Stone Harbor Latest Community Calling for Halt to Offshore Wind Activities

STONE HARBOR – Stone Harbor Council April 18 endorsed a call by East Coast mayors for halting all offshore wind activity until definitive scientific evidence shows that the preparations for wind farm development off the New Jersey coast are not the cause of a spate of sea mammal fatalities since early December 2022.
Mayor Judith Davies-Dunhour brought a request from a group coordinated by the Warwick Group Consultants to the council. 
In February, a letter calling for such a halt to offshore wind actions was circulated to New Jersey mayors of coastal communities. It was endorsed by 30 mayors and a press release from the Warwick Group listed five mayors of Cape May County communities, including Ocean City, Stone Harbor, Wildwood, North Wildwood, and Wildwood Crest. Notable at the time was the absence of endorsement from Avalon, Sea Isle City, and Cape May.
This new effort is being expanded as a call from East Coast mayors. There is no data yet on how many mayors will respond.
Federal and state agencies, as well as several environmental groups continue to maintain that offshore wind activities are not a factor in the increase in sea mammal fatalities, a process they argue has been accelerating since 2016.
A number of these groups argue that the calls for a halt in offshore wind is motivated more by the politics of wind energy expansion and less by a concern for sea mammals.
Those who call for a halt argue that the speed with which offshore wind projects are being pushed is reckless and cannot be adequately informed by environmental studies. They express concern about unintended consequences that are a by-product of the haste with which the effort is increasingly characterized.
That opposition continues to grow. In February, the largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments added its voice to those seeking a pause in wind projects. They asked for a role in the project planning and measures to protect their territories and traditional resources.
At the Stone Harbor meeting, there was little discussion of any pros and cons concerning offshore wind development. The council was immediately supportive of the call for a halt to work. The mayor was authorized to sign the letter.