Assurances that Wind Turbines Have No Effect on Whales Appear to Be a Lot of Hot Air

Originally published in the SandPaper -- here with some photos and references.

Are you wondering if those mammoth turbines that may soon appear on the horizon of our beloved seascape may harm marine life, but afraid you’ll inadvertently be influenced by sneaky Big Oil-backed groups out to squash our Green Dreams?

I can help.

To summarize what I’ve uncovered in the course of extensive research, the experts telling us to calm down don’t really know squat about the effects the building and operation of these monolithic structures may have on our shores and the diverse creatures that live within our marine environment. In fact, often those very same agencies that tell us not to worry also acknowledge that we are in deep, uncharted waters. 

Take the Marine Mammal Commission, an “independent government agency” that issued a statement regarding the devastating whale deaths we have experienced in recent months.

The commission said that there is “no evidence to link these strandings to offshore wind energy development.” Yet, that very same commission in its paper titled “Renewable Energy Development and Marine Mammals,” revealed that “…considerable uncertainty exists regarding the potential short- and long-term impacts of offshore wind development on marine mammals that occur in U.S. waters.”

The commission went on to say in that paper that all phases of wind energy development can be disrupting and disastrous to marine mammals, from the devices used in surveys that can “generate sound that may affect a marine mammal’s behavior” and lead to “serious consequences,” to the pile driving during construction to the operational sounds of completed wind turbines in use. (Also mentioned by the commission is the almost never talked-about electromagnetic energy given off by extensive underwater cables that will be transmitting the power and “which may be detectable by certain marine species, including marine mammals…”) 1

What about the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries? Despite issuing scores of documents over the years detailing the plight of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale (with population numbers estimated to be below 340), the agency is willing to issue dozens of “incidental harassment authorizations” (IHAs), also called “takes,” of marine mammals, including the right whale, not only to wind energy companies such as Atlantic Shores and Orsted, but to numerous other developers up and down the East Coast.

Atlantic Shores, in fact, was issued several IHAs for its ongoing surveying activities that started in 2019 authorizing the harassment or “taking” of right whales and other marine animals. “Harassment” is defined as either level A:“any act of pursuit, torment, or annoyance that has the potential to injure a marine mammal” in the wild, or level B: acts that can potentially “disturb (but not injure) a marine mammal by disrupting behavioral patterns...”  (Of note, Atlantic Shores recently applied for both Level A and B harassment authorization for a period of five years beginning Jan. 1, 2025).

The April 2021 NOAA authorization issued to Atlantic Shores allowed for the “harassment” of eight North Atlantic right whales, eight humpback whales, nine fin whales, over 2,000 bottlenose dolphins and over 1,000 harbor and gray seals, among other animals. And that was just for one year for one lease area.

In my attempt to find out about the other lease areas off LBI, including how many other IHAs Atlantic Shores had been issued, a NOAA public affairs officer told me that NOAA Fisheries “issues IHAs on request, but we do not otherwise track the activities of wind energy developers.”

Asking Terence Kelly, external affairs manager for Atlantic Shores, resulted in even less information. In an email, he wasn’t sure he could “pull the stuff” related to my questions, and suggested I go “thru the agencies.”

One of the questions I asked Kelly was to further detail a “harassment take” reported by Atlantic Shores of a right whale sometime between April 2020 and January 2021. (Also reported during that time frame was the “harassment” of three unidentified whales, nearly 400 dolphins and eight humpback whales). 2

A report filed by Atlantic Shores in July 2022 titled “Protected Species Observer Report,” for one lease area noted two dead loggerhead sea turtles and one unidentified dead sea turtle during June and July of 2021, all with no signs of “tar, oil, gear or debris entanglement” that were determined (strictly by observation as they floated by the vessel) to have not sustained any injuries related to the survey activities. 3

But dead whales are harder to ignore than dead sea turtles, and as the media reported on more and more whales strandings (nine being in New Jersey alone since Dec. 1) NOAA did what any good federal agency would – it held a press conference at the end of January.

One participant, Benjamin Laws, in the Office of Protected Resources at NOAA Fisheries, when asked by a reporter from Newsday if the sonar used in the survey work could affect the whales in any way, said “there are no historical stranding events that have been associated with use of (acoustic) systems like these,” later adding, “there is no information that would support any suggestion that any of the equipment that’s being used in support of wind development for these site characterization surveys could directly lead to the death of a whale.” 4

Only that’s not exactly true.

In 2013 an independent scientific review panel spearheaded by the International Whaling Commission determined that the mass stranding of 100 melon-headed whales in Madagascar in 2008 “was primarily triggered by acoustic stimuli,” specifically a multi-beam echosounder operated by ExxonMobil. (Equipment used by Atlantic Shores, Orsted and other Big Wind companies includes multi-beam echo sounders as well as other acoustic devices.) 5

Since the Madagascar study was done in conjunction with NOAA (even receiving financial support from them), along with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Marine Mammal Commission, which hosted the meeting – certainly someone within these agencies must have some recollection of the study they themselves participated in.

But with billions already invested by private developers in purchasing leases off the coasts of New Jersey and New York, perhaps being “Green” these days has more to do with the color of money than the environment.

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Above from: ATLANTIC SHORES OFFSHORE WIND GEOPHYSICAL AND GEOTECHNICAL SURVEY PROTECTED SPECIES OBSERVER REPORT Prepared for: Fugro on behalf of Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.fisheries.noaa.gov/2023-01/AtlanticShores_2022IHA_MonRep_OPR1.pdf.pdf

Above from a letter dated March 4, 2021 from Atlantic Shores to the Office of Protected Resources National Marine Fisheries Service for renewal of its “Incidental Harassment Authorization.” Apparently this is to show that while they were authorized to harass nine right whales, they only had a “harassment take” of one! (As of this publication North Atlantic right whale population numbers are said to be below 340.)

Above from Atlantic Shores Protected Species Observer Report, July 15, 2022. This was the second dead loggerhead sea turtle — along with an “unidentified shelled sea turtle” observed floating by the vessels Fugro Enterprise and Fugro Regulus during June and July of 2021, all with no signs of “tar, oil, gear or debris entanglement” that were determined (strictly by observation as they floated by the vessel) to have not sustained any injuries related to the survey activities.

Links:

1. (See Impacts of Wind Energy Development) https://www.mmc.gov/priority-topics/offshore-energy-development-and-marine-mammals/renewable-energy-development-and-marine-mammals-3/

2. (page 5) https://media.fisheries.noaa.gov/2021-03/AtlanticShores_2021IHARenewal_APP_OPR1.pdf?null=

3. https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.fisheries.noaa.gov/2023-01/AtlanticShores_2022IHA_MonRep_OPR1.pdf.pdf

4. https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/2023-01/Transcript-011823-NOAA-Fisheries-Media-Teleconference-East-Coast-whale-strandings-508.pdf

5. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130925132211.htm