Another dead whale

[dales529]

Broad Bill
I am aligned with your concerns on whale deaths etc. Your posts are informative and well stated. I don't pretend to have answers and agree that what we don't know we may never know in full disclosure. Lets face it these OSWF / Inshore WF are going to proceed and with big oil heavily invested in NJ WF getting the proper narrative wont be easy. Honestly not sure where I stand on the subject yet as YES the Whale / Dolphin deaths are a huge concern not to mention speed law proposals and access to the areas. Wish it was just about the ocean and species protection but in todays age everything is political BS.

As far as fishing at wind farms John Skinner posts many at the block island WF. This is one. Also MD reports a huge increase in BSB biomass among other species at their WF. I had the article but have to find it again
https://youtu.be/i18Ak_U9gTI


As far as lack of studies done for WF see below: Granted not a lot about whales.
https://academic.oup.com/icesjms/art...4/1274/6555702

https://tos.org/oceanography/article...ng-a-synthesis

Some things being questioned:
https://6abc.com/offshore-wind-proje...aths/12965269/

So just like you many are searching for answers!

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by dales529

Broad Bill
I am aligned with your concerns on whale deaths etc. Your posts are informative and well stated. I don't pretend to have answers and agree that what we don't know we may never know in full disclosure. Lets face it these OSWF / Inshore WF are going to proceed and with big oil heavily invested in NJ WF getting the proper narrative wont be easy. Honestly not sure where I stand on the subject yet as YES the Whale / Dolphin deaths are a huge concern not to mention speed law proposals and access to the areas. Wish it was just about the ocean and species protection but in todays age everything is political BS.

As far as fishing at wind farms John Skinner posts many at the block island WF. This is one. Also MD reports a huge increase in BSB biomass among other species at their WF. I had the article but have to find it again
https://youtu.be/i18Ak_U9gTI


As far as lack of studies done for WF see below: Granted not a lot about whales.
https://academic.oup.com/icesjms/art...4/1274/6555702

https://tos.org/oceanography/article...ng-a-synthesis

Some things being questioned:
https://6abc.com/offshore-wind-proje...aths/12965269/

So just like you many are searching for answers!

I agree with your post. These projects aren't stopping and will in fact accelerate. Too much money invested and politics involved. The sample size of ocean based wind farms is so small today compared to where we're headed no one can really say what the full impacts will be until they happen. That's a scary thought. Hopefully those impacts don't bite everyone in the *#!. One of the biggest concerns is as the country grows more dependent on these renewable sources, the areas aren't eventually restricted by DHS, government or the investors. Chances of that happening are very real when you consider the boat traffic in the area and strategic importance of energy generation. And both short term and long term consequential impacts of testing, construction and operating these platforms won't be known for years. This is a bet the ranch proposition, like many I hope we don't lose the ranch as the economic and environmental impacts could be substantial.

As far as Skinners Block Island video, he's fishing near RI's inshore WF's producing 49 KW's. NY and NJ in the next 15 years are planning to construct enough ocean based farms to produce 20,000 KW's. That's a 40,000% increase over the capacity Block Island currently has, does anyone truly know the impact that many farms will have on marine life and the environment. Answer is no as the increase in production is unprecedented and untested. Using Block Island or Maryland as a basis of comparison of what to expect compared to the increased levels of wind farms and production we're looking at over the next two decades is not by any stretch of the imagination a fair or representative comparison.

Vessel speed restrictions, that's a whole different discussion. Forever they were never needed and the ocean's resources flourished? Why the need now? Smoke screen and proposed solutions addressing the wrong problems. Again no whale deaths this summer I'm aware of when bunker, commercial and recreational boat traffic and the whale population in this area were all at their seasonal peaks.

I respect your perspective, but we're dealing with something completely new and unprecedented on a scale never before seen. When the natural order of nature is disrupted, there's always going to be consequences and I believe what we've seen over the last two months in whales and porpoise deaths is just the beginning of a much larger problem and series of consequences. I hope I'm wrong but would not at all be surprised if I'm not.

[NoLimit]

“Lets face it these OSWF / Inshore WF are going to proceed “

Says who? Solar and wind require huge taxpayer subsidies and we are already drowning in debt. Texas and Germany jumped into it with both feet and it’s been a huge boondoggle. Germany is turning back to coal and gas. France is building nukes and in the US, huge amounts of gas will make for the lowest cost electric and heat. Nothing beats the economics of modern clean burning Cogen plants.

[Gumada]

8 dolphins beached themselves at Sea Isle City today. All 8 have died. Witness said they were frantic swimming back and forth, then went over the bar directly into the beach ! Survey was taking place just offshore for the OSW project. When is enough, enough ?

[NoLimit]

A commercial guy I know says the windmillers have 5 tugs on standby to tow dead whales offshore so they don’t beach and make the news. What happens when this deliberate placement of debris causes an accident?

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by NoLimit

A commercial guy I know says the windmillers have 5 tugs on standby to tow dead whales offshore so they don’t beach and make the news. What happens when this deliberate placement of debris causes an accident?

If that could be confirmed, it would prove two things. First whale deaths have nothing to do with vessel strikes otherwise why would anyone have tugs discard the evidence and two NOAA, NMFS, BOEM and the Departments of Commerce and Energy are outright lying to the general public about the consequences and risks associated with wind farm development. Interesting you made this post as I heard the same thing with the exception that they're not actually just towing them out to sea, they're cutting them open to release the gas and sinking them. We live in a world with corrupt politicians and a $100 billion industry is going to win out. The consequences of all this, based on the scale we're talking about and no prior history to reference, is going to be substantial. And when all is said and done, instead of paying $100 a month to JCPL or PSEG, we'll be paying $500 a month for electric generated from wind farms.

[Wilson]

Man.... the line for necropsies must be very long and corrupt!

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by Wilson

Man.... the line for necropsies must be very long and corrupt!

The pain and suffering these beautiful mammals must be going through is tragic no matter how you view it. I'm not a tree hugger by any stretch the imagination but I believe science exists to provide data to make more accurate and correct decisions including wind farm development and seismic testing. We're essentially killing off a part of the ocean and politicians and Corporate America agreed are not just allowing it to happen, they appear to be causing it to happen.

People in this country deserve transparency regarding decisions being made by our government representative and we certainly deserve the truth. As discussed earlier, science isn't the problem. Government and their insistence and propensity of presenting / suppressing data in a manner that supports their narrative seems to be the world we live in today. The art of deception and a liberal media to carry their message has this world on the brink. Foreign relations or lack thereof with China, Russia and North Korea, a perceived and real weakness in foreign relations, complete loss of control over our southern border with Mexico, fentanyl flooding into our country from Mexico and China at record levels, terrorists and drug dealers flooding in at record levels, maxing out the the national debt ceiling and now the coming of the second financial crisis in 15 years with the recent failures of Silicon and Signature Bank as well as Credit Suisse will send shock waves through this economy and world economies over the next six months. Those three Banks and the reasons causing those failures, higher inflation and sustained Federal Reserve hikes, will impact many more banks before this situation plays itself out and the true impacts are felt. We live in precarious and very troubling times and I pray it's not too late to make the changes needed to get this country back on a right path. Sorry for the politics involved in this post, I personally believe the problems we're seeing with whale and porpoise deaths is the same systemic problem we're seeing with many other problems this country is currently faced with.

[Capt Sal]

Originally Posted by Broad Bill

The pain and suffering these beautiful mammals must be going through is tragic no matter how you view it. I'm not a tree hugger by any stretch the imagination but I believe science exists to provide data to make more accurate and correct decisions including wind farm development and seismic testing. We're essentially killing off a part of the ocean and politicians and Corporate America agreed are not just allowing it to happen, they appear to be causing it to happen.

People in this country deserve transparency regarding decisions being made by our government representative and we certainly deserve the truth. As discussed earlier, science isn't the problem. Government and their insistence and propensity of presenting / suppressing data in a manner that supports their narrative seems to be the world we live in today. The art of deception and a liberal media to carry their message has this world on the brink. Foreign relations or lack thereof with China, Russia and North Korea, a perceived and real weakness in foreign relations, complete loss of control over our southern border with Mexico, fentanyl flooding into our country from Mexico and China at record levels, terrorists and drug dealers flooding in at record levels, maxing out the the national debt ceiling and now the coming of the second financial crisis in 15 years with the recent failures of Silicon and Signature Bank as well as Credit Suisse will send shock waves through this economy and world economies over the next six months. Those three Banks and the reasons causing those failures, higher inflation and sustained Federal Reserve hikes, will impact many more banks before this situation plays itself out and the true impacts are felt. We live in precarious and very troubling times and I pray it's not too late to make the changes needed to get this country back on a right path. Sorry for the politics involved in this post, I personally believe the problems we're seeing with whale and porpoise deaths is the same systemic problem we're seeing with many other problems this country is currently faced with.

Other than that everything else is just great!

[dales529]

Great Thread but once again simply turned from some intelligent research links from both sides to politics depending on what tabloid or entertainment news you pick. If Media is really the enemy in a free society than its the people that got stupid!

Sorry cant get my head around with the high exposure that there are "tugs" waiting in the wings to tow or cut / gas whales on site at the WF locations or anywhere else. IF true than all pro wind , anti wind, media, politicians and save the whales groups need to rethink their directive and job description.

We live in a world of drones, planes, social media whistle blowers so very hard to believe this could happen without massive proof.

Bottom Line most reasonable people and there are many in this thread are just looking for the truth and some definitive answers to the impacts now and going forward which is very much a work in progress.

Having said that I agree with the lack of transparency to the general public on the mammal deaths. One article says 6 of the 8 dolphins were rescued and 2 died yet another says all 8 died? Granted does NOT explain why a pod of 8 were stranded in the first place!

As far as Texas ( largest WF in the USA), I was going to say in the Union but went with UNITED STATES as many have lost sight of that and seem willing to repeat the past.

Germany going to coal and France etc. Not many facts on these statements