The right whale, for instance, suffered a serious setback in the last decade when it began appearing in the Gulf of St. Soaring temperatures endanger the entire marine ecosystem, including whales, by blanching coral reefs, altering feeding grounds and changing migration patterns. But they worry the controversy over sonar and humpback whales is distracting from attempts to protect the giant mammals from real dangers related to offshore wind, such as increased boat traffic or the construction of projects near an important feeding ground.Īnd they say those harms need to be weighed against a far greater threat to marine life - the planet-altering impact of burning fossil fuels. Scientists say offshore wind does pose potential risks to marine wildlife. Twenty-five beachings of humpback whales have been reported from Massachusetts to North Carolina in 2023 alone, according to federal data, including seven in New Jersey and five in New York. “If polar bears were the symbol of climate change, the whales are a symbol of pristine oceans,” said Sterling Burnett, who leads environmental policy at the Heartland Institute, one of the conservative movement’s most public critics of accepted climate science. Wind detractors have packed public meetings in Rhode Island, and opponents have filed lawsuits in Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey to halt projects. lobbyist called for a wind moratorium, and a recent poll found that more residents support halting wind projects (39 percent) than building them (35 percent).
In New Jersey, where the debate has been particularly fierce, more than 40 mayors organized by a D.C. Some Republicans in Congress have called for a moratorium on offshore wind projects. E&E News also reviewed tax documents, regulatory filings and emails obtained under New Jersey’s Freedom of Information Act. This story is based on interviews with a dozen people who are organizing efforts to oppose offshore wind projects, as well as scientists and environmentalists. The wind critics include a scattering of people and groups spanning the political spectrum - among them, a commercial fishing trade group from Long Island, a wealthy Rhode Island doctor who describes herself as “very liberal Democrat,” and the GOP-supporting owner of a D.C.-based car dealership empire.īut the anti-wind push is also getting financial, legal and organizational support from national far-right and libertarian groups, including those with a history of spreading falsehoods about climate change and downplaying the risks that offshore oil drilling poses to marine life, according to interviews and documents reviewed by POLITICO’s E&E News. A large offshore wind energy project planned off the coast of New Jersey would run cables from the wind farm to potentially three locations, including Ocean City.
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