NJ Offshore Wind Farms Supported By Some In Public Meeting

NEW JERSEY — On Oct. 19, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held a public virtual meeting where anyone could call in and comment on the multiple wind farms that are coming off the coast to the Jersey Shore, from the northern tip of LBI stretching south to Atlantic City.

Sixteen out of the 21 speakers spoke in favor; the others were opposed.

“Climate change can seem very abstract or distant, but it affects all of us now,” said Jamie Klenetsky, a Morris County resident who was born in Monmouth County, according to NJ Spotlight. “It’s only going to get worse. If we do nothing, we are going to end up living on a very different planet than the one we were born on ... This is a wonderful step toward preserving the Shore and the country."

But at least two speakers from a group called Save Long Beach Island spoke against the wind farms.

For months now, Save Long Beach Island has been saying the wind farms will ruin the view from the beaches; will not make a significant reduction in the use of fossil fuels, especially compared to the rate of sea-level rise, and will destroy fishing grounds. They also said they were worried about the damage to birds, as the farms will use the largest wind turbines to date.

“We should be looking for effective solutions, and solutions that don’t trample on other environmental values, and on the economics of other interests like tourism and fishing,” said Bob Stern of Save Long Beach Island, reported NJ Spotlight.

As Patch previously reported, construction will begin in 2022 on a series of three wind farms off the Jersey Shore. Combined, they will be the largest offshore wind farms in the nation.

The first wind farm, operated by Shell, will start at the northern tip of Long Beach Island, Barnegat Light, and run south.

The second two farms will be located off Atlantic City, and they will be run by Danish wind supplier Ørsted/Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind.

The two Ørsted/Atlantic Shores farms will take up more than 350 acres in total, making it the largest offshore wind investment in America's history.

Can you see the wind turbines from the beaches?

Yes, according to the NJ Sierra Club, which supports the wind farms.

The wind turbines will be located closest to land at Barnegat Light, where they will be located 10 miles out. Off Atlantic City, they start further from shore, 15 miles out.

The wind farms, particularly the one closest to shore at Barnegat Light, will be visible from the LBI beaches. Ørsted provided this rendering, which shows the turbines can be seen from Atlantic City beaches.

It will be possible to see them on a very clear day, said Alexandra Horn, chair of the NJ Sierra Club's offshore wind committee.

It will also get bigger: Gov. Phil Murphy said the state of New Jersey plans to give out additional contracts to build more wind turbines in that area in the future.

Save Long Beach Island is considering suing either the private companies that will operate the farms, the Murphy administration or the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, which awarded the offshore wind rights.

Will fishing grounds be destroyed by the wind farms?

This has been the subject of much debate, and it appears even the NJ fishing community is split on this topic.

Minimal commercial fishing actually occurs in the wind farm area itself, but boats do have to move through the wind farm to get to fishing grounds further out in the Atlantic Ocean, said the NJ Sierra Club.

Ørsted spokeswoman Maggie Urbish said the Danish company has had "hundreds" of individual meetings with members of the Jersey Shore fishing community, and "after listening to the concerns of the fishing community," Ørsted made changes to the farm's layout, and moved the turbines to a grid pattern to make it easier for boats to move through.

Atlantic Shores will similarly be aligned in a grid to allow boats to move in between the turbines, said the company.

“They are putting them extremely close together so that our vessels can’t operate within those areas without damage to our crews and vessels,” said fisherman David Wallace according to NJ Spotlight. “Therefore, they are being excluded from the areas where we traditionally fish with no compensation.”

But Captain Brian Williams, who runs charters between Long Beach Island and Cape May, said at the Oct. 19 meeting the turbines, "will create a lot of good fish habitat and hopefully some good fishing."

This independent article from Energy News found that the Block Island Wind Farm has actually become a very popular fishing area, as the turbines formed an artificial reef.

Backers of offshore wind say it will create an entirely new, long-term and clean-growth job industry for New Jersey — jobs working on wind turbines.

Gov. Murphy said the wind projects are expected to create roughly 7,000 jobs across the state. And these are not just jobs located 15 miles out at sea. Workers will be needed to build the turbines and process the wind energy once it is brought ashore.

One company is opening a "wind port" in Lower Alloways Creek in Salem County, to process the wind energy. Another company is proposing a similar wind processing plant on the Raritan Bay in South Amboy.

Related: Massive Offshore Wind Farms Coming To The Jersey Shore (Sept. 23)

Former South Amboy Coal Plant May Become Wind Energy Hub (Sept. 21)

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