League of Women Voters partnered with SAFE to discuss Salem’s new wind port

By Karen Kahn

Judith Reilly, the host of the League of Women Voters’ cable access show, “Engage,” recently turned her spotlight on the Salem wind port. Working in partnership with SAFE, she produced a show with three segments that explore the benefits of wind energy for Massachusetts, New England, and Salem.  

“Engage: SAFE and Offshore Wind” is available on YouTube in English and Spanish.

Segment 1: SAFE Leadership Patricia Gozemba and Jim Mulloy

In the first segment, Patricia Gozemba and Jim Mulloy, co-chairs of SAFE, discuss SAFE’s current goals:

• To end our reliance on fossil fuels, particularly natural gas which dominates the New England power grid; and
• To support offshore wind power development as the most efficient, large-scale opportunity to replace natural gas. 

SAFE is committed to equitable development at the Salem port. Those who should benefit most, said Mulloy, are the environmental justice communities that bore the brunt of pollution from fossil fuels. To meet that goal, SAFE is reaching out to community organizations, labor, and educational institutions to begin to talk about workforce development and creating a jobs pipeline. 

The port development will bring hundreds of new jobs to Salem, and SAFE is committed to ensuring these are high-quality union jobs.

SAFE is committed to equitable development at the Salem port.

Segment 2: Amber Hewett, Offshore Wind Energy Program Director at the National Wildlife Federation

In Segment 2, Reilly explores why wind power is so essential to New England’s future energy needs. There is no better person than Hewett, the offshore wind energy program Ddirector at the National Wildlife Federation, to discuss this topic. Noting that the U.S. is 30 years behind Europe in the development of its offshore wind resources, Hewett expresses her hope that within the next five years we will see a utility-scale offshore wind farm off our shores. 

Offshore wind is the only renewable resource that New England can develop at that scale, and luckily, we are in the perfect position to do so. Says Hewett, New England has the “trifecta of qualifying cases for offshore wind”:

1. A strong, reliable wind source (one of the best in the world);
2. Coastal population centers that can use the power once it is brought on shore; and
3. The right ocean depth for the current technology, which fixes the turbines to the sea floor.

Segment 3: Seth Latrell, Salem Port Authority Deputy/Planner

Salem Port Authority Deputy Seth Latrell speaks with Reilly about what Salem residents can expect as the port development moves forward. This is a “marshalling port,” so there is no manufacturing happening on the site. It is essentially a staging ground for the large components; installer vessels will pick these components up at the port and take them out to sea to assemble and install, says Latrell.

Latrell emphasized that the port redevelopment will bring hundreds of jobs and will grow Salem’s “blue economy,” maritime businesses that will congregate around the new port. 

Crowley Maritime has closed on the property, and the permitting process has begun; construction is expected to begin later in 2023. Residents will be invited to ask questions and give feedback at multiple public meetings. You can find out when and where, by visiting www.salemoffshorewind.com.