Labor, environmentalists praise offshore wind collaboration – Cape Cod Times (subscription)

Mary Ann Bragg @MaryAnnBraggCCT

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. With the country's first offshore wind farm up and running for the past six months, labor and environmental advocates are looking toward future collaborations on even larger projects.

Many years of hard work ensured that these were good quality union jobs that paid good solid wages, said Kimberly Glas, executive director of BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of labor unions and environmentalists, as a chartered boat neared the Block Island Wind Farm on Tuesday.

As more offshore wind energy projects are developed off New England and New York more grassroots effort is needed, Glas said.

I ask folks to start calling their legislators and start showing up at city council meetings to figure out ways to ensure that these are quality jobs, she said.

The nonprofit National Wildlife Federation sponsored the boat tour of the 30-megawatt, five-turbine wind farm installed by Deepwater Wind, one of three offshore wind energy companies with plans to build more wind turbines on leased land south of the Islands. The federation, with 6 million members, wants to protect wildlife from the effects of climate change through clean energy options such as wind.

This kind of (boat) trip allows our company to talk about how offshore wind can be built and has been built in the United States," said Matthew Morrissey, Massachusetts vice-president for Deepwater Wind.

The partners in Block Island project were environmental groups, organized labor, government regulators, fishing groups and others, Morrissey said.

Its an opportunity to come together and see that you can actually build a new economy in America while protecting the environment, he said about the tour.

Among the 115 people on board the fast ferry Ava Pearl were labor leaders representing union members such as welders, painters and crane operators who helped build the wind farm.

Construction of the wind farm created 300 local jobs, according to Deepwater Wind.

They did sign an agreement to do it all union, said Scott Duhamel of the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades Council.

The political strength of unions in Rhode Island, with the support of congressional and state legislators, along with union representatives showing up at and speaking at public meetings, all helped seal the deal, Duhamel said.

I have to admit they could do it without us but they didnt, he said.

Deepwater Wind could have used non-union labor, Duhamel said.

They did it with us, he said. We feel our people are better trained.

The typical wages of the union workers who worked on the wind farm ranged from $28 to $40 per hour plus benefits, union representatives said.

Were thankful to Deepwater for having trust not only in IBEW but the building trades in general, said Michael Monahan, a regional vice-president of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

While the construction of a wind farm employs many people in the short term, the long-term maintenance of the equipment creates more jobs, said Monahan and Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training Director Scott Jensen.

Were doing the commute that thousands and thousands of people are going to be doing over the next any number of years, Jensen said as the boat passed alongside the towering turbines.

Monahan and others said they are hoping for more union contracts in upcoming offshore wind energy projects.

At the end of June, there's an opportunity to bid on power contracts with three electric distribution companies in Massachusetts, which could attract Deepwater Wind, Bay State Wind and Vineyard Wind, all of which have signed leases for federal land south of the Islands. Bay State and Vineyard Wind officials said recently that they could start construction in the early 2020s.

Follow Mary Ann Bragg on Twitter: @maryannbraggCCT.

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Labor, environmentalists praise offshore wind collaboration - Cape Cod Times (subscription)