Photo credit: protectourcoastsnj.org
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I’m a child of the ’80s and ’90s, Save Jerseyans, so I remember when “saving the whales” was all the rage among American Leftists. The largest mammals on the planet certainly make for sympathetic subjects of environmentalist campaigns. But the Left discovered a new obsession in the 2000s (“green energy”), so apparently the whales can go fuck themselves?
Sorry, Shamu.
Dead whales have been washing up at the Jersey Shore over the past month. While it’s not clear from published reports what’s going on (assuming it’s anything other than a coincidence), some opponents of the Murphy Administration’s quixotic offshore wind plans (11,000 MW by 2040, which is a shit ton of turbines) allege that wind turbine survey methods put whales at risk…
More dead whales washing up in Atlantic City as #offshorewind developers survey off coast. 2nd since Christmas and 4th in a month. Sonar blasts deafen whales, limiting ability to navigate and feed = death. #climatescam WHERE IS @peta @whales_org pic.twitter.com/DJCbTGmZGl
— Mike Dean (@mikerdean22) January 7, 2023
Now, to be 100% fair, we don’t know whether this particular whale died because of wind energy surveys. We don’t even know for sure when someone was last surveying in this particular area of the ocean.
What we do know: scientists are concerned about the impact of offshore wind development on endangered whale species as spelled out in a November 2022 report from Bloomberg…
“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,” Hayes said in his letter.
There are fewer than 350 North Atlantic right whales left, down from a high of 478 in 2011. The endangered marine mammals are already chronically stressed by limited food, entanglements, vessel strikes and noise.
How does it all work?
According to the University of Rhode Island, “[s]eafloor characteristics determine how difficult it would be to construct a wind farm at that location. In regions where there is little sediment over the bedrock extensive drilling is required to install wind turbines, whereas pile driving for turbine installations is easier in areas where the sediment layer is deeper. Underwater acoustics is used to map and characterize ocean sediments, using equipment such as multibeam echosounders and side scan sonars.”
“Construction and operation of offshore wind farms create unwanted sound or noise,” the university continued. “How much this noise will contribute to the existing ambient noise in a region is an important area of research. Dr. Jim Miller at the University of Rhode Island has measured the existing sound field off Block Island, Rhode Island, the proposed location of an offshore wind farm. Using measurements of the noise from one turbine in an offshore wind farm off Sweden, he estimated the amount of noise the proposed wind farm would add to the ambient noise off Block Island (for more information, please see the Advanced Topic on Noise Budgets).”
Do whale lives matter?
Someone needs to ask Phil Murphy.
