New Jersey's Save LBI Urges Large Environmental Groups to Reconsider Support of Offshore Wind & Consider Alternatives for Reducing Greenhouse Gas
In a letter to key executives at The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Sierra Club, and more than a dozen other national environmental organizations, Save LBI President and Ph.D. scientist Bob Stern challenged the stance that the benefits of offshore wind energy outweigh the environmental impacts, asserting that relying on massive fields of offshore turbines to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is inefficient, environmentally destructive, and the most expensive option on a cost-per-ton-to-remove basis.
'Our membership, like yours, would like to see progress made on the climate change problem, but at the same time we are bitterly opposed to the [Atlantic Shores] offshore wind project we know you support,' wrote Stern, a former manager of the U.S. Department of Energy office overseeing environmental protection related to energy programs and projects. 'We bring our concerns not to create more discord but… to ask you to take the time to consider these concerns, with a goal perhaps of moving beyond offshore wind and looking at better ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
'Like many in and around the Long Beach Island (LBI) community, I was stunned when I learned of the Atlantic Shores plan to develop an industrial complex of 1,000-foot-tall turbines starting less than 9 miles off the coast of Atlantic City and LBI, directly in the historic migration path of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, closer to shore than any similar project on Earth, and near the Brigantine Natural Wilderness Area and Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, both of which are afforded special federal protection under the Wilderness Act and Clean Air Act. It is, frankly, astounding that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) would 1) approve a lease area for commercial wind-energy development adjacent to the shoreline line of a thriving beach community let alone a sensitive nature preserve and 2) grant (without full and proper vetting) the approvals needed to construct the first 200 of a planned 357 super-sized wind turbines that would extend the full length of the island.'
Stern urged the environmental leaders to read Save LBI's new report, 'The Benefits and Risks of an Offshore Wind Project,' which cites independent research exposing a series of irreparable environmental, economic, and social consequences that were either ignored or obfuscated in official project documentation from offshore wind developers and government agencies. The report details many negative impacts of offshore wind, reveals how claims of reductions in GHG emissions are oversimplified and misleading, and presents data showing that offshore wind projects cannot stop or reduce sea level rise — only delay whatever is coming by a matter of days. The document also exposes the hypocrisy in Environmental Impact Statements for the Atlantic Shores (New Jersey), Vineyard Wind (Massachusetts), and Revolution Wind (Rhode Island) projects, all of which concede that the impact of these projects on climate change is 'negligible.'
Environmental repercussions outlined in the report include:
Additional negative impacts include:
An Executive Summary and the full 23-page Save LBI report, 'The Benefits and Risks of an Offshore Wind Project,' are available at savelbi.org. Click here to download: https://www.savelbi.org/benefits-risks
'We are certainly not climate-change deniers, nor are we aligned with any political Party,' Stern concluded. 'We are in favor of using common sense practices and well-grounded science to select sources of clean energy that are both reliable and responsible. There are significant opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions that are far less expensive and environmentally damaging than offshore wind. We welcome the opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue or perhaps collaborate with you to fund new studies to achieve that goal.'
About Save LBI
Save LBI is a not-for profit, non-partisan organization based on New Jersey's Long Beach Island that has been active in ongoing litigation and other efforts to protect the coastal and marine environment from the senseless industrialization of our oceans. The organization is led by Beach Haven, N.J. resident Bob Stern, a Ph.D. scientist with experience in environmental planning and environmental law. He is a former manager of the U.S. Department of Energy office responsible for overseeing environmental protection related to energy projects and the Bureau of Air Quality Planning within the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). For more information on Save LBI and its efforts, please visit SaveLBI.org.
Contact: https://www.savelbi.org/contact
For more information click here: https://www.savelbi.org
MULTIMEDIA:
PHOTO LINK for media: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/25-0722-s2p-savelbiboem-300dpi.jpg
PHOTO CAPTION: Visual simulation of what the Atlantic Shores South project would look from Holgate on Long Beach Island, NJ. Source: BOEM.
NEWS SOURCE: Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)
###
MEDIA ONLY CONTACT:
(not for publication online or in print)
Bob Stern, Ph.D., President, Save Long Beach Island, Inc.
+1-917-952-5016
[email protected]
###
Keywords: Environment and Ecology, Save LBI, Save Long Beach Island, offshore wind, offshore wind projects, environment, environmental, oceans, protect our oceans, protect the oceans, clean energy, save our ocean, LONG BEACH ISLAND, N.J.
This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)) who is solely responsibile for its accuracy, by Send2Press® Newswire. Information is believed accurate but not guaranteed. Story ID: S2P127908 APNF0325A
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