April 13, 2023 — New Jersey Republicans are urging the state and federal government to put the brakes on sonar testing and wind turbine mapping in response to a surge in marine wildlife deaths off the coast.
A proposed resolution filed by members of the Senate’s GOP minority caucus calls on the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to impose a moratorium on offshore wind development studies.
The proposal comes in response to a rise in whale deaths on the eastern Atlantic coast, with newly released data showing nearly 40 whales, dolphins and porpoises have died along the New Jersey coast over the past year.
“After months of whales and dolphins washing up on our beaches, enough is enough,” said Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, R-Little Silver, one of the bill’s primary sponsors. “We cannot ignore the surge in marine life deaths that has occurred while offshore wind project preparation activities have been conducted along the coast.”
To be sure, there is no evidence that existing wind farm operations contributed to the recent whale deaths despite the claims by mayors and other New Jersey leaders.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says collisions with vessels are behind many of the whale deaths. Since 2016, there have been at least 184 “unusual” humpback whale deaths, many of them went to vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglements, the federal agency said.