Even though ORSTED abandoned their wind power plan a few months ago, New Jersey Gov Phil Murphy still pushing for a complete conversion to green energy via offshore wind turbines.
At the same time, local groups are pushing back against these experimental energy platforms.
This past Saturday, March 2, supporters of Defend Brigantine Beach and Defend Downbeach gathered at the Ventnor library.
Some topics discussed:
- Pros and cons of ‘green energy’ and how wind turbines off our coast will change the Jersey shore forever.
- Industrialization of our oceans.
- Negative impact on marine life, real estate, electric costs, local economy and national security.
- Billions in taxpayer subsidy for a technology that’s not likely to have any discernable impact on climate change or sea levels.
- How do we spread the word about these projects.
Would you buy a home next to an industrial power line? Would you lay on a beach where high-voltage power lines are buried underneath you?
High-voltage lines produce electromagnetic fields that may have health implications. Some studies link close exposure to increased leukemia and cancer rates. More definitively, proximity to lines hampers aesthetics, creates noise, and reduces the resale value.
Homes adjoining power lines can lower a home’s value by as much as 30%. Properties also generally take longer to sell than comparable listings without power lines nearby.
New Jersey allowing foreign entities to control US energy resources. Remember when New Jersey’s Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) sold off the last remaining control of ORSTED wind farm?
NJ Audubon partnered with wind farm developer Atlantic Shores, a joint venture between Shell Oil and EDF Renewables.
- EDF Renewables is a subsidiary of the French utility EDF Group.
- ORSTED is a Danish energy company.
Industrialization of our coast.
Question: Why do so many trusted entities and elected officials remain quiet?
Answer: Too many grants and other funding at stake.
Jersey shore homeowners asking why the Marine Mammal Stranding Center (MMSC) remains on the sidelines.
Marine mammal expert, Sheila Dean from the MMSC in Brigantine still missing in action.
No matter how much good MMSC has done and continues to do, the MMSC absence is both disturbing and telling.
MMSC receives funding through federal grants from NOAA. The Federal Govt supports OSW, offshore wind. During a recent council meeting, Brigantine Mayor Vince Sera publicly defended MMSC’s right to remain quiet on the subject.
Why do local business chambers remain quiet? Have they polled their members? No.
Greater Atlantic City Business Chamber, and both the Margate and Ventnor Business Associations have yet to lend their voice to the issue that will affect the fragile seashore economy.
When individual businesses are asked, the majority are vehemently against the wind farms.
Ocean City Realtors now adding wind turbine warnings to their client contracts. Downbeach real estate agents are encouraged to do the same.
Still, too many Downbeach, Atlantic City and Brigantine Realtor orgs unaware of this threat to their livelihood.
What to do? Control the narrative. Don’t trust mainstream media.
Generally, local newspaper publishers and their journalists are pro-wind. Most don’t live on the coast. Most have no skin in the game. Ex: Press of AC.
Don’t allow mainstream media to control the green energy narrative.
Newspapers are so desperate they gladly take advertising dollars from those likely to harm the environment.
Downbeach elected officials are absent in the battle.
- Mayor Landgraf of Ventnor. As an employee of state run CRDA, he keeps a low profile as to not upset his bosses.
- Mayor Collins of Margate. Not in attendance at recent Sofia’s Margate fundraiser even though fundraiser was a few minutes from his home.
- Mayor Russo of Longport. Keeps residents in the dark by blocking video stream of meetings. Ignores input from beachfront homeowners who enjoy multi-million dollar views.
With so few fulltime residents with voting rights, Downbeach politicians now run unopposed. This allows Ventnor, Margate and Longport officials to operate with little regard for all taxpayers, especially the 75% that are second homeowners.
To do: Compel local politicians like Mayor Collins of Margate and Mayor Russo of Longport to live-stream their public meetings. Attend these meetings and speak up during public comment. Demand remote public comment via ZOOM
The video streaming of municipal meetings is cheap and easy. If elected officials delay or refuse, that’s a major problem.
Downbeach towns disrespect second home owners by ignoring those unable to attend meetings in person. That’s 75% of the taxpaying public.
Longport and Margate don’t provide live video streaming of their meetings. They also block remote public comment. Both towns have accepted approx $500K from Wind Orgs. Stockton University’s Brian Jackson and ACCC’s Barbara Gabba helped distribute those funds.
Thanks for covering this! Wind turbines in the ocean are a bad idea.
The earth is heating up. No single energy source can be the main solution. A variety of solutions are needed to combat global warming. What are your alternatives and solutions unless you don’t believe in global warming?
Climate change is not global warming. Global warming is a term pushed in the early to mid 2000s and has since changed to climate change.
The severity and the time line of ocean rising is not as immediate as is being portrayed by politicians. The earth is warming at some degree fast in the fast 30 years then in the last 120 as when records have become to be kept.
However the earth is not as warm as 100,000 of years ago as is suggested by all geological and ice studies that’s goes back in Antarctica ice goes back from.
The issue is, that carbon will continue to be emitted regardless of wind turbines or solar panels.
These wind turbine create economical opportunities while however cause wild life destruction as many studies have been done proving that not to mention all the dead whales that suddenly washed to shore since this project began (common sense needs to apply here what is the common denominator why they have washed up, and that is the wind turbines being surveyed and built).
Carbon will be emitted 100 times more in the future by India , China and the many African nations rising economically the next 100 years.
Nothing will stop the carbon emissions. There are plenty of cheap fossil fuels to keep existing and emerging economies of the world powered.
The focus should not be on “green energy” it should be put on extracting carbon out of the atmosphere both by machines that can be built at larger scale with tax incentives and planting many plants around the world such as hemp and other biological absorbing Carbon plants that can reverse the course of the carbon emissions.
This green energy project is dirty money being funneled to politicians, including Murphy , that is what this is.
Nuclear
Margie:
I am not against nuclear. Below is a recent article about trying to build smaller reactors in the US.
“The approval process can be slow. To date, the N.R.C. has certified only one small reactor design, developed by NuScale Power. NuScale’s light-water technology is similar to existing plants, but the company argued that smaller reactors required different safety rules, such as smaller evacuation zones in case of accidents. Securing approval took a decade and cost $500 million.”
“It’s a pretty big barrier to entry,” said Jose Reyes, NuScale’s chief executive. “And this was for a technology that regulators are already familiar with.”
Overwhelming issues are with the exorbitant costs, skilled labor building reactors, finding radioactive material, relearning technologies, disposal issues with spent rods, environmental impact assessments, NIMBYism, etc. Where will you put one? The dog park😂? It will take at least 15-20 years to build one.
“The U.K. and the U.S. have, in a sense, forgotten how to build nuclear power stations,” said Simon Taylor, a professor at the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School who has written extensively on the British nuclear program. “We may rebuild that knowledge, but it will take a long time,” he added.”
We need a diversified energy portfolio that includes wind and nuclear. But we need solutions now!
Carbon removal technologies are a long way off too.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/12/climate/nuclear-reactors-clean-energy.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
The title, “offshore 101” implied this would be a fact based article, but I found it quite biased against wind. I haven’t formed a strong opinion one way or the other and keep looking for unbiased facts and data to get educated and form a valid opinion.
Biased against wind…..hmmmmm so you assume the information that was presented wasn’t backed by facts. If you expect to learn about offshore wind and it’s impact there is this magical tool called the internet! There is tons of info there. How do you know what’s real? Unbiased?
“An absence of evidence, doesn’t mean evidence of absence”
Check out the actual Atlantic Shores Photo simulations – https://www.boem.gov/sites/default/files/documents/renewable-energy/state-activities/20043_VIA_South_Attachment%20E%20-%20Photosimulations.pdf
Talk to a scalloper and find out why up to 40% of their catch is empty shells,
Check some references from reviewed journals: I’ll get you started.
Mathews LP, Marine Pollution Bulletin 2021: 179:113043
Pace RM, Ecology and Evolution 2017;
deSoto NA, Scientific Reports 2013; 3: 2831
Carroll AG, Marine Pollution Bul 2017; 114(1):9-24
Slabbekoorn et al, Trends Ecol Evol 2010;25:419-427
Williams et al, Ocean Coastal Mangement 2015; 115:17-24
Andre M, Frontier Ecol Env 2011; 9(9):489-493
Peng C, International J Envir Res Pub Health 2015; 12:12304
Impact on whale hearing?
– Chia-nan Lin, Taipei Times, Taiwan News- May 12, 2019 p 2.
Want to learn about approved “Takes and Harassment”, the visual impacts, the impact on shellfish and marine life- check the FEIS ( Final Evironmental Imact statements) of the Wind Companies. They are online.
Want info on electromagnetic fields, impacts of noise pollution on doppler and navigational radar, they are online.
Want to learn about all the Multi-million dollar “partnerships” and grants that are being offered by big wind, they are posted online as well.
Want to learn about turbine fires, breaksdowns, oil leaks, they are also posted online. GCube, a leading underwriter of renewable energy put out a report in Q2 of 2023 – “Vertical limit” . See what they had to say about use of bigger windmills.
As the wind industry said in their recent Offshore Wind Meeting at Rowan – “The proof is in the proposal” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9q58JCx1Bo&t=8s
None of this info is hidden. It’s all right there. Guess it depends on who’s telling the story.
The push for renewable energy – these hideous wind turbines generators – through a mix of federal, state, and local subsidies﹩and mandates is not only putting the U.S. at risk of becoming seriously dependent on intermittent wind and solar power for it’s electricity – it is also providing a glide path for a hostile foreign power to MESS WITH OUR NATION’S (AND LOCAL) POWER GRID and damage our critical energy infrastructure. Think about China…do you really think they want us to be powerful?
In real time: Houston-based GH American Energy is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese Guanghui Industry Group, which since 2015 (an Obama year), has purchased about 140,000 acres in Val Verde County, Texas. The Xinjiang-based parent company is a massive conglomerate with extensive holdings in real estate, liquified natural gas, transportation, and chemicals. Guanghui’s billionaire founder, CEO, and communist party member Sun Guangxin, wants to erect 100’s of wind turbines and solar arrays on his west Texas acreage. This plan is running into stiff resistance from residents (hoorah!) His land is near Laughlin Air Force Base in nearby Del Rio. Coincidence? I think not. Think good people.
Our short-sighted embrace of renewable energy has been an open invitation to troublemakers. China’s wind power (and too many paths lead Directly back to China),is a THREAT to our critical infrastructure. The power to overload the electrical grid and cause power outages is no joke. IT IS A THREAT.
The enemy is not at the gates but has gained entry inside them. Right now, the only thing standing in front of Mr. Sun’s wind project,-which has LITTLE TO DO WITH WIND, is our U.S. Department of Defense. Think about this when you vote. Please.
More on the bigger picture of this coming…and there is a bigger picture. There always is.
The Bigger Picture…CONSERVATION OR LAND GRAB?…THE FINANCIALIZATION OF NATURE…﹩🌿﹩🍄﹩🌞
ESG was getting a bad name says Larry Fink, so how about this…
Called the Natural Asset Company (NAC), this vehicle allows for the formation of specialized corporations “that hold the rights to the ecosystem services provided on a given chunk of land, services like carbon sequestration or clean water”. These NACs will then maintain, manage and grow the natural assets they commodify, with the end goal of maximizing the aspects of that natural asset that are deemed by the company to be profitable. The vehicle is allegedly designed to preserve and restore Nature’s assets, but when Wall Street gets involved, profit and exploitation are not far behind. Whitney Webb writes, “Even the creators of NACs admit that the ultimate goal is to extract near-infinite profits from the natural processes they seek to quantify and then monetize…”
This has enthralled the likes of BlackRock CEO Larry Fink – even though there remain BIG, unanswered questions about it. Will NACs drastically advance MASSIVE LAND AND SEA GRAB efforts made by Wall Street and the oligarch class – like billionaire Bill Gates. I think we are seeing this. Yes? These land and sea grabs facilitated through the NACs (clever aren’t they?) target us and indigenous communities in the developing world. Doesn’t seem very fair and equitable to me. Checkmate.
Please Think about this when you vote.
We all want a clean environment, and we want to preserve species diversity. That includes human diversity -acknowledging the rights of rural landowners – farmers!! and indigenous peoples, the land’s natural stewards. They are under attack.
Thee greatest threat to the land is NOT THE PEOPLE LIVING ON IT – but those well-heeled investors who swoop in to buy the rights to it, financializing the earth for profit.
Enter ESG…oh sorry – this has shifted to NAC – just as global warming shifted to climate change. sigh. The public launch of NACs , (Natural Asset Companies), strategically preceded the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the biggest biodiversity conference in a decade. Under the pretext of turning 30% of the globe into “protected areas”, thee largest land grab in history is underway. You won’t see this on the mainstream news. You have to put in little time. Built on a foundation of white supremacy (moment to pause and gasp), this proposal will displace hundreds of millions, furthering the ongoing genocide of Indigenous peoples.” ( please see “Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework”, currently being negotiated among 186 governments that are signatories to The Convention for Biological Diversity). Doesn’t seem fair and equitable to me. And while on the subject of fair and equitable, which we are reminded of constantly…why haven’t we given back the land we have taken from our Native American Nations in this country? Doesn’t seem fair and equitable to me.
We are facing an existential moment in our economic history, in which accumulated PRIVATE WEALTH is acquiring carte blanche control of the Essentials of Life. The ultimate goal is NOT SUSTAINABILITY OR CONSERVATION -IT IS THE FINANCIALIZATION OF NATURE i.e. turning nature into a commodity that can be used to keep the current, corrupt wall street economy booming under the guise of protecting the environment and preventing further degradation. what pigs.
We are watching freedom being reframed not as a right but a “service”. Our natural processes on which life depends are similarly being reframed as assets, which will have owners. The “owners” will have the right, in this system, to dictate who gets access to clean water, to clean air, to nature itself – and at what cost?
The climate change panic that is now rising to take the place of Covid-19 panic (yes), will surely and savvily market NACs and similar tactics as necessary to “save the planet”. clever aren’t they?
NACs are NOT a move to save our planet, but a move to enable the same interests responsible for the current environmental crisis to USHER IN A NEW ERA where their predatory exploitation reaches new heights that were previously unimaginable. sigh The current administration is not working. Might we try something else?