The Dangers Of “Big Wind”
NANTUCKET CURRENT Opinion
Val Oliver President, ACK for Whales
To the editor:
The public is being misled by greedy environmental organizations and the sad irony is, it is the environment itself that will be negatively impacted as a result. The North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium’s latest population estimates for the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale show that just 356 individuals remain on the planet today. The New England Aquarium, a member of the Consortium, cites vessel strikes and fishing-gear entanglements as the leading causes of mortality.
“Until we implement strategies that eliminate injuries and deaths, and promote right whale health, this species will continue to struggle,” warns Scott Kraus, chair of the Consortium and a New England Aquarium scientist. We can all agree that the future of the right whale is bleak. Yet, shockingly, there is nary a mention from any of the expert environmental organizations/scientists in the NARW Consortium about the negative impacts from “Big Wind” survey work and the power plants that are now under construction, right smack in the middle of the North Atlantic right whale’s safe haven…directly off Nantucket’s coast.
The New England Aquarium and its scientists should be forced to publicly disclose the funding they’ve accepted from the Offshore Wind Industry. In fact, many of the organizations comprising the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium are recipients of “Big Wind” money, and have therefore forfeited their independence. How can their opinions on whale deaths be untainted when “Big Wind” is helping to pay their bills? How can they ignore the “elephant in the room”…the power plants being constructed in the middle of the endangered North Atlantic right whale’s habitat?
These organizations know better and know that whales play an incredibly important role in our ecosystem that ranges from providing nutrients for the basis of the food chain, to naturally reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For a listing of just some of the organizations who have taken money from Big Wind, here is a Conflict-of-Interest Report, published by a different coalition, the “Save the Right Whales Coalition.” This report shines a spotlight on just some of the many compromised organizations who have taken money from Big Wind: https://saverightwhales.org/co…
The public also needs to know that Offshore Wind developers have applied for and been granted permits from NOAA that allow, and indemnify them against, the harassment of hundreds of thousands of marine animals, including the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. These “passes” are sought after and granted because there is an expectation that marine life will suffer as a result of the survey work, construction, operations and decommissioning of these large-scale offshore wind power plants.
