After whale deaths, Rep. Chris Smith joins chorus of calls for offshore wind moratorium

Amanda Oglesby, Asbury Park Press
·3 min read

Rep. Chris Smith, a Republican who represents New Jersey's 4th Congressional District, joined a group of 12 Shore mayors this week in calling for a moratorium on offshore wind energy development until an unusually high number of whale deaths could be thoroughly investigated.

The 12 mayors include six from Ocean and Monmouth counties: Joseph Mancini of Long Beach Township, Samuel Cohen of Deal, Paul M. Kanitra of Point Pleasant Beach, William W. Curtis of Bay Head, Lance White of Mantoloking, and Jennifer Naughton of Spring Lake.

"Over the course of the past several months, there have been repeated instances of dead whales washing up on New Jersey’s shoreline, and the proximity of nearby offshore wind development has raised concerns that ongoing activity on these projects may be contributing to whale fatalities," Smith wrote in letters to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.

Rep. Chris Smith is shown in 2018 during an editorial board debate with Democratic challenger Josh Welle at the Asbury Park Press offices in Neptune.
Rep. Chris Smith is shown in 2018 during an editorial board debate with Democratic challenger Josh Welle at the Asbury Park Press offices in Neptune.

Four humpback whales have died so far this year off New Jersey, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In December, another four humpbacks died along Jersey Shore beaches, according to the federal agency.

In New York, a dead humpback whale washed ashore Monday in Lido Beach, according to numerous media reports.

Two offshore wind projects — one by Denmark-based Ørsted and another by Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, a partnership between Shell New Energies and EDF Renewables — are in development off New Jersey's coast. A third solicitation for an offshore wind energy project is expected to be released this year by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

Smith said: "That these projects are being built at such a large scale and in such a short amount of time casts doubt over whether there was sufficient time to properly evaluate these projects’ impact on marine ecosystems, fisheries, shipping channels, tourism, and other important factors that may be affected."

Two offshore wind lease areas cover nearly 344,000 acres of Atlantic Ocean.
Two offshore wind lease areas cover nearly 344,000 acres of Atlantic Ocean.

But NOAA scientists, local whale experts and environmentalists have countered the call for an offshore wind moratorium. These groups say there is no evidence that noise from seabed mapping and other offshore wind development activities are harming whales.

"Although there has been speculation about whether these whale deaths are linked to wind energy development, at this point no whale mortality has been attributed to offshore wind activities," Marine Mammal Stranding Center staff who examined two dead humpback whales in January wrote in the news release. "We will continue to gather data and go where the science leads us."

Researchers perform a necropsy on a female humpback whale that washed ashore in Brigantine on Jan. 12.
Researchers perform a necropsy on a female humpback whale that washed ashore in Brigantine on Jan. 12.

Last year, NOAA released a draft strategy aimed at reducing harm to endangered North Atlantic right whales from offshore wind development, while advancing the Biden Administration's goals of expanding ocean wind development. The draft calls for species observers and acoustic monitoring to try and build the projects quietly and avoid noisy work when endangered species are nearby.

The noise generated by offshore wind development is federally regulated, limited in how loud it can be, and boats performing the work are required to have protected species observers aboard to watch out for marine mammals, Kris Ohleth, director of the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind, said in January in an interview with the Asbury Park Press. The independent organization offers guidance to offshore wind developers.

Smith said there remained a "lack of conclusive evidence" to disprove a link between offshore wind energy construction and the whale deaths.

"I request that all (offshore wind) work be suspended until such time that ecological safety can be assured,” he said in his letter.

More:12 Jersey Shore mayors call for moratorium on offshore wind following whale deaths

Amanda Oglesby is an Ocean County native who covers Brick, Barnegat and Lacey townships as well as the environment. She has worked for the Press for more than a decade. Reach her at @OglesbyAPP, aoglesby@gannettnj.com or 732-557-5701.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rep. Chris Smith calls for offshore wind moratorium after whale deaths