Three Republican congressmen and more than a dozen mayors whose coastal districts are near offshore wind energy sites are calling on the Biden administration to suspend offshore wind projects until a thorough investigation into a recent spate of whale deaths rules them out as the cause.
Since Dec. 1, 2022, at least 23 whales have been found dead along the New Jersey and New York shorelines. Whales have also washed ashore in Maryland and Virginia.
Two more were stranded in New Jersey over the weekend of Feb. 17.
New Jersey Versus NOAA
In a Jan. 31 letter to the Biden administration, Smith—on behalf of 12 New Jersey mayors—called on the administration to “immediately suspend all offshore wind projects” until ecological safety can be assured.“The New Jersey mayors, local environmental leaders, and members of the fishing community all share a deep concern that four major offshore wind projects have been approved concurrently within the span of two years,” Smith wrote.
Smith is concerned that these projects have been fast-tracked to locate as many as 3,400 turbines that will be anchored 300 feet into the seafloor.
“That these projects are being built at such a large scale and in such a short amount of time casts doubt over whether there was sufficient time to properly evaluate their impact on marine ecosystems, fisheries, shipping channels, tourism, and other important factors that may be affected,” he wrote.
Though it acknowledges that there is an “unusual mortality event” occurring in the region’s whale population—at least 178 dead humpback whales have washed ashore or been found at sea over the past seven years—the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) maintains there are no documented cases of whale deaths or injuries associated with offshore wind projects or the seafloor surveys developers are conducting.
Smith questions NOAA’s claims
“Last year, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network raised a concern that construction related to offshore wind was harmful to Atlantic Sturgeon,” he explained in his letter.“While at first, their review overlooked this concern NOAA subsequently found new information corroborating this claim. Still, construction continued in the interim, causing undue environmental harm,” Smith wrote.
“Similarly, the lack of conclusive evidence disproving the link between offshore wind development and whale deaths is sufficient enough to require a pause until assurances can be made to the public that the environmental and maritime safety of these projects has been properly reviewed,” Smith concluded.
Meanwhile in Maryland
In the wake of the fourth beaching in his district, Maryland’s Harris expressed his concerns in a public statement issued on Jan 17, calling for an immediate moratorium on windmill construction and related underwater geotechnical testing.“NOAA has offered zero evidence that this construction, including geotechnical testing, is not the cause of deaths,” he wrote.
Greenpeace Disagreement
Meanwhile, Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore weighed in on the issue through an opinion piece published on Feb. 14 in The Washington Times.“Since 2016, when acoustic sonar surveys required for the construction of 1,500 wind turbines began on the U.S. Atlantic coast, 174 humpback whales have washed ashore dead,” Moore wrote.
“This represents a 400 percent increase in mortality from previous years,” he added.
Moore believes that whales, which use sonar to navigate and communicate, are confused and disoriented by the sonar being used to place wind platforms and cables.
He is also concerned that whales could be impacted by the mud and sediments stirred up by seafloor excavation.
“Each [turbine] will require a concrete base excavated into the ocean sediment up to 150 feet deep and 30 to 40 feet wide. This will clearly cause a huge amount of mud to be dispersed into the water column.”
Baleen whales are filter-feeders, using their baleen to strain their food into their stomachs.
“The mud from these many excavations may interfere with their feeding and may also affect the species they depend on for food,” his letter continued.
The Greenpeace organization dismissed the founder’s concerns.
Local Concerns
On Feb 14, the mayor and town council of Ocean City, Maryland, released a statement urging state, and federal officials to halt offshore wind farm development after yet another whale washed ashore in their region.“Like many other officials along the coast, we believe that development of any energy type within our fragile coastal ecosystem must be done in a responsible manner,” Mayor Rick Meehan said in the statement.
“Ocean City insists that all approvals and construction of wind farms off our coast be delayed until all environmental issues, economic concerns, and view shed options be fully explored, and these projects are relocated to more suitable lease areas further offshore.”
“We only have one chance to get this right, and this is our chance.”
