted found 11 unexploded weapons, from 6-inch artillery shells to a 250-pound bomb, while conducting survey work for its Sunrise Wind and Revolution Wind projects off the coast of Rhode Island.

An Orsted spokeswoman said at the time that the ordnance usually isn’t moved or even touched, after issuing alerts and consulting with federal agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard. Most of the bombs were found in World War II-era training areas, Orsted said.

The U.S. Army from 1919 to 1970 dumped more than 60 million pounds of unexploded ordnance and deadly chemical agents in the waters along the East and West coasts and throughout the rest of the world, Newsday has reported. Some 17,000 tons of chemical agents are off the Atlantic coast alone, Newsday reported. The practice was banned in 1972.

Sunrise Wind will send its energy to Long Island, via a cable that makes landfall at Smith Point. Empire Wind 1 will send its energy to New York City, at South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.