Page 43: of Marine News Magazine (November 2020)

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WORKBOATS

It addresses key environmental issues through 13 performance indicators. To be Green Marine certi? ed, companies must benchmark their annual environ- mental performance through the pro- gram’s self-evaluation guides, have their results veri? ed by an accredited external veri? er and agree to publication of their individual results. Indicators include greenhouse gases, air emissions, spill prevention and community impact.

The Great Lakes Towing Company joined Green Marine as a vessel op- erator and shipyard in late 2017, the ? rst U.S. shipyard to do so. In the past two years both the towing and shipyard operations became certi? ed

Green Marine participants. The com- panies continue to keep their opera- tions within the program’s demands.

Another important new focus for

GLT, again with an eye on the future, is to be ready for offshore wind – in this case Great Lakes offshore wind.

GLT has provided transport services for turbine components and contin- ues to collaborate with wind develop- ers on logistics, maintenance and the repair services that will be necessary once offshore wind projects take hold in Lake Erie and the Great Lakes.

Recall that the Lake Erie Energy

Development Company (LEEDCO) was tantalizingly close to generating power with its proposed Icebreaker wind farm, in Lake Erie, near Cleve- land. The Icebreaker project was stopped at the last minute, in May, af- ter Ohio regulators set strict limits on nighttime operations. That decision, though, was overturned in September.

The project can proceed subject to plans to minimize bird and bat strikes.

When energy and environmental specialists ? gure out how to imple- ment those protective moves, the Great

Lakes Companies will be ready. Just like they’ve been ready to work with ev- ery other change for the past 121 years.

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