More than 400 people were in Wildwood Thursday for a hearing on offshore wind organized by Republican Reps. Jeff Van Drew and Chris Smith. The backdrop to the hearing was the recent spate of whale strandings on beaches in New Jersey and New York.
Van Drew has called for Congress to investigate for a link between offshore wind development surveys and environmental damage.
Scientists have rejected the assertion of any evident connection between the whale strandings and offshore wind development, and pointed to evidence indicating that ships remain the largest threat to the whales. On Wednesday, state environmental authorities reiterated that stance.
At the hearing, people expressed other concerns about offshore wind and argued that there hasn’t been enough transparency in its development in New Jersey.
“Developers want to build thousands of Eiffel Tower-sized turbines that will lie on our horizons for decades,” Van Drew said. “Despite the gravity of this undertaking, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has engaged in a rushed and sloppy project and a sloppy approval process,”
Smith said, “This is very shoddy, what they’re doing — putting our entire ocean at grave risk. I love the ocean, I know you love the ocean, people in New Jersey love it. There has to be a serious and very comprehensive look at all of these issues that we’re bringing out, and will bring out, in this hearing.”
