The $100 billion offshore wind industry has a whale of a problem, as cetacean deaths have increased dramatically since 2016 on the US Atlantic coast, as reported by NOAA:
This is a worldwide phenomenon, as whales are beaching themselves increasingly with the proliferation of offshore wind farms.
Purported causes of the whale deaths are from loud underwater explosions, high intensity sonar mapping, and pile driving the turbine towers into the seabed. The US Navy is also well aware of the deadly effects of sonar on whales - this is old news.
Don’t worry about those inconvenient smelly whale carcasses ! We will haul them off with a big diesel burning tractor.
: to regard or treat (something bad or blameworthy) as acceptable, forgivable, or harmless
This IHA authorizes take incidental to pile driving associated with the construction of the Vineyard Wind Project in the Atlantic Ocean offshore of Massachusetts within the Wind Development Area (WDA) of Lease Area OCS-A 0501.
“Of course, these hellish damage limits are unenforceable, because the injuries occur out of sight underwater, but they show just how great the threat is. In fact, they are merely estimates of the potential adverse effects.
The authorization numbers are derived basically as follows. First, there is what is deemed a safe sound level. Using a sound-propagation model they then estimate the area around the pile driving where the sound exceeds this safe level.
They then use a species population-density model over time to estimate the number of critters that will be exposed to unsafe sound. This number is used to derive an authorization number.”
Don’t worry kids, our heroes at NOAA have other special Kill Lists for other “renewable energy” sources as well!
Incidental Take Authorizations for Other Energy Activities (Renewable/LNG)
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