NJ Offshore Wind Farms Pros/Cons/Conspiracy theories

[SeaVee]

So, they’ve built 2 so far 27 miles SE of us. (Va Beach). Want to build a couple hundred between there and OBX. They’re still working out there and if you try to fish the base of one they’ll run you off. I guess it will be like that during the build out ( if it happens). Lots of discussion if they’ll complete them, even the developers have said it might not reduce electricity cost. Whale deaths were off the charts this Winter. I’m all about alternative energy sources, but I don’t see how these things pay for themselves.

 

[kevgle]

One of my first experiences with this forum involved a project(scupper hose replacement)and the advice i received was tremendous(especially skunkboat)So as he said lets just have fun with this and those windmill #s will be in my gps as well.

 

[HMBJack]

I'm in California so please enlighten me.

What exactly is killing the whales from this program? Underwater blasting?

If so, can't they deploy the gear without underwater blasting?

 

[Hookup1]

They are mapping the bottom to find suitable locations. Apparently involves blasting and then looking at sensor data. They claim it has nothing to do with whale and dolphin deaths. But the number of deaths have soared. Coastal communities are in an uproar over the deaths of the whales and the altered ocean view.

 

[SkunkBoat]

They are mapping the bottom to find suitable locations. Apparently involves blasting and then looking at sensor data. They claim it has nothing to do with whale and dolphin deaths. But the number of deaths have soared. Coastal communities are in an uproar over the deaths of the whales and the altered ocean view.

I don't think they are saying it has nothing to do with it. They are saying "it can't be determined" and that, at least at one point over the winter, they claimed it was "not out of the ordinary range". They do not claim that the blasting does not kill sea mammals. The permit specifically lists by species the expected "take" in a given month. It requires them to monitor the area and cease when appropriate. I don't know if the deaths exceed the expected take in the permits.
I do know that whale, dolphin and seal strandings are not new. Certainly, every one now is a 3 minute story on the news with video of a carcass.

I'm not saying they aren't being vague and whitewashing their public statements. Of course they are. Thats what Energy companies do.
I suspect that opponents will also overstate their claims to advance their agenda. Some groups are for saving all sea mammals so any deaths are an atrocity. Some groups are against "green energy", meaning they are for maintaning a fossil fuel dominance. They really don't care about whales because offshore oil & gas has killed more sea mammals and birds than windfarms will kill in the next 100 years.

Ship strikes are more and more common because there are A LOT of whales around now. Interestingly, I have not seen many this year but I have not been past the Mud Hole yet. Some years they are mid range in the late spring/summer.
Years ago they were in the canyons and we didn't see them much. They have been right on the beach in the fall for many years now. That I think is a direct result of stopping Omega from scooping up every last menhaden they could.... Unfortunately that brings them into shipping lanes.
If you follow my NJ Fishing posts you'll see how common whales and dolphins are

I worry more about the effect of magnetic fields on underwater power cabling. There is some research that shows it would interfere with migration patterns of groundfish. I think they may have blown that off because "its just fish, not mammals".

As for the view... I've seen a thousand sunrises over the ocean. I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about there ALWAYS being a field of windmills there. I think by the time there are vast feilds of them, I'll be golfing....

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Sounds like it's similar to around here where you just need to follow the money trail as "supposedly the resident orca whale population is being decimated" because again they "supposedly only eat king salmon and nothing else". Yet the state continues to allow the commercial guys and the tribes to go out there with their nets that are miles long to plunder the countryside. While myself on the other hand as a sports fisherman that pays for a license is limited to hook and line, and likely catch maybe 12-25 fish a season total. But, we as the sports fishermen have the toughest rules and regulations, quotas and so forth compared to the commercial guys and the tribes that can pretty much catch anything and everything, whilst also not even really having a quota. We can only use barbless hooks, can only fish one pole per person, can only keep hatchery fish for most species and are severely limited to the quota that they also predict. The numbers are always skewed and if you catch herring, shakers or other species of fish, that also goes toward the total for the quota and if they feel they'll reach it early, they'll shut it down. It definitely takes a lot of the joy out of fishing, but then what can you do?

 

[Hookup1]

Offshore Wind Farms Having Problems off the Atlantic Coast

While there are a number of offshore wind projects along the Atlantic coast promising to come online within the next…

www.instituteforenergyresearch.org

 

[SeaVee]

Good read

 

[SkunkBoat]

Just keep in mind that the Institute for Energy Reasearch is Exxon.

 

[Ekea]

couple of things...

1. did something happen in the last week regarding these wind farms? it seems the interned blew up over this in the last week.
2. i like the idea of them being there from a fishing structure.
3. i dont want to see them from the beach, cant they stick them beyond the horizon or beyond what the naked eye can protect?
4. i find it very odd that at the same time that they are permitting "take" of marine mammals (whales), they are also trying to restrict vessel speed to 10 kts or less within 100 miles of shore for vessels 36 feet and up (migh be off on boat length) to prevent whale strikes and deaths.
4b. that vessel speed restriction would kill recreational offshore fishing and the charter business, kill large boat prices, but skyrocket the price of a boat just below the length cutoff.
5. is there a time frame for the southern NJ farms?
5b. i heard rumors about DE and MD farms, any time info on those.
6. Gradys are awesome

 

[SkunkBoat]

 

[glacierbaze]

I don't think that they are blasting, as in explosives, but they are surveying the ocean floor for suitable sites, by blasting sonar waves that interfere with the mammals' ability to communicate and/or navigate. Or, it gives them migraines that finally make them say, "F this, I would rather be dead".
They could hire fewer companies to map the bottom, before putting the leases up for bid, and have anyone who bids pay a share of the costs, but i think everyone now has their own survey ships out there, oil, gas and wind.