As wind becomes a partisan issue, support for offshore farms plunges in NJ: Poll

Support for offshore wind energy plummeted across New Jersey since February, goaded by political divisions and claims that seafloor mapping for future wind turbines could lead to whale deaths along New Jersey, according to a new Monmouth University poll.

While a majority (54%) of New Jersey residents continue to favor offshore wind, that support has dropped from a high of 84% in 2011, the poll found.

In addition, opposition to offshore wind is growing: 40% of New Jersey residents oppose offshore wind as of August, up from 10% in 2011, according to the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

Favorable opinions of offshore wind declined even more in New Jersey's coastal counties — Atlantic, Cape May, Monmouth and Ocean counties — compared to the rest of the state. In these areas, support dipped from 75% in 2019 to 43% in August, according to the poll.

Some of that change is due to the fact that more Republicans live in Shore counties than in inland portions of New Jersey, according to pollsters.

"There was a time when wind energy was not really a political issue," Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement. "It consistently received widespread bipartisan support for more than a decade. That is no longer the case."

Among New Jersey Republicans, support for offshore wind fell to 28%, down from 69% four years ago, according to the poll. Over that same time, support among independents dropped from 77% to 52%. A majority of Democrats remain in favor of offshore wind, yet their support dipped slightly, from 79% to 76%, according to Monmouth University.

Republicans and Democrats were also split on whether offshore wind was connected to recent whales deaths along New Jersey's coast. Nearly half of New Jersey residents believe offshore wind either definitely (20%) or probably (25%) contributed to the whale strandings, according to the poll. In comparison, only 10% said offshore wind was definitely not a factor in the deaths.

However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's division of Fisheries, which has been monitoring unusual death rates among particular whale species for years, said the deaths predate any activity related to offshore wind. The agency said there is no evidence that marine animal deaths are related to the ocean floor mapping for offshore wind development currently happening off the coast.

"There is no scientific evidence that noise resulting from offshore wind site characterization surveys could potentially cause mortality of whales," NOAA personnel wrote on the agency's website. "There are no known links between recent large whale mortalities and ongoing offshore wind surveys."

More: Dead whale washes ashore in Long Branch

Of the 12 whale carcasses that washed ashore in New Jersey since December 1, 2022, half appeared to be seriously or fatally injured by ship strikes. The other half were either too severely decomposed to fully examine or their cause of death remains pending.

Yet Republican legislators have questioned NOAA's statements and called for a stop to the development of offshore wind projects.

"Whales washing up on Jersey beaches are potentially falling victim to the offshore wind projects, yet (President) Joe Biden and Governor (Phil) Murphy continue to double down on the extreme Democrat energy plan," Stephanie Rivera, spokesperson for the Republican State Leadership Committee, said in a statement earlier in August.

"The ever-growing dead bodies of whales and dolphins… had their lives cut short due to the irresponsible actions of the members of the (New Jersey) Legislature who sold out our coastlines, oceans, beaches, and more for the promise of foreign 'green' energy dollars associated with wind turbine projects," Neptune City Council President Brian J. Thomas wrote in an op-ed to the Asbury Park Press earlier this year.

Monmouth University pollsters found opinions on whale deaths correlated with support or opposition to offshore wind. Among people who said they believed the two issues were connected, only 29% supported offshore wind, according to the poll. Of those who did not see a connection, 76% supported offshore wind.

Tourism was another serious concern for many New Jersey residents. Four in 10 respondents worried that wind turbines would hurt the state's tourism industry, according to the Monmouth University poll. In this, Republicans (56%) and Democrats (24%) were also divided in their beliefs on whether tourism would suffer.

"Clearly the state and wind industry have to do a much better job in reaching out to communities to demonstrate the economic and environmental benefits of these projects, as well as to counter misinformation about threats to tourism and threats to whales," Tony MacDonald, director of the Urban Coast Institute at Monmouth University, said in a statement about the pole results.

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Amanda Oglesby is an Ocean County native who covers education and the environment. She has worked for the Press for more than 15 years. Reach her at @OglesbyAPP, aoglesby@gannettnj.com or 732-557-5701.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ support for wind erodes; offshore farms now partisan issue: Poll