Lawmakers are demanding answers to the question of whether offshore wind turbines are responsible for whale deaths
New Jersey Republicans opposed to the state’s offshore wind turbines called for construction on the projects to be halted for up to 60 days to see if it would reduce the number of whales washing up dead on East Coast beaches.
More than 30 dead whales have been found along east coast beaches in recent months, some say turbines are to blame.
In a hearing on Wednesday, four New Jersey state senators called for work on wind farms to be halted for 30 to 60 days, the latest step in a movement started in January by environmental groups to determine whether turbines could be the cause of the dozens of recent whale deaths .
Since December, at least 32 whales of various species have been found dead on beaches on the east coast from Massachusetts to Florida, many of them along the coast of Jersey.
New Jersey has quickly paved the way for the development of new offshore wind farm projects, with large-scale construction already underway in several locations.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration keeps track of humpback whale and whale deaths. These are some of the locations where they have washed up since December, and some have seen multiple strandings.
Some environmental groups have attributed the death to offshore wind turbines
While skeptics — including federal agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — are adamant that there’s no evidence the farms are causing the deaths, federal lawmakers like Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey have called for deeper research into what the could be the cause of the deaths.
New Jersey Republican Senator Michael Testa said halting construction on the wind farms was an easy way to test the theory.
“One thing our side of the aisle is accused of is not following the science,” he said CBS news. “So what’s the harm in waiting 30 or 60 days?”
In January, the environmental group Clean Ocean Action asked President Joe Biden to intervene and halt the wind farm projects, arguing that it was linked to whale deaths.
“We went too far, too fast,” said Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, “More than 2.2 million acres are allocated to offshore wind and 10,000 miles of cables. We were alerted that it was plausible that marine activities were related to whale die-offs. We felt there was cause for investigation.’
The federal government has been studying whale mortality since declaring it an “unusual mortality event” related to humpback whales in 2016. Since then, nearly 200 whales have been found dead along east coast beaches.
NOAA publishes a list of deceased whales each year, many of which are humpback or right whales, but other species have also washed ashore.
NOAA has said necropsies on the whales have determined that many of their deaths resulted from ship strikes, but panelists at Wednesday’s hearing said governments have turned away from the issue to allow new energy infrastructure to develop.
“You can’t find evidence if you don’t look for it,” said conservation biologist Trisha DeVoe.
State Senator Anthony Bucco agreed, saying, “We’re told, ‘Just accept what we tell you.’
Right whales are among the species that have washed up dead on East Coast beaches
Some lawmakers have expressed concern over the number of dead whales in recent months. Pictured: Officials examine a dead beached whale on Rockaway Beach on Dec. 13, 202
More than 200 whales have been found dead since 2016. Pictured: A North Atlantic right whale dives off Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts
People in the fishing industry have also said the turbines would wreak havoc on radar systems that are critical to their livelihoods.
“Offshore wind is the biggest existential threat to commercial fishing in the United States right now,” said Meghan Lepp of seafood company Seafreeze.
But skeptics of the wind farm theory have said climate change poses the biggest threat to East Coast marine life.
“We know that the climate crisis poses the greatest threat to marine mammals and their habitats,” said U.S. Representative Frank Pallone Jr. from New Jersey in a statement, according to CBS News.
“The food source on which whales depend is moving closer to busy shipping lanes near the ports of New York and New Jersey as ocean temperatures rise, leaving them vulnerable to collisions and entanglements.”