Earlier this month, I reported that New Jersey Republicans were demanding that construction on offshore wind farm projects be halted for up to 60 days to see if it will reduce the number of whales washing up dead on East Coast beaches.
Now 50 mayors from the Blue States along the East Coast, where marine mammals continue to wash ashore dead, are also calling for a moratorium.
Dozens of East Coast mayors representing cities in three Democratic-led states — New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland — are calling for an offshore wind development moratorium in light of recent marine wildlife deaths.In an open letter to Congress sent Tuesday, 50 mayors from across the three states said offshore wind development should immediately cease until a thorough investigation is conducted. The mayors expressed concern that the increasing number of whale and dolphin deaths is negatively impacting the ocean ecosystem their communities rely upon.”Our coastal economies rely on a healthy ocean ecosystem to function, and we are increasingly concerned about the environmental impacts offshore wind may already be affecting our communities,” the mayors wrote to Congress.”The current level of marine mammal mortality is unacceptable, and we need answers,” the letter continued. “In the absence of scientific evidence explaining the increase in marine mortality, we believe the connection between offshore wind activity and marine mammal mortality must be investigated now.”
The messaging is becoming more urgent as half a dozen marine mammals, including four dolphins, have washed up dead in New Jersey in four days.
The dolphins, a porpoise and another mammal washed ashore between May 18 and May 21, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in the state.Strandings occur all over the world for a variety of reasons, but there has been an uptick in cases across the New York and New Jersey coast since December….Nearly 200 humpback whales have been discovered and 40 percent of them displayed signs of injury from humans, in the form of either a ship strike or fishing line entanglement, according to NOAA Fisheries.Environmentalists and some political groups have suggested that offshore wind development in the area could be responsible for the injuries.There is no evidence to support this, however, and NOAA Fisheries has reiterated that the development should not be harming marine life.
Meanwhile, a multibillion-dollar energy developer has wired tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine’s campaign in recent years while aggressively pushing a massive offshore wind project off that state’s coast.
Dominion Energy continues to trudge forward with plans to develop Virginia’s first offshore wind farm. The project, known as Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) and located off the state’s southeastern coast near Virginia Beach, consists of two operational pilot wind turbines and is on track to be fully constructed by 2026 with 176-205 turbines across 112,800 acres.Kaine has been a vocal supporter of the project, which would be the largest offshore wind development nationwide, urging federal regulators to fast-track its permitting process and successfully winning millions of dollars in funding for supporting projects.
The whales may not wait for our politicians to obtain moratoriums. Killer whales, also known as Orcas, appear to be organizing attacks against sailboats off the coast of Europe.
Sailors have reported a series of “coordinated” attacks by a group of orcas, including a May 22 strike on a 26-foot vessel sailing off the coast of Cape Spartel, near the Strait of Gibraltar.”[Six] orcas arrived, 2 adults very big, 4 smaller ones,” sailor JP Derunes wrote in Orca Attack Reports, a Facebook group dedicated to flagging orca activity. “Both rudders destroyed and blocked … Boat to be hauled off later this week.”That attack followed a nighttime strike on May 4, when a Swiss yacht named Champagne, which was also sailing through the Strait of Gibraltar, was attacked by three orcas. They struck its rudder, eventually sinking it, reported Yacht, a German boating news outlet.
Here’s hoping the problems off our East Coast are resolved before the orcas begin staging off the New Jersey coast.
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