Global Courant
The Biden administration is green-lighting a massive offshore wind farm off the coast of southern New Jersey despite calls for a pause on such development amid a spate of marine mammal deaths along the Atlantic coast.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced Wednesday that it has approved the construction and operation plan for Ocean Wind 1, a 1,100-megawatt project that will be located 15 miles off the coast of New Jersey, power 380,000 homes and commercial operations will begin in 2025. The project will consist of 98 wind turbines spread over a leased area of 68,450 hectares.
“Since day one, the Biden-Harris administration has been working to jump-start the offshore wind industry across the country – and today’s approval for the Ocean Wind 1 project is another milestone in our efforts to create high-paying unionized jobs while fighting climate change and powering our nation,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.
“Ocean Wind 1 represents another major step forward for the offshore wind industry in the United States,” added BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. “The approval of the project demonstrates the federal government’s commitment to developing clean energy and combating climate change.”
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President Joe Biden points to a comparison chart for wind turbine sizes at a meeting on the Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership on June 23, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
White House national climate adviser Ali Zaidi said the project, first proposed in 2019, is “Bidenomics in action” and not an accident.
As part of its climate agenda, the Biden administration has moved aggressively forward with the rapid development of offshore wind across millions of acres of federal waters, primarily along the East Coast. Shortly after taking office, President Biden outlined goals to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030, the most ambitious goal of its kind worldwide.
In May 2021, BOEM approved the 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind project 12 miles off the coast of Massachusetts, marking the first-ever approval for large-scale offshore wind. Then, in November 2021, the agency approved the 130-megawatt Southfork Wind project off the coast of New York’s Long Island, its second commercial-scale offshore project.
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The Ocean Wind 1 project is the third and largest ever approved offshore wind development.
“Ocean Wind 1 is about to make history as construction on New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm begins in a few months, delivering on the promise of high-paying jobs, local investment and clean energy,” said David Hardy, the American CEO of Orsted, the Danish energy company that is developing the project.
Haaland participates in a groundbreaking ceremony for New York’s South Fork Project along with Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul. (Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
In addition, Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Representatives Donald Norcross and Bill Pascrell along with various environmental groups and labor unions welcomed the move on Wednesday.
However, legislators, local officials, fishing industry associations and wildlife groups along the Atlantic coast have called for a moratorium on offshore wind development amid an increase in marine mammal deaths. At least 39 whales and 37 dolphins have stranded since December on East Coast beaches near where energy developers have been conducting offshore wind surveys, according to local officials.
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And the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a nonpartisan federal agency charged with overseeing government operations, announced last month that it would examine the potential impact of offshore wind development on wildlife, military operations and commercial fishing.
The Government Accountability Office opened an investigation into the impact of offshore wind after Deputies Chris Smith, RN.J., (pictured), Jeff Van Drew, RN.J., and other lawmakers called for an investigation. Smith also wrote a bill similarly imposing a probe that passed as an amendment to the Reduced Energy Cost Act, which the House passed on March 30. (Larry French/Getty Images)
“Despite the GAO beginning to investigate potential adverse effects of offshore wind development on our national defense, fishing industry and the environment, BOEM has elected to go full steam ahead and ignore these warning signs,” Rep. Jeff Van Drew, RN.J., told Fox News Digital in a statement. “We are still seeing an unprecedented number of marine mammals washed up, but offshore wind in New Jersey has cleared one of the last hurdles before full construction can begin.”
“It is disappointing to see these federal agencies pushing these projects on Americans to meet President Biden’s aggressive Green New Deal agenda instead of doing what is right for our coastal communities, industries and the environment,” he continued . “This battle is not over and I will continue to use every means possible to stop this industrialization of our ocean. It is truly a battle between good and evil and I will not give up. God help our coastal communities and our oceans .”
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Rep. Chris Smith, RN.J., who like Van Drew represents a district along the New Jersey shoreline, similarly quashed the Biden administration’s endorsement Wednesday.
Just days after New Jersey Democrats approved massive taxpayer-funded grants to foreign wind developer Orsted, the Biden administration recklessly greenlights the unprecedented offshore wind industrialization of our coast before we fully understand all the potentially catastrophic consequences of this projects,” Smith told Fox News Digital.
“These offshore wind projects should – at the very least – be paused until the Government Accountability Office completes its ongoing independent investigation,” he continued. “New Jersey residents deserve to have their concerns and questions answered before it’s too late.”
Thomas Catenacci is a political writer for Fox News Digital.
