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Fri, Mar 11

Clean Ocean Action decries massive scale of offshore wind-turbine plan

"BRIELLE — Clean Ocean Action [COA] is opposing the federal government’s leasing of nearly 1 million acres of federal waters off New Jersey for private wind farms that could see nearly 600 turbines installed in the first round, and many hundreds more in a second round.
COA is the environmental nonprofit that conducts biannual beach sweeps along the Jersey Shore. COA’s executive director, Cindy Zipf, gave a presentation on March 3 at the Brielle Public Library, hosted by another nonprofit, Art for Sea.
Because wind energy is renewable, Ms. Zipf said, COA would not oppose a small, pilot project of about 50 turbines developed in a responsible way and then evaluated for its effect on the marine ecosystem, before a larger project is attempted.
But the massive-scale development already approved off the Jersey Shore is “reckless privatization” that is “too much, too fast,” Ms. Zipf said.

According to COA, offshore turbines may affect marine life in a variety of ways, including added heat, noise, electromagnetic fields, habitat changes, alterations to food webs, invasive species, turbidity from sediment stirred up and pollution from additional vessel traffic."