The Town of Nantucket has reached a $10.5 million settlement with GE Vernova to compensate the Town and local businesses for losses resulting from the July 13, 2024 failure of a turbine blade failure on the Vineyard Wind 1 project.
The incident scattered foam, fiberglass, and other debris along Nantucket's shores during the height of the summer tourist season.
Under the agreement, Nantucket will establish a Community Claims Fund to provide compensation for economic harm. Nantucket will engage a professional, independent third-party administrator to evaluate claims from local businesses and issue payments.
The Town of Nantucket commends GE Vernova for its leadership in reaching this agreement.
Nantucket has published a detailed set of "Answers to Key Questions" explaining the settlement and the claims process.
Select Board member and former chair Brooke Mohr said, "Offshore wind may bring benefits, but it also carries risks to ocean health, to historic landscapes, and to the economies of coastal communities like Nantucket, known worldwide as an environmental and cultural treasure."
When the blade failed, debris settled on the ocean floor, entered the water table, and littered Nantucket's beaches for months, requiring an extensive cleanup effort in which many community members joined. GE Vernova's investigation attributed the failure to a manufacturing deviation. The company subsequently removed other Vineyard Wind blades produced in the same Quebec facility.
Greg Werkheiser of Cultural Heritage Partners, legal counsel to Town for offshore wind matters, stated, "Federal law limits localities' influence in the design and approval of offshore wind projects, but communities have rights when it comes to safe operations of the farms." The Town was also advised by the law firms KP Law and Wyche, and damages experts at Stout.
