New Jersey Wind Port Analysis 'Masks The True Threat That The Project Poses'

By Bob Pepalis | The Center Square contributor, The Center Square New Jersey

Aug 16, 2022

(The Center Square) – "New Jersey needs to take the long view to monitor how its wind port and offshore wind turbines to determine if they have a negative impact on the environment," the manager of Science and Stewardship for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation says.

"The New Jersey Wind Port is the nation’s first purpose-built offshore wind marshaling port, promising to position New Jersey as a hub for the U.S. offshore wind industry," according to its website.

"The area around the New Jersey Wind Port site has been a focus of conservation efforts ever since the PSE&G nuclear power plant was built," New Jersey Conservation’s Emile D. DeVito, told The Center Square.

“I suspect that they're trying their best to minimize those environmental impacts of whatever disturbance they have to do to the site,” said DeVito, who has a doctorate in in ecology and conservation and has been working in this field for 32 years.

Dredging is necessary, so they’ll have to deal with the spoil material. The state needs to make sure that it’s not contaminated and that it doesn’t harm fish breeding areas.

Maya K. van Rossum, the Delaware riverkeeper, thinks the New Jersey Wind Port has put the Atlantic sturgeon at risk. She said the Delaware River has a genetically unique population of the Atlantic sturgeon that only exists in that river.

“And because the scientific analysis that was done for Wind Port masks the true threat that that project poses for the Delaware River Atlantic sturgeon, the outcome could be that that project on its own or in combination with Edgemore, could be responsible for the extinction of that genetically unique population,” she said.

"If proper science and scientifically valid analysis had been done on the ramifications of the Wind Port and other projects was done, it might have been found that the project would not jeopardize the sturgeon," van Rossum said.

“But we believe that more likely the outcome would be that this project in this location undertaken in this way, could result in the extinction of the Atlantic sturgeon population,” she said.

"The public can’t know the actual impact or do thoughtful analysis because the government misused the wrong science," van Rossum said."

The government must study and figure out all impacts and then work out how to overcome those impacts," DeVito said.

“That's part of what the coastal wetlands laws are all about, is to make sure that we try not to have a negative impact,” he said.

"The Delaware Riverkeeper’s challenge of the Wind Port’s science in its environmental study is typical because applicants use questionable science," he said.

“It's really important for groups like the Riverkeeper to try to point out weak points that the applicant is using,” he said, “information that might be subject to all sorts of criticism.”

"The offshore wind farms that the wind port would serve have a different set of issues," he said.
“They're trying to choose the best locations far enough offshore to have a minimal impact on birds. But we're not going to know until we see what happens,” DeVito said. “I mean, we don't know everything about what the birds are doing that far offshore, so there has to be a lot of monitoring.”

The pylons for the wind turbines will go in deep water and require rocky bases.

“All of a sudden, they're going to build these giant things just like when they go sink ships to create fishing areas and to attract organisms where fish breed and that kind of thing,” he said.

"The structures will create habitats that probably will attract good things, he said. But what if they attract whales and dolphins and noise or vibrations from the turbines caused them harm?" he asked.

“There's a lot of evidence that these animals are really sensitive to noise and vibrations,” he said.

A way to generate energy without generating carbon dioxide must be found. Wind is a really good choice, he said. But it has to be done right and the agencies protecting the environment must discover the impacts the project has and then figure out how to mitigate them.

“Marine biologists know a lot about these systems. But we don't know about what happens when you totally change these systems, because we've not done it before,” DeVito said.

The focus of the work of The Center Square New Jersey is state and local-level government and economic reporting that approaches stories with a taxpayer sensibility.