"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."
Fri, Mar 11