Lawmakers from both parties voted Thursday to approve an amendment calling for an independent investigation into the environmental review processes for offshore wind development along the Atlantic Coast amid a concerning uptick in whale and dolphin deaths.
The vote, although it will not slow permitting for the construction of turbines, could signal trouble for the Biden administration’s planned vast buildout of offshore wind farms because of worries it could kill many more whales and dolphins.
The amendment, introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and approved in a 244-189 vote, would require the Government Accountability Office to investigate the environmental review processes for offshore wind projects carried out by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and any other relevant federal agency with a say in the matter.
It would also require the GAO to investigate the impacts or adverse effects that offshore wind development might have on whales or other marine life on the East Coast.
At least 30 whales have washed up dead on the shores of the Atlantic Coast since December, including humpback whales and the endangered North Atlantic right whales. Earlier this week, eight dolphins washed up and died in a “mass stranding event” in Sea Isle City, New Jersey.
The deaths have prompted calls from state and local Republicans and environmental groups in New Jersey to halt all offshore wind activity immediately until they can investigate the cause of the deaths.
But concerns appear to be moving beyond party lines: On Thursday, 29 House Democrats voted to approve Smith’s amendment, which was tacked on to a Republican-led energy package. (The broader GOP bill, H.R. 1, received just four Democratic votes.)
And on Tuesday, a group of five Senate Democrats, including Sens. Cory Booker and Bob Menendez of New Jersey, called on the NOAA to release more information about the “concerning” recent uptick in humpback and North Atlantic right whale deaths.
“If the death trajectory continues, particularly amongst juvenile individuals, species will begin to disappear,” they said in a letter.
The lawmakers asked the NOAA to provide more information and transparency into the whale deaths, including necropsies and investigations into their cause.
Concerned parties have cited worries that whales and dolphins could be harmed in the process of building the wind turbines, possibly from noise and sonar emissions during the siting preconstruction phase for the turbines.
There is also a heightened possibility of vessel strikes during the siting and construction process.
Though Smith’s amendment stops short of ordering a moratorium on offshore wind, it does seek more transparency into the process of how offshore wind development and construction might be affecting local marine life.
Speaking on the House floor Thursday, Smith called the recent spate of whale and dolphin deaths in the area a “canary in a coal mine” moment and said the review process was insufficient.
“The offshore wind industrialization approval process has left unaddressed and unanswered numerous serious questions concerning the potentially harmful environmental impact on marine life and the ecosystems that currently allow all sea creatures great and small to thrive,” Smith said.
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“With so much at stake, and out of an abundance of caution and concern, a serious, aggressive, and independent analysis on the ocean-altering impact of these projects is absolutely critical,” he said.
