LBI Offshore Wind Farm Will Violate Noise Ordinances, Lawsuit Says

LONG BEACH ISLAND, NJ — A local group of offshore wind opponents have filed a lawsuit against an upcoming wind farm, claiming it will violate local noise ordinances.

Save LBI filed the lawsuit against the Atlantic Shores South offshore wind project on Sept. 13, the non-profit organization announced in a news release.

This lawsuit seeks injunctive relief, asking the court to require Atlantic Shores South to complete a full airborne noise assessment and pilot project before the project can proceed.

The Atlantic Shores South wind project, consisting of Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project 1 and 2, would put up to 195 turbines off the coast between Atlantic City and Long Beach Island, according to authorities. It would be about 8.7 miles off the shore at its closest point. It recently received approvals from President Joe Biden's administration. Read more: Wind Farm Approved Off Atlantic County Coast: Biden Administration

Save LBI says that neither the project nor the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which approved the project, have "presented any study of the level and impact of the airborne noise that would be generated during the construction and operation" of the turbines.

“In addition to creating underwater noise that puts marine mammals at risk, the heavy diesel-powered hammer that will be used to ‘pile drive’ two hundred 50-foot-diameter steel foundations into the seabed will create significant airborne noise,” said Bob Stern, president and co-founder of Save LBI. “And that noise will be audible on shore because sound can travel much better over water.”

Stern and Save LBI commissioned Xi Engineering to conduct their own noise study.

“The results are rather startling,” Stern said. According to Save LBI, the results showed that onshore noise levels would violate Brigantine's 50 decibel noise ordinance level. Modeling of the noise heard at the shore from operating turbines was just below the Brigantine standard and LBI nighttime standards, but when “inversion conditions” are taken into account, the noise level violates standards in not only Brigantine but in Beach Haven and Long Beach Township, Save LBI said. Inversion conditions occur frequently in summer when the air temperature and wind speed increase with height above the water and accentuate the noise travel.

The group said this is the latest in their legal challenges against Atlantic Shores, and that more are to come.