August 4, 2023 — Much has been written and reported about the plans to build offshore wind turbine developments off the East Coast of the United States. Proponents argue that clean energy is better for the environment, more affordable, that in areas where these systems will operate they will generate jobs and that other countries have already installed offshore wind turbines. Opponents argue that the turbine developments will affect the economy of shore communities, commercial and recreational fishing, marine mammals and birds, public safety and national security. Some proponents have even gone so far as to mislabel and attack the opponents of offshore wind as partisan and backed by oil companies, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, the rush to set up offshore wind has been advanced only by partisan politics and internationally backed lobbying efforts without studying the impact these turbines will have in their current planned placement in many cases less than 15 miles from our shores.
Our legislators must take the time to understand the implications of what thousands of turbines will do to our oceans, marine mammals, national security, navigation commercial and recreational fishing and coastal economies before moving forward.
The thousands of turbines planned for the shores of Massachusetts and New Jersey should not be the case studies to learn the good, the bad and the ugly of offshore wind. Those who live in coastal communities who have taken the time to learn the facts about offshore wind do not want these turbines built in the oceans. In fact, in February, 50 coastal mayors signed onto a letter calling for a moratorium on these developments.
Current plans for the next decade alone include building 3,411 turbines and 9,874 miles of cable directly in the migration path of the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale, a species on the brink of extinction with only an estimated 350 left in the world. If the NARW does survive the multi-year construction of the turbines, will they be able to survive the noise these thousands of turbines will generate while in operation?
The currently slated turbines and cables are planned to be built across 2,400,000 acres of federally managed ocean and there are other plans to then lease an additional 1,700,000 acres, according to a recent Federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management “Vineyard Wind” Offshore Wind Energy Project draft environmental impact statement. One planned wind energy area off the coast of Rhode Island is larger than the state itself.