Environmentalists warn: Politicians harming environment with environmental projects

Environmentalists are urging Joe Biden and Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy to pause offshore wind projects which they say is likely killing marine life. 

The request comes after reports last week that a seventh dead whale had washed up on the New York–New Jersey coast in just over a month.

“This is bad news on top of bad news,” said Clean Ocean Action Executive Director Cindy Zipf, according to NJ.com. 

NJ.com further reports:

According to data from the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, 12 whales washed up in New Jersey in 2019 and 2020. Five washed up in the state in 2021, followed by six last year. Since Dec. 5, there have been five reported across various New Jersey beaches and two in New York.

Clean Ocean Action and other groups are concerned that the deaths are caused by the construction of offshore wind projects due to the sonar and noise emitted during survey work, which can harm marine life. 

Offshore wind energy is considered cleaner than energy sourced from other elements such as gas and coal, making it desirable to climate change utopians. It is harnessed through wind turbine farms, which are erected in the ocean to capture the high winds found off coasts. These turbines are often anchored to the ocean floor and send electricity through underwater cables, which then carry the energy through an underwater substation before passing through more cables to shore.  

Offshore wind projects require an exploration of the ocean floor which typically involves “focused pulses of low frequency sound in the same frequency that whales hear and communicate, which could potentially harm or disorient the animals,” says the Associated Press. 

“This is devastating and shows even more urgency to our call to action for (President Joe) Biden and Gov. Phil Murphy to call for a stop to all activity,” Zipf added. “Don’t add any more projects and get a comprehensive investigation underway with experts and full transparency with oversight.” 

Other groups such as Save LBI and the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association have supported Clean Ocean Action in their efforts. 

Even some legislators are backing Clean Ocean Action’s push for a moratorium on offshore wind projects until the harm to ocean life can be properly investigated. 

“We should suspend all work related to offshore wind development until we can determine the cause of death of these whales, some of which are endangered,” New Jersey Republican State Sen. Vince Polistina said, adding, “It’s hard to believe that the death of [seven] whales on our beaches is just a coincidence.” 

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-2nd Dist.) also joined the call to investigate the issue. 

But Gov. Murphy, who has contracted with Dutch company Orsted, is refusing to pause the projects. 

“They have said it’s been happening at an increased rate since 2016, and that was long before there was any offshore wind activity. It looks like some of these whales have been hit by vessels,” he said, citing data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

Orsted has denied claims that its work is harming ocean mammals. 

The Dutch company is a member of the World Economic Forum’s First Movers Coalition (FMC), a group of companies who have pledged to create the necessary technologies to help the WEF achieve its “Net Zero” goal by 2050. 

“Joining the FMC represents one of the most high-leverage ways for companies to take climate action by creating a market for the emerging technologies that are crucial in order to reach Net Zero by 2050,” says the WEF. “As a FMC member, you will be amongst the first companies building the clean supply chains of the future.