the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Trenton NJ, Senator Declan O’Scanlon and Senator Ed Durr have introduced a resolution urging the state and federal governments to place an immediate moratorium on all sonar testing and wind turbine mapping in response to the surge of unexplained marine wildlife deaths along the coast of New Jersey.
“After months of whales and dolphins washing up on our beaches, enough is enough. We cannot ignore the surge in marine life deaths that has occurred while offshore wind project preparation activities have been conducted along the coast,” said O’Scanlon (R-13). “While the Governor has stated that ‘there’s no evidence these activities are causing these whale and dolphin deaths’, he omits that he, and we, simply have no idea what’s causing these tragic deaths. We very well might find evidence that offshore wind activities are contributing to this tragedy. Until we know, we should err on the side of caution. Our resolution calls on Governor Murphy and the federal government to place a moratorium on these projects until scientific studies can be conducted to determine the impact offshore wind activities are having on marine wildlife. These mammals are federally protected and as legislators it is our duty to step up and protect our waters.”
Since December 2022, there have been nearly 40 whales, dolphins, and porpoises that have died along the New Jersey coast, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.
“It is unfortunate that our Democrat colleagues refuse to take these deaths seriously and continue to push forward with Governor Murphy’s agenda without any concern for the environment,” O’Scanlon added. “There is no excuse for refusing to work with Republicans and the growing chorus of activists who are demanding answers to this very serious problem.”
Previous efforts by Senate Republicans to place a moratorium on offshore wind projects were blocked by Senate Democrats.
“Trenton Democrats and the Murphy administration have ridiculed Republicans and concerned residents who want a moratorium to investigate the deaths of whales and dolphins as conspiracy theorists,” said Durr (R-3). “It’s telling that they are completely unwilling to investigate if the dozens of deaths and the wind farm surveys are more than just a coincidence. They would rather not know what’s killing the whales than risk putting their precious wind farms and Governor Murphy’s extreme green energy agenda at risk.”
O’Scanlon and Durr’s resolution, SR-120, urges the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management within the U.S. Department of Interior to halt offshore wind development studies.
Residents, businesses, environmental groups, and some lawmakers have gathered in protest recently to express their concern about the offshore wind development studies while calling on the Murphy administration to pause all work related to the project.
Senator Ed Durr joined a growing chorus of state and federal lawmakers in calling for a pause in wind farm development activities as more dead whales continue to wash ashore.
“Some people are adamantly denying that the sudden surge in dead whales is linked to wind farm survey work, but the truth is they don’t really know,” said Durr (R-3). “We don’t know if sonar or drilling used to conduct surveys of the ocean floor is disrupting the ability of whales to navigate safely, possibly leading to more deadly groundings and vessel strikes. Unless we want to risk more dead whales on our beaches, we should pause the survey work to investigate.”
“The tragic loss of marine wildlife that has occurred along our coast is unsettling,” Durr added. “A temporary moratorium on offshore wind surveying is a small price to pay to be good stewards of the ocean environment.”
The sonar being used CAN interfere with echolocation in marine mammals causing them to become disoriented. The last few winters have been warmer. There have been more, and larger, schools of smaller fish for whales to feed on closer to shore. The Marine Mammal Stranding Center data indicate that there has not been a significant increase in marine mammal wash-ups.
Autopsies and necropsies performed by NOAA and the Marine Mammal Stranding Center indicate the cause of death in almost every instance is blunt force trauma (aka – vessel strike). Additionally, in examining the acoustic tissue of washed up marine mammals, there has been little to no evidence of degradation to such tissue as you would see in marine mammals subjected to sonar.
These are evidence-based scientific facts, not congressional drama.
Keep pushing the party line comrade.
Keep ignoring science. All of the data is readily available on NOAAs website and Marine Mammal Stranding Center website. Take a look for yourself (you think they went back 20 years and changed their data that was already published? Fool).
Science has become fungible since Global Warming and Trans-genderism have become accepted as scientific truths…
Wind energy is a bunch of hot air. Get rid of the biden administration.
Fish counts, Whale counts, autopsies and physical oceanography don’t lie. Keep drinking the cool aid.
Oprah’s on the beach