US Ignored Own Scientists' Warning in Backing Atlantic Wind Farm

quote US government scientists warned federal regulators the South Fork offshore wind farm near the Rhode Island coast threatened the Southern New England Cod, a species so ingrained in regional lore that a wooden carving of it hangs in the Massachusetts state house. The Interior Department approved the project anyway. The warnings were delivered in unpublished correspondence weeks before Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management authorized the 12-turbine South Fork plan in November 2021. And they serve to underscore the potential ecological consequences and environmental tradeoff of a coming offshore wind boom along the US East Coast. President Joe Biden wants the US to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by the end of the decade.

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Let's go Brandon!

The article is fairly brief. It says "3 minute read" at the top. That tracks almost exactly with the legendary Read-o-Meter estimate that i've often included in my forum posts.

I just read all the way through it.

It's not all that alarming to anyone who is not a completely over-the-top, all natural fabrics-clad, Gaia-worshipping fish and whale hugger. As I fully "out" offshore wind energy enthusiast myself, I found it more hopeful than pessimistic that offshore wind energy can build out in a big way off the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coasts of the United States without doing significant harm to the diverse denizens of the deep—the disenfranchised and distressingly disadvantaged demographic that declares Davy Jones' Locker their home, as it were—like codfish and whales.

quote The Interior Department took some steps to blunt impacts on Atlantic cod . . .

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-31-2022).]

Did someone say "wind"..?



This newly posted YouTube video (2 min 22 sec) is an elegantly simple presentation of the concept.

How could it harm fish or whales, where there are none to be seen in this video?

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 01-15-2023).]

Environmentalists and pro-whale advocacy groups are using various strategies, including lawsuits, to press for more stringent regulations pertaining to the offshore oil and gas industry. A rallying point for these individuals and groups is Rice's whale:

quote Rice's whales usually hang out near the northeastern Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida, but a single [Rice's] whale has been observed off the coast of Texas, suggesting they move throughout the gulf.

Contrary to popular belief, the common nomenclature of "Rice's whale" is not in honor of the generally preeminent and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. It's a tribute to the late Dale Rice, a marine biologist who appears to have been involved in, or at least tangentially related to the decision (in 2021) to identify Rice's whale as a new species, whereas previously the animals were considered to be a Gulf of Mexico subpopulation of Bryde's whales.

This is something for people to keep their eyes on; especially, stakeholders and prospective stakeholders in what could be the development of a sizable offshore wind energy industry for the Gulf of Mexico.

"Tougher oil, gas restrictions sought to protect rare whale in Gulf of Mexico"
Alejandra Martinez for the Texas Tribune and reproduced for UPI; January 17, 2023.
https://www.upi.com/Science...lling/5611673966218/

"Pivot potential: A deep dive into offshore wind in the Gulf of Mexico"

quote After years of blunted growth and false starts, the US is finally scaling up offshore wind, with the Gulf of Mexico as the potential new setting.

Daniel Hagan, R.J. Colwell and Aaron Bryant for White & Case; November 9, 2022.
https://www.whitecase.com/i...ore-wind-gulf-mexico

That's "pivot potential". Some might say that under the Trump administration, there was more "divot potential", considering the 45th President's proclivity for golfing.



"Words to Live By"

quote For most of the millennium [sic], Europe has outpaced the [United States] in [developing] offshore wind projects. But the tables are turning: [Under the Biden administration, the United States] has pledged to procure a collective 40 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity in the Atlantic Ocean [and don't forget the Pacific Ocean] by 2040.

A "uniquely American" species of whale, according to the Guardian.

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 01-18-2023).]

Eating good in the neighborhood in the world of press staging.

[This message has been edited by Wichita (edited 01-18-2023).]

quote Originally posted by WonderBoy:

Beached whales are a *big* problem.

[This message has been edited by randye (edited 01-18-2023).]