Photo OffshoreWind California
By Stas Margaronis
At the Pacific Offshore Wind Summit that took place in Sacramento California on May 8-10th, some panelists and attendees expressed concerns about the threat to fishing and whales caused by the construction of offshore wind farms.
The threat has been widely alleged by fishing, environmental and special interest groups opposing Atlantic Coast wind farms and reported in a number of media outlets.
Although there is no evidence to support claims that wind farms hurt whales and dolphins, the campaign waged by fishing interests against wind farms is winning public support in New Jersey.
According to a May 11th Fairleigh Dickinson University poll: “New Jersey residents narrowly oppose the continued development of off-shore wind farms, with concerns about the recent deaths of whales and dolphins reducing support for the green energy project. According to the latest results from the FDU Poll, 35 percent of New Jersey residents say that the state should continue the development of the wind farms off the coast, with 39 percent saying that development should be halted.
Crucially the FDU report notes:
“While there is no evidence that the off-shore wind farms are linked with a recent spate of dolphin and whale deaths on the Jersey shore, opponents of the projects have argued that the development should be halted until a link can be ruled out. Such arguments seem to be effective.”[1]
California Fishing Responses
In regard to fishing concerns about offshore wind farms in California, Harrison Ibach, President, of Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association, and Josh Mims, Del Norte Sea to Market Project Manager, told the American Journal of Transportation that they are concerned that wind farm developments will create more congestion in Humboldt Bay and complicate their efforts to fish in the Pacific Ocean at a time when both the crab and salmon seasons have been under considerable stress.
Ibach said: “The wind farm project is going to take up a lot of ground that we use for fishing. It’s a large area and a crucially important area.”
However, Ibach expressed the hope that fishing operations and wind farm operations could co-exist: “There is a middle ground here somewhere. We want to avoid impacts as much as possible and then minimize impacts as much as possible. Inevitably, there are going to be impacts. We’re going to have to find our middle where we can all work together.”
Atlantic Coast Fishing Opposition to Offshore Wind
On the Atlantic coast, resistance from fishing interests has been more intense and that may be the result of financing from oil and gas interests allied with climate change deniers. The FDU poll indicates that the negative campaign against thewinning farms is gaining support.
On December 2021, the Texas Public Policy Foundation filed a lawsuit against the Biden Administration’s approval of the Vineyard Wind offshore wind farms located off the coast of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York.
In a press release, TPPF explained the Vineyard Wind lawsuit:
“Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for the American Future filed a federal lawsuit against the Biden administration challenging the approval of the Vineyard Wind Project off the coasts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York. The project would severely harm the commercial fishing industry in the area and destroy the lives of countless families, as well as create irreparable harm to the environment and ocean wildlife.”
New York Times Cites Misinformation By Texas Public Policy Foundation
However, a New York Times report tells a different story.
Last December, the New York Times published a report in which it quoted Jason Isaac, director of the Life: Powered Initiative of the Texas Public Policy Foundation stating: “Today, I’m thankful to live a high-carbon lifestyle and wish the rest of the world could too…”
The Times report went on to discuss the lawsuit, how the situation evolved from a clash between the fishing organizations in New England and New York and the builders of Vineyard Wind, to TPPF’s involvement:
“When a lawsuit was filed to block the nation’s first major offshore wind farm off the Massachusetts coast, it appeared to be a straightforward clash between those who earn their living from the sea and others who would install turbines and underwater cables that could interfere with the harvesting of squid, fluke and other fish…
But the financial muscle behind the fight originated thousands of miles from the Atlantic Ocean, in dusty oil country. The group bankrolling the lawsuit filed last year was the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an Austin-based nonprofit organization backed by oil and gas companies and Republican donors.
With influence campaigns, legal action and model legislation, the group is promoting fossil fuels and trying to stall the American economy’s transition toward renewable energy. It is upfront about its opposition to Vineyard Wind and other renewable energy projects, making no apologies for its advocacy work.”[2]
The Foundation “… has also received at least $4 million from conservative donors including Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch, according to public filings. Koch Industries owns oil refineries, petrochemical plants and thousands of miles of oil and gas pipelines, and the brothers have a long history of funding efforts to block climate action. Many of the foundation’s executives and board members have worked for the oil and gas industry…”
Atlantic Fishing Interests Seek Out Texas Public Policy Foundation
On January 25, 2022, the publication National Fisherman reported on a meeting between wind power critics and East Coast fishing advocates at a forum in Austin, Texas, hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation: [3]
“Hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the discussion featured Meghan Lapp, fisheries liaison for Seafreeze Ltd. and Seafreeze Shoreside in Narragansett, R.I., and Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association.
‘There’s basically been wholesale sellout by the federal government of our fishing grounds,’ said Lapp. ‘We’re talking about the whole East Coast…and the obliteration of fishing on the East Coast.’
Lapp put her legal background to use in years of reading government documents and putting formal comments into the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and other federal agencies involved in offshore wind planning.
‘I write every single comment letter like we’re going to sue, to establish that on the record, and I knew that’s where we were going to get with these projects,’ said Lapp.
She knew then it could go all the way to the Supreme Court, but that the fishing industry could not do that on its own without more legal firepower, Lapp recalled. That led her to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, after reading how the group had brough (sic) a case on the Affordable Care Act to the high court.
Lapp sent an email to the foundation asking if they would be interested in taking on an offshore wind challenge. The group came back with an offer to represent fishermen pro bono, and filed a lawsuit in Washington D.C. Dec. 15 challenging BOEM and other agencies on the approval for the 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind project off southern New England.
‘It’s been a lifesaver,’ said Lapp. ‘We don’t have the resources to do that.’” [4]
Is Offshore Wind’s Threat To Whales Exaggerated ?
In February, 2023, Bloomberg reported that since December of 2022, almost two dozen large whales were found washed up and dead on beaches along the U.S. Atlantic coast. These deaths brought about debates between supporters and opponents of offshore wind over whether offshore wind development was the cause. This development has caused projects such as New Jersey’s Ocean Wind 1 to come under scrutiny.
The Bloomberg report went on to say:
“It’s unclear what exactly is fueling the deaths, but an unlikely coalition of wind opponents, local environmental groups and conservative talk show hosts have zeroed in on offshore wind as the culprit. They argue that projects in development are disrupting marine life and contributing to the unusually high number of deceased whales.
Government officials and the companies behind those wind projects remain firm: There is no evidence linking the whale mortalities to ongoing offshore wind development. They say New Jersey’s offshore wind ambitions are continuing as planned.
‘Groups opposed to clean energy development are spreading misinformation,’ said JC Sandberg, chief advocacy officer at American Clean Power Association, an industry organization. ‘They’ve seized on an opportunity to try and stop clean energy deployment along the East Coast.’”[5]
According to a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the cause of death of humpback whales is largely related to collisions with ships: “We have not been able to retrieve many of the stranded carcasses because they were in states of advanced decomposition or were floating, but we have conducted partial or full necropsy examinations on approximately half of the 42 cases that occurred through April 2017. Of the 20 cases examined through April, 10 cases had evidence of blunt force trauma or pre-mortem propeller wounds indicative of vessel strike, which is over six times more than the 16-year average of 1.5 whales showing signs of vessel strike in this region. During this UME, vessel strikes have been documented in Virginia (3), New York (3), Delaware (2), Massachusetts (1), and New Hampshire (1).[6]
This finding did not convince offshore wind opponents, Bloomberg added: “None of those whale deaths have been linked directly to offshore wind development, but some marine scientists and wind-power foes argue that the lack of a proven connection doesn’t rule out the existence of one.”[7]
Environmental Groups Pressure Offshore Wind for Additional Wildlife Protection
A March 7, 2022 report in National Fisherman stated that environmental groups were arguing for more protections for whales in regards to offshore wind development:
“It is estimated that nearly 30 geophysical surveys now authorized by NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) for East Coast offshore wind projects could result in as many as 109,000 harassment events for marine mammals, including a projected 243 incidents that could affect the critically endangered north (sic) Atlantic right whale.
That shows the need to ‘avoid, minimize, and mitigate threats that offshore wind development also poses to vulnerable ocean life,’ according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, long an advocate for developing renewable energy sources including offshore wind.
The NRDC recently signed on to a 10-page statement with other environmental groups – including the Conservation Law Foundation, Defenders of Wildlife, National Wildlife Federation, NY4WHALES, the Southern Environmental Law Center and Whale and Dolphin Conservation.
Heartland Institute and Save The Whales Coalition
The efforts to link offshore wind to harming whales is supported by “The Save the Whales Coalition” – consisting of The Heartland Institute, the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), and the American Committee for Ocean Protection (ACOP).”
On May 2, 2023, the groups sent a letter to the National Marine Fisheries Service, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), warning them not to authorize the harassment of whales requested by Dominion Energy of Virginia.
The Heartland Institute is one of the leaders of the ‘Save the Whales Coalition’ opposing Dominion’s offshore wind project in Virginia, but is also a prominent climate change denier that has called scientists who warn about the threat of global warming terrorists.
This charge is contained in a 2012 Washington Post report entitled “Heartland Institute launches campaign linking terrorism, murder, and global warming belief”:
“The Heartland Institute, a think-tank based in Chicago which has promoted climate skepticism has launched a campaign contending that, in its words: “the most prominent advocates of global warming aren’t scientists. They are murderers, tyrants, and madmen.”
The campaign features billboards, … featuring una-bomber Ted Kaczynski.
Subsequently the Heartland Institute pulled down the billboard explaining:
“The Heartland Institute has pulled its global warming billboard starring Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber whose manifesto expressed his belief in catastrophic man-caused global warming. The digital billboard ran for exactly 24 hours along the Eisenhower Expressway near Chicago in the suburb of Maywood, Illinois.
The following statement by Heartland Institute President Joseph Bast may be used for attribution:
“This provocative billboard was always intended to be an experiment. And after just 24 hours the results are in: It got people’s attention …This billboard was deliberately provocative, an attempt to turn the tables on the climate alarmists by using their own tactics but with the opposite message.”[8]
FOOTNOTES
[1] https://www.fdu.edu/news/new-jersey-wants-to-halt-development-of-off-shore-wind-farms/
[2] David Gelles, The Texas Group Waging a National Crusade Against Climate Action, Published December 4, 2022, nytimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/04/climate/texas-public-policy-foundation-climate-change.html
[3] Kirk Moore, Texas wind power critics, Northeast fishing advocates meet at Austin forum, Published January 25, 2022, nationalfisherman.com, https://www.nationalfisherman.com/national-international/texas-wind-power-critics-northeast-fishing-advocates-meet-at-austin-forum
[4] https://www.nationalfisherman.com/national-international/texas-wind-power-critics-northeast-fishing-advocates-meet-at-austin-forum
[5] https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/the-100-billion-offshore-wind-industry-has-a-whale-problem
[6] https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-life-distress/frequent-questions-2016-2023-humpback-whale-atlantic-coast-unusual
[7] https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/the-100-billion-offshore-wind-industry-has-a-whale-problem
[8] https://heartland.org/opinion/heartland-institute-ends-experiment-with-unabomber-global-warming-billboard/