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Craig Jones Coauthors Paper in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering

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Integral Principal Craig Jones, Ph.D., has coauthored a paper in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering titled “Environmental Permitting and Compliance Cost Reduction Strategies for the MHK Industry: Lessons Learned from Other Industries.” The paper was published as part of the Special Issue Wave and Tidal Energy Resource Characterization and Environment Interactions. Coauthors are Sharon Kramer, Geoffrey Klise, Jesse Roberts, Anna West, and Zach Barr.

Abstract:

The marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) industry plays a vital role in the U.S. clean energy strategy by providing a renewable, domestic energy source that may offset the need for traditional energy sources. The first MHK deployments in the U.S. have incurred very high permitting costs and long timelines for deploying projects, which increases project risk and discourages investment. A key challenge to advancing an economically competitive U.S. MHK industry is reducing the time and cost required for environmental permitting and compliance with government regulations. Other industries such as offshore oil and gas, offshore wind energy, subsea power and data cables, onshore wind energy, and solar energy facilities have all developed more robust permitting and compliance pathways that provide lessons for the MHK industry in the U.S. and may help inform the global consenting process. Based on in-depth review and research into each of the other industries, we describe the environmental permitting pathways, the main environmental concerns and types of monitoring typically associated with them, and factors that appear to have eased environmental permitting and compliance issues.

Kramer, S., C. Jones, G. Klise, J. Roberts, A. West, and Z. Barr. 2020. Environmental permitting and compliance cost reduction strategies for the MHK industry: Lessons learned from other industries. J. Mar Sci. Engr. 8:554. doi:10.3390/jmse8080554.

Read full article.

For more information, contact Dr. Jones at cjones@integral-corp.com.