New Jersey Congressmen Call for Halt of Offshore Wind Projects Amid Spate of Whale Deaths
Republican congressmen called for a halt to offshore windfarm development and GAO oversight of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) leasing process at a March 16 hearing on the boardwalk in Wildwood, New Jersey.
Reps. Jeff Van Drew and Christopher Smith of New Jersey, Andy Harris of Maryland, and Scott Smith of Pennsylvania convened the first congressional hearing into the matter amid a surge in whale and dolphin deaths along the New Jersey shore, which they attribute to survey work for the wind farms.
Twenty-nine whales have died on the East Coast since Dec. 1. And six dead dolphins have washed ashore in New Jersey in the past month, including one on the eve of the hearing….