New Website Launched to Answer Questions and Combat Disinformation About Offshore Wind
Press release from EPIC:
Image of offshore wind turbines being assembled in New Bedford, Massachusetts Credit: Tom Wheeler
Have a question about offshore wind? A new website can help answer your questions with links to primary sources. The website, created with contributions from the Environmental Protection Information Center, Humboldt Waterkeeper, and the Redwood Region Climate and Community Resilience Hub, answers many frequently asked questions about offshore wind and provides an opportunity for you to submit your own questions to be answered.
Researchers at Brown University’s Climate and Development Lab have tracked how the fossil fuel industry and dark money groups have funded the development of organizations hostile to offshore wind and the dissemination of disinformation about offshore wind. Because of this, members of our community may be unknowingly consuming and sharing disinformation designed to harm the offshore wind industry and benefit the fossil fuel industry.
“Offshore wind is an important topic for our community. In working to decide whether this is right for Humboldt County, it is important that we are equipped to have a fact-based conversation,” said Matt Simmons, Climate Attorney at the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC).
The purpose of the website is to provide a centralized place to learn more about the details of the proposed offshore wind projects, along with potential benefits, costs, and risks associated with the projects. The website is available at northcoastoffshorewind.org and will be updated regularly as we learn more information about the proposed projects.
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
This could be very helpful.
There is so much misinformation being spread about this project.
Aren’t they really just elaborate bird shredding, whale torturing machines designed to divert tax money to rich folks?
The lies are all from the pro wind lobby.
And the people who believe it are fools. They have no clue how tall 700′ is. They have no understanding that the frequency of a turbine will disrupt whale migration.
I cant believe epic is on board with this project. What kind of misinformation are you hearing. All i hear is good questions about it. Some questions that are hard for them to answer.
The biggest load of rubbish is about the widely debunked claim that wind turbines kill whales.
I have also heard people, without providing evidence, claim that this project will kill birds.
Still others claim that the project will be an eyesore (nope) or that the energy spent on turbines will be greater than that generated (also nope.)
I’m glad that people can now easily look up answers to their questions instead of littering comment sections with unfounded worries.
I have yet to look the website. I do know windmills emit low frequency vibrations to which whales are particularly sensitive, using to communicate and to navigate. These travel long long distances easily. And the underwater cables emit electromagnetic waves which are used by dolphins and other marine creatures to navigate. Causing confusion to sealife. They may be able to adapt, but that is unknown as far as I know.
Looking forward to what the website has for answers to those concerns and others other people raise.
Those blade tips travel pretty fast, certainly posing a danger to birds.
The website addresses the vibrations- lots of things cause vibrations.
There have been no whale deaths confirmed to be caused by wind farms.
And bird deaths (also addressed) are also very unlikely- if they happen at all.
“…during two years of monitoring using cameras and radar, not a single bird was recorded colliding with a rotor blade.” https://group.vattenfall.com/press-and-media/newsroom/2023/unique-study-birds-avoid-wind-turbine-blades
See what i mean. Some people believe the lies. How tall is 700 feet? The rigs will be anchored in a thousand feet of water. All this machinery will emit radio frequency right into the ocean. And the bird kills? Yeah lots of birds will die. They are not sparrows killed by house cats. These are large migratory sea bird. Some engendered.
I’m more concerned about the sub-sonic vibrations — anybody who’s been “scanned” by a whale, dolphin, or elephant knows they bathe you in those frequencies lower than humans can hear, but only can feel in gut and long bones. About the closest I can come to describing the feeling is like listening to Phil Lesh play his bass over that sound system capable of 120db@20Hz…but you can’t hear these scans only feel them.
I don’t think any RF is emitted, however, transmission lines are multi-phase AC which does emit strong electromagnetic waves.
The birds seem to be aware enough to avoid the blades according to the conclusions in the linked article, however without seeing the actual experimental method and results myself I cannot support those conclusions.
Navy has been taken to task over sealife, especially whales and dolphins, killed and injured due to testing of subsonic communication systems — subsonic waves can travel through water very far, hundreds even thousands of miles…
Mr. Clark, we want and are required (by treaty) to increase and enhance our migratory birds. The further offshore the props are, the less likely we will be grinding up our Pacific Flyway friends.
Have you compared the flight pattern of the Pacific Flyway to the location of the props?
Well, I’ve had a cursory look at the website. I was immediately turned off by the photo. And by the first paragraph.
I don’t see where sub-sonic vibration is discussed. Do you have a link?
I’d have to take a look at the bird collision study in more detail — I cannot accept the conclusions in the linked summary of findings without seeing the methods used, such as the location of the windmills being photographed, i.e., proximity to flight paths, the rate of birds flying near, times of day (night too?), time of year (not during migrations?), age of birds (just experienced older birds or were juveniles included), on and on…
My initial reaction to the project is to say FUCK NO!!! NOT IN MY BACKYARD!!! Solar Panels although they only work in daytime are far, far more environmentally “friendly”, i.e. less destructive to the environment, especially the environment where manufacturing and assembly take place, and the supporting road structure construction, maintenance, and traffic will occur.
I will have a more in-depth look later…
Was just reading that the state has put the brakes on solar because there is inadequate infrastructure to move the energy around. Clearly that needs included in or precluding any large alternate energy project.
precede not preclude
Meanwhile…
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The State of California proposes to build 25 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2045 requiring nearly 1,700 new wind turbines.
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1,700 turbines. Yes 1,700 !
So far, most people have no realization about what is going on.
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Meawhile 2:
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A draft plan estimates it could cost up to $4.5 billion dollars to connect a future offshore wind energy project on the Northern California coast with the rest of the state’s electric grid.
Huge 500 KV lines going to Redding and Cottonwood.
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The projects will be paid for through increased rates for consumers. Those would be phased in by utilities through their rate-setting process as the new infrastructure comes online
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Meawhile 3:
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The Port of Long Beach on Tuesday unveiled its plans for a massive 400-acre floating offshore facility (yup that is 3/4 of a square mile) to manufacture wind turbines in an effort to help California reach zero emission in the future.
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Go figure.
These all sound like good things.
I’m happy to see investments in a clean, sustainable energy system.
God knows we spent enough subsidizing the old, polluting fossil fuel industry.
Do you think anyone questioned the subsidizing of the “old, polluting fossil fuel industry” happen when it was bright shiny new and full of promises? Maybe learning from that might raise some valid questions about the long term issues instead of eagerly believing everything salemen want to sell?
And don’t casually dismiss this as ignorant blather from those who can’t see “the science.” 90% of scientists and engineers work for or are subsidized by these salesmen as has always been true, even in the fossile fuel industry. Or tobacco industry or nuclear industry or any other major supplierof promises. There is no magical purity in science to keep it free from the usual human vices of greed, fear, arrogance, tunnel vision, etc. Scientists are just as human as anyone else.
We have a chance of doing thing better. By not being blinded by the glitter.
What will it cost to NOT have clean power? Have you not noticed that climate change is real? Have you not seen the nore powerful storms and the record breaking heat? Are you still wearing your tinfoil MAGA hat? It has cooked your brain.
Jeavon’s Paradox…
I had to look it up. Interesting and I kinda agree,
my LEDs stay on a lot more.
>”… tinfoil MAGA hat?”
Ain’t no MAGA stuff with me. Hate Rump. Generally hate politicians.
Also hate to see wasted money that could be better spent.
Right now, billionaires are rubbing their hands together. Behind them the ‘rest of em’ are lined up trying to divert a chunk of the money pipeline to their own wallets.
The real long-term issue is reduce the human population to about 1 to 2 billion.
Rest of the ‘arm-waving’… nothing will happen.
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How do you propose to “eliminate” 6 billion people? Do you have children?
Why go political and snarky?
Paw almost named me Exxon. Tried tracking her down, but turned out Icarnación De Los Santos Valdez wasn’t the mother.
US military has one for cheap.
All in the earthquake prone California. What could go wrong?
They’re offshore.
It’s literally in the title of the article.
Love my wind an solar power. Between the two i am off the grid an have not encouraged any short falls. I am all for pge useing as many forms of renew able energy as possible. Any thing too reduce are carbon foot print. It would be nice if my children an grand children can go out side during the summer summer months.
Love mine too.
California used to subsidize alternative energy equipment and installation costs. I think in cities especially solar panels and grid tie-in units would go far in meeting power local needs. however iirc PG&E no longer pays owners of those installations for the power they give the grid. Also I think the grid distribution may need some costly re-engineering to manage such a system of power-giving. Then there is the energy storage problem — plenty of power generated in daytime — no place to store it for night-time use. Also raw resources are already stretched — there might not be enough raw material to manufacture all that equipment…
The environmental groups, not as adept at messaging like … the rightwing dark-money lie-machine. The enviros provide links, to a small-font page that hurts the eyes, and a link to … another link (a report).
The enviros are smart, educated people who like to present lots of data, history, facts … as they should. But also they need to understand a lot of readers today flash through their devices and not reading fine print. Then readers get home from work, grab a drink, feed their 2.5 kids, watch the news (or not, given how depressing it is).
Let’s add a few questions front-and-center to the question list:
Who’s opposed to electrification and why?
Big money associated with Big Oil and the usual suspects, including but not limited to the Charles Koch Foundation, DonersTrust, the State Policy Network, and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers Association.
How does the rightwing lie-machine dupe the public?
“A select few individuals are likely responsible for relaying an outsized amount of information in the anti-offshore wind movement. Many actors wear many hats, moving
between different roles … “. In short, a limited number of lawyers and media advisers fabricate a lot of information, help create cover organizations, use the internet as injection system, and show up in communities to help spread, spread, spread (“Save the Whales” … snicker-snicker).
How current is our information?
One link to a link link indicates our info is a year to three old. Even if highly relevant it’s nearly stone-age when it comes to how fast and far the big-money lie-machine can move come. Like just recently, via one of their other venues like the courts: killing off the “Chevron deference” (make an effort, look it up) in front of their now-stacked Supreme Court.
“The elimination of Chevron deference significantly impacts the ability of federal agencies to enforce regulations—particularly those related to environmental protection and climate change”
— Union of Concerned Scientists
And for a primer on what’s still to come, read a qualified summary of Project 2025.
Until a company that manufactures and installs (off shore or land) wind turbines is bonded to pay for their total removal at the end of their lifespans, the locals will be stuck with piles of debris and toxic sites. Because what these companies plan to do is just how most EPA toxic clean up sites came to be. They make their money buy selling the what they make (gathering government subsidies along the way to provide new roads or an industrial site just for the privilege of having them ) to another company to run as a utility. When the infrastructure ages out and it becomes a money loser instead of a money maker, the utility sells the still functioning parts off piecemeal, declares bankruptcy (by which time they have no assets worth much for anyone to claim) then disappear into another corporation., leaving local entities to clean up.
We have a decommissioned nuclear plant, a decayed pulpmill, numerous mines and lumber mills with toxic remediation needed as examples. Yet these capitalists wave their carrots under our noses and we trot right along quite unquestioning.
It’s not that windmills are a bad thing but that they way these companies are created is. If anyone of them wanted to buy the leases, manufacture the mills, run them as a long term business, then believe what they say. If they are a company wanted to profit then sell off before the problems arise, be sceptical. Demand setting aside some of the profits for the inevitably needed clean ups. If it isn’t a big deal, they won’t object.
I suggest decentralization of big wind farms by placing wind turbines off shore near existing power plants and using the existing distribution lines or adding new lines using existing easement. The decommissioned San Onofre plant could be a great opportunity. While some areas might not have the same wind potential as Humboldt offshore, the reduced construction costs may offset the lower energy production.
I thought that the further off-shore, the less bird kill along the
Pacific Flyway. We owe the Pacific Flyway huge; grass removal projects have been destroying the wetland set-asides for decades now. Hasn’t registered to the Audobons
yet, but I have faith that even the birders will awaken to the avian disaster
coastal plant removal has caused.
Good idea!
Offshore wind not financially feasible without exorbitant electricity rate increases. Government is always misguided when they attempt to intervene in natural processes and usually at great cost to the people. Dem crony green “capitalists” only profiting
I take issue with use of the word “combat”. Perhaps “expose” might be a better term?
Providing a point source for disseminating information is worrisome in that it can be abused — folks in favor of offshore wind could just as easily label any information disseminated by folks with real concerns about offshore projects unrelated to the fossil fuel industry and dark money groups.
So why are we letting it happen if we don’t get benefits from it?
Somebody put all that work into a website to answer questions such as this
and you didn’t even bother to use it.
No thanks EPIC lawyers. Stop playing games. The scheme, scam, notion, bs is over. No offshore Windmills off our Coast. MAN caused climate change is a fraud perpetuated by the Democrats to grab and hold the Ring. Because a complete and total debunking of their notion(theory) by thousands of actual climate SCIENTISTS, not POLITICAL SCIENTISTS, is readily available for all to see if a person actually looks, they have no rights to tell others how to live to justify their existence, let alone shredding birds, killing cetaceans, or turning Humboldt Bay into an industrial Port of Oakland . “BAN OFFSHORE WINDMILLS, JOE and HUNTER BIDEN OUT OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY NOW!
I captured this photo online. It was captioned, Landfill of decommissioned wind turbine blades. The small speck at the top is a D-9 Dozer. It doesn’t seem to be environmentally safe or Green…
Yup. Nobody mentions the ‘environmental cost’ of doing this sort of massive project.
You didn’t look at the website either, did you?
It’s in there.
We all read the BS in the article.
Meanwhile 4:
Electric Vehicle Batteries Surprising New Source of ‘Forever Chemical’ Pollution—
PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because they build up quickly in the environment, people, and animals and don’t break down for thousands of years. They’ve been linked to a host of health conditions, including liver damage, high cholesterol, low birth weights, and chronic kidney disease.
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Go figure.
Scientific Laymen are referred to the video links posted in yesterday’s Jail Reports for entertaining explanations of the science behind all this:
https://kymkemp.com/2024/07/07/humboldt-county-jail-reports-daily-booking-sheet-july-7-2024/#comment-1744702
and
https://kymkemp.com/2024/07/07/humboldt-county-jail-reports-daily-booking-sheet-july-7-2024/#comment-1744704
New markets for big capital ….
Broken Vineyard Wind turbine blade could fall into ocean off Massachusetts “soon,” company says
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/vineyard-wind-turbine-blade-nantucket-debris/
An ‘unusual and rare’ wind turbine failure is littering Nantucket beaches with debris, angering locals
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/18/climate/nantucket-wind-turbine-debris/index.html
Nantucket Select Board to pursue litigation against Vineyard Wind in wake of blade failure
https://www.bostonherald.com/2024/07/19/nantucket-select-board-to-pursue-litigation-against-vineyard-wind-in-wake-of-blade-failure/
Nantucket beaches shut down to swimming after debris from Vineyard Wind turbine washes ashore Vineyard Wind’s operations are ‘shut down until further notice’
https://www.bostonherald.com/2024/07/16/vineyard-wind-turbine-breaks-debris-found-on-nantucket-beaches-blade-damage-incident/
July 19 Update – Vineyard Wind Turbine Blade Crisis
https://nantucket-ma.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1184
Impossible in the People’s Socialist Green Utopia!