A preview of New Jersey’s future summers?
On Tuesday, the Nantucket Harbormaster announced that “all south shore beaches are closed to swimming, due to large floating debris and sharp fiberglass shards.” Those shards reportedly belong to Vineyard Wind, an offshore wind company, grappling with a giant broken turbine blade and which has been shut down by federal officials indefinitely. Turbine blades can range in size from 170 feet to over 350 feeding in length.
New Jerseyans opposed to the Murphy Administration designs to place hundreds of wind turbine off of the Jersey Shore’s coast are taking note of what’s happening in New England.
“These alarming reports show how these offshore wind turbines—some of which reach as high as the Chrysler Building—can put beachgoers at risk, contaminate our food supply, and threaten our tourism industry which relies on open beaches, especially during this peak of the summer season,” said Congressman Chris Smith (R, N.J.-04) who represents portions of Monmouth and Ocean counties.
“Despite many offshore wind failures like this one and numerous studies, Governor Murphy and the Biden Administration continue to turn a blind eye to the serious hazards inherent to these projects that endanger our marine environment, wildlife, radar navigation, national security, and tourism,” added Smith.
Orsted cancelled its wind farm planned off of Cape May County last Halloween amid soaring costs and other obstacles, but another nearby project from Atlantic Shores is still in process.
Congressman Smith previously asked BOEM Director Liz Klein whether turbines could stand up to Category 2 or 3 hurricane-force winds. Klein reportedly responded “I am happy to have our folks get back to you” but, as of Wednesday, had not yet supplied a response.
