by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News August 15, 2024
Opposition to offshore wind farms on the U.S. East Coast is increasing following a number of devastating blade failures and adverse impact on whales.
Republican Reps. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania held a hearing in Brigantine, New Jersey on Tuesday which detailed the negative impacts of the wind industry amid plans to construct the world’s largest wind turbines just off the Jersey Shore.
The Atlantic Shores wind project, which the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved in July, will include 195 turbines which are 850-feet tall off the coast of New Jersey.
“These would be the largest wind turbines in the world. We’re going to be an experiment for the world right here at your Jersey Shore. Dozens of these turbines will be highly visible and maybe even audible, particularly in Brigantine,” Van Drew said.
Amy DiSibio, board member of ACK for Whales, a Nantucket-based environmental group opposed to offshore wind development, testified at the hearing that in 2014 an offshore wind insurer estimated that out of 700,000 blades operating globally at the time, 3,800 failed each year from a range of causes, including lightning damage, human error, and manufacturing defects.
Recently, beaches were shut down and construction was halted on a wind project off Martha’s Vineyard after the disintegration of a wind turbine blade off a single turbine scattered foam, fiberglass, and pieces of epoxy across the beaches of Martha’s Vineyard.
DiSibio said that some of the pieces of the blade are small enough that they’re likely entering the marine food chain.
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As cleanup continues, the Nantucket Current reported Tuesday that the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, an agency under the Department of the Interior, is allowing the developer to resume installing towers and nacelles — but not blades.
The Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah in Martha’s Vineyard requested a moratorium on offshore wind development last month, and residents of Nantucket are now calling for the same, the Boston Herald reported.
Still, the Biden-Harris administration is moving forward with its plan of having in place 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030. Offshore wind turbines produce 8 to 12 megawatts of power when the wind is blowing. With an average of 10 megawatts per turbine, it will take 3,000 turbines to meet the administration’s offshore wind goals. However, most turbines have three blades, meaning the failure rates could be three times higher.
DiSibio also questioned the rationale for offshore wind development, which is that it will reduce global warming. She said the evidence for that claim is lacking, which makes the industry’s impacts all the more concerning.
“If the goal for these projects is to fix climate change, then show us in the documents where this is actually going to move the needle on that. And I think for now, the public is really beginning to ask that question. I think it’s the most important question we can ask. If this isn’t moving the needle on anything, then why are we destroying the environment to do it?” DiSibio said.
Congressmen: Jersey Shore to be ‘experiment’ for world’s largest wind turbines added by Editor Two on
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