Time To Reopen The Flawed F/V Mistress Accident Investigation

The Mayday call for the F/V Mistress was made around 1:30 AM on January 1, 2019. The Coast Guard handwritten notes show the Beacon ID ADCD 02005944C01 at 6:44 AM, and then the search ended between 7:02 and 8:39 AM. The MH-60 helicopter spent 37 minutes looking for the ship. 

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The wind speeds in the area were 35 knots, with 10-foot waves. The MH-60 regularly conducts search-and-rescue operations in sustained winds of 60 knots. The Coast Guard’s all-weather helicopter was unable to assist because of radar clutter and the turbines being too close together.
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Green Oceans in August 2026 located the vessel in a "targeted" dive, 92 feet underwater and only 50 feet from the base of Block Island turbine No. 1 .  The GPS coordinates and distress call data, straight out of the Coast Guard's original handwritten accident file, coincide with the turbine. There may be information that past divers working around the turbine had seen the wreck in past years.
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Based on the hull orientation, investigators noted that while the boat was taking on water during the storm, it appears to have made an abrupt starboard avoidance maneuver to dodge the turbine. This sharp turn in rough seas likely caused the 52-foot trawler to roll over and sink immediately.
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Green Oceans has asked several federal agencies to reopen Coast Guard Search and Rescue case # 1158048  (associated with MISLE Activity 6618087).
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Dr. John DiCecco issued a naval study in January 2019, which focused on boat identification #672568. Dr. DiCecco is a prominent Research Engineer at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport in Rhode Island. His work from January 2019, titled “F/V Mistress Navy Analysis,” was a post-accident investigation that utilized Navy sonar assets to analyze underwater imagery and determine the location of the sunken fishing vessel, F/V Mistress, near Block Island.   
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The investigation relied on a sonar search performed using Navy assets to locate the vessel.  It analyzed the January 1, 2019, F/V Mistress accident and resolved "discrepancies" between U.S. Coast Guard coordinate reporting and the actual wreckage location relative to local offshore wind turbines. 
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After the 2019 sinking, BOEM funded a benthic and epifaunal environmental monitoring program at the Block Island Wind Farm, carried out by field researchers from the University of Rhode Island and HDR Engineering. On page 184 of their subsequently published OCS Study (BOEM 2020-044), right above Figure 79, researchers explicitly noted "partial boat debris" on the seafloor during the final day of a biological dive survey later in 2019 near turbine #1 
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Attached is a file referencing a sonar search performed using Navy assets. It’s unclear how or why the Navy has been so specifically involved. Importantly, the GPS coordinates used to direct this search are transposed from the USCG reporting.

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Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

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(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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