Dead whales washing ashore prompt local activists to call on President Biden to halt offshore wind energy activity

By VANESSA MURDOCK

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    LONG BRANCH, New Jersey (WCBS) — A wake-up call has forced action. Too many dead whales washing ashore have local activists calling on President Joe Biden to halt offshore wind energy activity.

CBS2 spoke with concerned locals asking for answers about how the marine mammals died.

A gentle giant of the sea was on the sand, lifeless. A humpback washed ashore in Atlantic City over the weekend, making it the sixth whale dead on our coasts in just over a month.

“For the most part, there was no clear evidence of what had been harming whales,” said Cindy Ziph, executive director of Clean Action Ocean.

Ziph calls the number unprecedented and worries offshore wind energy activity could be to blame. She says right now several companies are busy surveying beneath the surface.

“Eleven companies have already been given permission to harm and harass over 63,000 marine mammals off the coast of New York and New Jersey for the preparation of building offshore wind farms,” said Kari Martin, advocacy campaign manager for Clean Action Ocean.

Martin showed CBS2 the numbers direct from the NOAA Fisheries website and pointed out the number includes approval to harass or harm — 181 critically endangered North Atlantic Right whales. There are fewer than 350 left on the planet.

“We wanted the president’s attention on this,” Ziph said.

Thus, Clean Ocean Action, along with four other local activist groups, sent a letter to the president on Monday demanding:

An “immediate Investigation” into the whale deaths A “halt to all current lessees’ offshore wind energy development activity” A “full-stop on any new, pending, and planned offshore wind permitting” Both the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and NOAA Fisheries assessed “potential effects of high resolution geophysical (HRG) surveys” and concluded they “… are not likely to harm whales or other endangered species.”

Bob Stern, with Save Long Beach Island, also signed the letter. He says his organization researched noise levels.

“Their estimates that they were doing of noise level and impact were being seriously underestimated,” Stern said. “We have to find out what’s going on here.”

To ensure our giants of the deep can live in harmony with human industrialization.

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