Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB674 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 674
5	5	To prohibit commercial offshore wind energy development in Lobster
6	6	Management Area 1 in the Gulf of Maine, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	JANUARY23, 2025
9	9	Mr. G
10	10	OLDENof Maine (for himself and Mr. VANDREW) introduced the
11	11	following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To prohibit commercial offshore wind energy development
14	14	in Lobster Management Area 1 in the Gulf of Maine,
15	15	and for other purposes.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Northeast Fisheries 4
20	20	Heritage Protection Act of 2025’’. 5
21	21	SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON COMMERCIAL OFFSHORE WIND 6
22	22	ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN LOBSTER MAN-7
23	23	AGEMENT AREA 1. 8
24	24	(a) F
25	25	INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 9
26	26	VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:08 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H674.IH H674
27	27	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
28	28	•HR 674 IH
29	29	(1) The New England fishing industry has been 1
30	30	an integral part of the history, culture, and economy 2
31	31	of the region for over 400 years. 3
32	32	(2) In 2023, the New England commercial fish-4
33	33	eries landed an estimated 415,966,992 pounds of 5
34	34	catch, valued at $1,350,533,650, which supports 6
35	35	thousands of fishermen, their families, and commu-7
36	36	nities that depend on these ocean resources. 8
37	37	(3) The United States lobster fishery, with 9
38	38	Maine and Massachusetts producing 93 percent of 10
39	39	the lobster harvest, is one of the most valuable fish-11
40	40	eries in the country with commercial landings total-12
41	41	ing 113,007,821 pounds valued at $582,433,794. 13
42	42	(4) Lobster Management Area 1 in the Gulf of 14
43	43	Maine is a critical and highly productive fishing 15
44	44	ground for halibut, tuna, flounder, redfish, black sea 16
45	45	bass, monkfish, mackerel, rock and sand crab, mus-17
46	46	sels, hardshell and softshell clams, oysters, scallops, 18
47	47	conchs, squid, and lobster. 19
48	48	(5) In 2024, the Biden Administration’s Bu-20
49	49	reau of Ocean Energy Management announced the 21
50	50	Final Wind Energy Area for commercial offshore 22
51	51	wind development in the Gulf of Maine, which ex-23
52	52	cluded all of Lobster Management Area 1. 24
53	53	VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:08 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H674.IH H674
54	54	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
55	55	•HR 674 IH
56	56	(6) President Trump recently issued an Execu-1
57	57	tive Order temporarily withdrawing from disposition 2
58	58	for wind energy leasing all areas within the outer 3
59	59	Continental Shelf citing the importance of marine 4
60	60	life ensuring that the United States is able to main-5
61	61	tain a robust fishing industry. 6
62	62	(7) The permanent protection of Lobster Man-7
63	63	agement Area from commercial energy leasing and 8
64	64	development would avoid conflict with the New Eng-9
65	65	land commercial and recreational fishing industries 10
66	66	and preserve a vital fishing ground for future gen-11
67	67	erations. 12
68	68	(b) P
69	69	ROHIBITION ONCOMMERCIALOFFSHOREWIND 13
70	70	D
71	71	EVELOPMENT IN LOBSTERMANAGEMENT AREA1.— 14
72	72	Notwithstanding section 8 of the Outer Continental Shelf 15
73	73	Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1337), no lease, license, permit, or 16
74	74	other authorization may be issued for the development of 17
75	75	commercial offshore wind energy in Lobster Management 18
76	76	Area 1. 19
77	77	(c) G
78	78	ULF OFMAINEOFFSHOREWINDPROJECTEN-20
79	79	VIRONMENTALREVIEWPROCESSSTUDY.— 21
80	80	(1) I
81	81	N GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 22
82	82	after the date of the enactment of this section, the 23
83	83	Comptroller General shall conduct a study to assess 24
84	84	the sufficiency of the environmental review processes 25
85	85	VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:08 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H674.IH H674
86	86	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
87	87	•HR 674 IH
88	88	of the national Marine Fisheries Service, the Bureau 1
89	89	of Ocean Energy Management, and any other rel-2
90	90	evant Federal agency for offshore wind projects in 3
91	91	the Gulf of Maine in place as of the date of enact-4
92	92	ment of this section. 5
93	93	(2) C
94	94	ONTENTS.—The study required under 6
95	95	paragraph (1) shall include consideration of the fol-7
96	96	lowing: 8
97	97	(A) The impacts of offshore wind projects 9
98	98	in the Gulf of Maine on— 10
99	99	(i) marine mammals, including 11
100	100	whales; 12
101	101	(ii) finfish; 13
102	102	(iii) benthic resources; 14
103	103	(iv) the commercial and recreational 15
104	104	fishing industries, including marine equip-16
105	105	ment retailers, onshore processors, fish 17
106	106	markets, and other shoreside businesses; 18
107	107	(v) air quality and greenhouse gas 19
108	108	emissions; 20
109	109	(vi) cultural, historical, and Tribal re-21
110	110	sources; 22
111	111	(vii) marine invertebrates; 23
112	112	(viii) essential fish habitat (as that 24
113	113	term is defined in section 3 of the Magnu-25
114	114	VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:08 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H674.IH H674
115	115	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
116	116	•HR 674 IH
117	117	son-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 1
118	118	Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1802)); 2
119	119	(ix) plankton abundance and distribu-3
120	120	tion; 4
121	121	(x) recreation and tourism; and 5
122	122	(xi) fisheries-dependent communities. 6
123	123	(B) How each agency described in para-7
124	124	graph (1) determines which stakeholders to con-8
125	125	sult with regard to offshore wind projects in the 9
126	126	Gulf of Maine and if a timely, comprehensive 10
127	127	comment period is provided for local representa-11
128	128	tives and interested parties with regard to such 12
129	129	offshore wind projects. 13
130	130	(d) L
131	131	OBSTERMANAGEMENTAREA1 DEFINED.—In 14
132	132	this section, the term ‘‘Lobster Management Area 1’’ has 15
133	133	the meaning given the term ‘‘EEZ Nearshore Manage-16
134	134	ment Area 1’’ in section 697.18 of title 50, Code of Fed-17
135	135	eral Regulations (or a successor regulation). 18
136	136	Æ
137	137	VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:08 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H674.IH H674
138	138	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB