Opponents of New Jersey wind farms say whale deaths should put project on pause for further studies

[TheBlackAdder]

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Turncoat Van Drew and the Wing Nuts of Southern New Jersey unite.

Tyger Williams/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS


Van Drew and his hearing were denounced, ahead of time, by numerous state nonprofits, including the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, which accused the former longtime Democrat of abandoning constituents and flip-flopping “in order to align himself with MAGA Republicans and their friends in the fossil fuel industry.”

The 400-plus people inside the convention center Thursday afternoon treated Van Drew, a Republican who represents Atlantic and Cape May Counties, like a rock star, giving him a standing ovation as he took the stage. Most in the room wanted to pump the brakes on New Jersey’s plan to build a vast wind farm off the coast, or kill it outright.

“This is the most profound transformation of the Atlantic Coast in the history of the United States,” Van Drew said, repeating the line twice for dramatic effect.

https://nordot.app/1009286569481551872?c=592622757532812385

The stupid, it burns.

.

[Emile]

1. So these people prefer mountain top removals over wind power. .

[TheBlackAdder]

2. As typical Republicans they only care what impacts their tiny minds. NIMBY (Not in my backyard)

.

In other words... Fuck the people who live near mountains, it's nowhere near Southern NJ.

.

[tirebiter]

18. Neither is what's on their minds

[Buns_of_Fire]

3. Further studies on wind farms or further studies on flying whales? nt

[Emile]

5. The fossil fuel industry pushes this misinformation to stop

Green energy. They actually hire people to go door to door pushing their lies to stop wind farms.

[hunter]

9. The coal industry rejects these. The natural gas industry does not.

These things will only prolong our dependence on fossil fuels, especially natural gas.

In the long run they will do nothing to reduce the total amount of greenhouse gasses dumped into earth's atmosphere.

These wind turbines are not economically viable without natural gas "backup power." In actual practice gas becomes the primary power source.

"Better than coal" won't save the world. From my perspective as a radical environmentalist these wind farms installed on previously undeveloped lands or seascapes should be rejected out of hand as they are just another flavor of climate change denial. As usual our media presents these arguments from only two perspectives, both of them wrong.

France closed its last coal mines about twenty years ago and pensioned off the older coal miners. The U.S.A. might have done the same had we continued to build nuclear power plants. Instead we pursued a fantasy.

[Emile]

10. Nuclear factories and plants are easy targets for terrorists.

No thanks

[hunter]

11. If we don't quit fossil fuels earth's natural environment and our civilization are toast.

No thanks.

[Emile]

12. Totally agree, but nuclear is not the answer.

[hunter]

16. What is the answer?

California has many gigawatt scale solar, wind, and energy storage projects. You can take real world data from all of these projects to model any sort of renewable energy utopia you like. All you have to do is subtract out the fossil fuel inputs.

I've done this math right-side up, up-side down, and side-ways, and I can't make any of these utopian renewable energy fantasies work. I used to be an anti-nuclear activist but I'm not any more.

You can start your own explorations here:

http://www.caiso.com/TodaysOutlook/Pages/supply.html

As I write this 33% of my electric power is coming from natural gas and my downstairs gas wall furnace is on, heating this room I'm in to a toasty 66 degrees Fahrenheit. The sun is not shining, the wind is not blowing.

About half the protein in the food I eat today will ultimately have been derived from natural gas, carbon dioxide dumped recklessly into the atmosphere.

I'm not driving anywhere today but I will tomorrow, to visit my elderly parents. Our little car, that consistently gets around 45 miles per gallon, will be spewing toxic chemicals and greenhouse gasses across California, a Fukishima accident in miniature.

[womanofthehills]

15. Wrong - nuclear reactors have become very expensive to make & maintain

So corporations don’t want to go there. I think the latest built reactor in Georgia cost 30 billion while Sun Zia wind farm is estimated to cost 8 billion.


Sun Zia wind farm = will produce 3500 MW

Average nuclear reactor = under 900 MW

[womanofthehills]

13. The rich fossil fuel industry guys are the guys making the wind farms

Same people - https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/feb/10/why-oil-giants-are-swapping-oil-rigs-for-offshore-windfarms

“The world’s biggest oil companies are no stranger to UK waters, but by the end of the decade they will be running more offshore wind turbines than oil rigs.”

[Emile]

14. Around here it was the coal industry pushing the misinformation.

They would even give you a free yard sign if you signed their petition to stop the wind farm.

[Dorian Gray]

4. The childhood friends of mine

who lean right are posting and sharing stories on Facebook about this. (We grew up on Jersey Shore.) Like a lot. To the point where I started thinking it is odd that they're sharing so much about this when I'm seeing little about it in the mainstream media.

Then lo and behold: NJ Whale Deaths Have Sparked Right Wing Conspiracy Theories on Facebook https://www.arcamax.com/currentnews/newsheadlines/s-2796991



Of course they have. (There is evidence that at least 40% of the whales had been hit by vessels or fishing nets.) There is also hypotheses that rising temperatures in the oceans may be making the environment uninhabitable.

[Walleye]

6. They'll never even catch up to the number of birds and animals killed by the Exxon Valdez spill

[samnsara]

7. i live a few miles from a beautiful wind farm and no dead whales here!

[Emile]

8. I have a wind farm two miles north of my house. My r/w neighbor hates them

and thinks they're ugly. I asked if he ever seen pictures of mountain top removals to get to the coal, that's ugly! If a better energy comes, windmill's can be torn down but no way can we replace a mountain. My neighbor just gave a blank stare.

No dead whales here either, but this wind farm is on cornfields.

[hunter]

17. Aside from fossil fuels, agriculture is another wretched thing humans do.

We should all do our best to minimize that.

Most of that corn is grown to feed factory farm meat and dairy animals who live and die in horrible conditions.

Don't even ask me about fuel ethanol. That's another rant.