Biden’s Wind Power Push Will Threaten An Endangered Whale Species, Gov’t Scientist Says
Jack McEvoy on December 1, 2022
The Biden administration’s plan to put wind turbines near New England’s coast to generate “clean energy” will further diminish the already low North Atlantic right whale population, according to a previously undisclosed National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) memo.
Constructing as well as continuously operating large wind projects off the New England coast will affect right whales’ habitats and cause noise pollution which will “stress” the whales and cause them to die off, according to a letter a NOAA scientist sent to the Interior Department, obtained by The New Bedford Light, a Massachusetts news outlet. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is mulling permits for 10 offshore wind projects along the Northeastern coast as it works to carry out President Joe Biden’s aggressive climate agenda that will pour billions of taxpayer money into green energy infrastructure.
“Additional noise, vessel traffic and habitat modifications due to offshore wind development will likely cause added stress that could result in additional population consequences to a species that is already experiencing rapid decline,” the NOAA scientist wrote.
The Biden administration will work to protect right whales while still pursuing the president’s offshore wind strategy by enforcing noise regulations on offshore wind construction sites, according to an October BOEM draft document. BOEM also discussed creating ‘conservation buffer zones’ in some wind energy areas to protect the North Atlantic right whale, a NOAA spokesperson told the DCNF.
Fewer than 336 North Atlantic right whales remain, down 145 from an all-time high in 2011, and the species has been listed under the Endangered Species Act since 1970, according to NOAA. Since 2017, 20% of right whales have died unnaturally or become seriously injured; most deaths and injuries occurred when whales became tangled in ropes or got hit by boats, according to NOAA.
“Renewables get so much credit for supposedly ‘saving the planet’ that merely affecting an endangered species is treated as no-big-deal,” Meredith Angwin, author of “Shorting the Grid: The Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid,” told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“This set of choices is bad for the grid (intermittent electricity), bad for the consumer (expensive electricity), and bad for the whales,” Angwin said.
BOEM and the White House did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
Biden’s Wind Power Push Will Threaten An Endangered Whale Species, Gov’t Scientist Says
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