May 4, 2023 — New Jersey Republican state senators continued to push for a moratorium on their state’s ambitious offshore wind energy plans, with an online public hearing May 3 that brought in witnesses from the fishing industry and local activists.
Opponents of offshore wind projects were galvanized by a beach strandings of dead humpback whales from December into March 2023. They questioned if the whales could have been affected by noise from survey vessels working on offshore wind project sites.
Northern New Jersey state Sen. Anthony Bucco said that debate is heard in his Morris County inland district, far from the Jersey Shore: “Everyone is talking about it, and everyone is concerned.”
The prospects for developing ocean wind power once had bipartisan support in New Jersey, but opposition groups emerged in recent years as the speed and scale of offshore wind development grew. Now a split has taken on some partisan aspects, with Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration fully committed to making wind a key power source, and local Republican legislators opposed.
They are proposing a delay in all work on offshore sites while the whale deaths are investigated. The Republicans’ effort is uphill in the state Legislature, which is firmly controlled by Murphy Democratic allies.