“Research consistently demonstrates that people who maintain a strong connection with coastal environments experience greater happiness, life satisfaction, and overall psychological health [3][4].”

In 2017, a total of seventeen North Atlantic right whales died. Unbeknownst to many, in 2017 Deepwater Wind (now Ørsted) also secured permission to disturb marine mammals—including 105 critically endangered North Atlantic right whales (NARW)—within Lease Area 0486.

“If critics want to expose a lack of transparency and misleading information, they should look to the offshore wind industry. Companies with nothing to hide would welcome the chance to explain the risks and would release the recordings afterward.”

While most citizens support urgent action on climate change, the current plan to industrialize large parts of the Atlantic Ocean with offshore wind turbines fails to align with President Biden's executive order, which emphasizes biodiversity protection and environmental justice. The approval of offshore wind projects by federal agencies, including allowing harm to endangered species like the North Atlantic right whale, undermines vital environmental protections and risks long-term ecological damage, defying the executive order's goal of addressing climate change without sacrificing biodiversity.

While we recognize the urgent need to address climate change, we must critically assess offshore wind farms' environmental and economic impacts, particularly in areas vital to oxygen production like the outer continental shelf. The involvement of major oil and gas companies in these projects, backed by substantial government subsidies, raises concerns about taxpayer costs, environmental degradation, and the long-term financial risks of decommissioning, with the potential for these projects to leave lasting damage to coastal waters ultimately.

The recent surge in whale deaths along the Atlantic coast, coinciding with offshore wind surveys, raises concerns about a potential link. Yet, NOAA and wind companies are reluctant to investigate or acknowledge the possible impact of these activities. Despite the legal protections for marine mammals, offshore wind companies continue to request permits for actions that could harm thousands of marine species, while key agencies fail to release critical data, leaving the public in the dark about the full scope of the issue.

“Desperate times often require desperate measures, but large-scale, unproven, and invasive measures, often cause unforeseen harm. The ocean’s finite and irreplaceable resources can disappear. Wind can dissipate. Once destroyed, uniquely productive habitats and breeding grounds that sustain life on earth may not return.”