December 11, 2023 — A series of whale deaths along the East Coast early this year has spurred an ongoing dispute over the burgeoning offshore wind industry.
Several of the deaths happened in Virginia Beach and Cape Charles. Two were humpbacks; one was a critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale, later determined to have been struck by a vessel. Another right whale was also caught entangled in fishing line off the Outer Banks.
Around the same time, more than a dozen humpback whales were found dead along the coasts of New Jersey and New York over the span of a few months – the latest in what scientists call an “unusual mortality event” stretching back to 2016. Warming waters driven by climate change are bringing humpbacks closer to shore, while cargo shipments carried on big ships are also on the rise.
Scientists later said most of the deaths were caused by ship strikes.
But some local politicians and national conservative pundits pointed the finger somewhere else: offshore wind development.
More than a dozen offshore wind projects are in various stages of permitting along the East Coast. The Biden administration considers the nascent industry a key part of its climate policy, setting a goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of electricity generated from offshore wind farms by 2030, or enough to power more than 10 million homes.
In January, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson accused offshore wind projects of killing “a huge number of whales” on his show. Fox News also linked the right whale death in Virginia Beach to Dominion Energy’s project.
Thirty mayors in New Jersey called for a moratorium on offshore wind activity until further investigation into the whale deaths. The uproar also fueled a few “save the whales” rallies, including in New Jersey and Rhode Island.