Whale Deaths Inevitable Cape Cod and Cash

Whale deaths will be soon considered part of doing business as they wash up on Cape Cod possibly this summer. In 2016 whale deaths increased with the start of the Rhode Island wind farm and have continued now in New Jersey and New York in 2023. NOAA has declared a Whale Unusual Mortality Event along the Atlantic Coast from 2016 to 2023.

Those that are benefiting financially from the offshore wind farms continue to deny sonar siting and construction of the wind farms are the culprit. Whales losing their hearing can not survive without hearing as they communicate using frequencies. The loss of hearing causes the ship strikes and drive Dolfins up onto the beaches.

Falmouth Town Meeting will be asked in April 2023 to allow wind contractors to explore and test sections of Falmouth beaches to place offshore wind cables. The wind company has asked the state to bypass all of Falmouth's bylaws approved by the town meeting. A positive vote gives the contractors a foot in the door.

The town has been meeting with ocean wind contractors for over three years the main focus has been the HCA, Host Community Agreement. An agreement where the town gets 20 million over 20 years or less than 1 percent of the Falmouth yearly budget. More than likely building the broadband or helping build the outfall sewer pipe will be thrown into the mix. Members need to ask if they are buying another Golden Goose.

After three years there are no studies of, HVDC, High Voltage Direct Current Cables, or placing a six-acre offshore electric substation in the middle of the Town of Falmouth drinking water.

Falmouth Town Meeting unanimously in 2008 and 2009 approved a Golden Goose to install industrial wind turbines (Wind 1) and (Wind 2) at the Wastewater Treatment Facility. The two town-owned wind turbines were removed in 2022. Town officials omitted negative documents from Town Meeting members for them to make an informed decision. Two major industrial wind turbine manufacturers told the town in writing the proposed turbine site locations were too close to residents at 110 decibels.

Falmouth residents were sold on the idea of the Golden Goose that was supposed to lay a golden egg every day. The town has no tally on the total loss of the turbines as they are still paying off loans but including litigation over twenty million.

Massachusetts state politicians and legislature have their hands tied over the ocean wind turbines as New Bedford has invested over 200 million in the ocean wind turbine port. The state semi-quasi agency for renewable energy is paying a 30-year bond at $ 187,500.00 a month for thirty years. What state politician wants to speak out against offshore wind construction?

Massachusetts has declared April 24, 2023, as Right Whale Day to raise awareness about the endangered species.

The same state semi-quasi agency was the original owner of the Falmouth wind turbines that were supposed to kick start the agenda of 2000 megawatts of land-based wind turbines by 2020. The program as well as the residential program was a massive failure with around 100 megawatts today.

Now bags of cash are being handed out to Marine conservation organizations and educational institutes that have raked in donations from companies behind offshore wind energy projects. More money is being handed out to do "research."

Former state political officials and lawyers are now in the management of high-paying teams of offshore wind companies. Massachusetts nonprofit environmental policy advocacy groups have also received large amounts of cash.

Many of these groups that received cash publicly blame whale deaths on ship strikes, and fishing gear, and absolutely deny sonar or construction causes the whale deaths. The common denominator is construction from 2016 and the next wind construction in Massachusetts this summer.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, BOEM was asked two weeks ago what they will do if the whale deaths start in Massachusetts when construction starts. The answer was more or less we'll get back to you later.

Note# This week the executive director of the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC), noted the “concerning implications” of a study by researchers which found that the high voltage direct current (HVDC) power cables used by some offshore wind farms emitted magnetic fields that could hinder the ability of haddock larvae to navigate. The federally-chartered regulator responsible for managing fisheries in the oceans of New England acknowledged that offshore wind farms could pose a threat to the local marine wildlife.