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