TOMS RIVER, NJ – A scientist working for the administration of President Joe Biden sounded the alarm on off-shore wind farms and their impact on local marine life months before dead whales started washing up at the Jersey Shore.
A massive wind farm being pushed by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a close political ally with the President, is now being blamed after the tenth dead whale was confirmed in the area where crews are conducting sonar-based surveys ahead of the construction of those turbines.
According to Fox News, Sean Hayes, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) chief of protected species, wrote a memo to officials in the administration warning that offshore wind turbine construction and surveying could disrupt whale populations.
“The development of offshore wind poses risks to these species, which is magnified in southern New England waters due to species abundance and distribution,” Hayes wrote in the May 13th letter. “These risks occur at varying stages, including construction and development, and include increased noise, vessel traffic, habitat modifications, water withdrawals associated with certain substations.”
“The focus of this memo is on operational effects, and as such, focuses on potential oceanographic impacts driving right whale prey distribution, but also acknowledges increased risks due to increased vessel traffic and noise. However, unlike vessel traffic and noise, which can be mitigated to some extent, oceanographic impacts from installed and operating turbines cannot be mitigated for the 30-year lifespan of the project, unless they are decommissioned.”
Sean Hayes, NOAA memo
This week, Democrats in New Jersey stopped a Republican effort to halt work for 30 days.
Read more here: New Jersey Democrats block effort to temporarily halt off-shore sonar surveys
David Stevenson, the president of the American Coalition for Ocean Protection claims work being done off the Jersey Shore is ‘harassing whales out of the lease area’ and disrupting their normal patterns and behavior. He says that disruption could be forcing more of those whales into the busy shipping lanes off the coast of New Jersey, which is causing the increase in vessel strikes.
The effect is the same as cutting down woods and wondering why more deer are being struck by cars.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has ignored calls to halt work off the Jersey Shore.
