After more than two years of listening to virtue-signaling NGOs, climate apocalypse-shaming hipsters, politically driven energy opportunists, and just plain ignorant-of-the-facts state and local political “dignitaries,” I’ve just about had it up to here!
I’m sick of digging myself out of the political mire on both sides and witnessing the shameful justification of a toxic and destructive technology in the pursuit of ample energy for humanity at all costs and in the name of averting a climate change “catastrophe” and slowing global warming. When are folks gonna wake up to the fact that they are being played in their concerns, are being manipulated by fear and ignorance, and are being bought and paid for by an industry that is primarily owned by corporate giants who really don’t give a rat’s ass about the negative effects of their industry and are in it solely for profit at the earth and its inhabitants expense.
I have been an environmental activist for decades, fighting for the ocean that I love and her inhabitants. I have risked my life doing so and will gladly do so again to save just one whale, just one innocent creature in the oceans from needless death and suffering. I have researched the oceans and the impacts of various aspects of ocean industrialization for decades, and in so doing I have justifiably come to the conclusion that the offshore wind industry in our oceans is an extreme example of the population being lied to about the negative impacts of all aspects of the industry so a small group of industrialists and politicians can benefit.
The amount of crucial information pointing to the industry’s negative environmental impacts, the extreme costs for buildout and operation, the variability and unreliability of the energy source, and the potential decimation of our current coastal economies being hidden is mind-blowing, with huge sums of money invested in keeping the media toeing the climate-change line and NGOs heralding the industry as our “solution” for our growing apocalyptic visions and fears. I say bullshit!
Even if you do not want to see the distinct correlation between the death of marine mammals and fish in areas of offshore wind surveying and construction. Even if you do not choose to see the overall picture of an industry whose total carbon footprint is disturbingly huge. Even if you don’t want to recognize the impact to our harbors and coastal towns from the industrial port buildout to accommodate the hundreds, if not thousands of turbines. Even if you do not want to see that hundreds of miles of virgin forests will be destroyed to create new grid pathways for the industry. Even if you do not want to question the billions of dollars spent to build and maintain a largely experimental technology. Even if you don’t want to recognize the growing need for toxic and dangerous battery energy storage system facilities needed to control such a variable energy source output. Here is one thing you cannot ignore:
Offshore wind “farms,” as they are so euphemistically called, are one of the most polluting energy sources known to man. Studies show that the constant breakdown of the turbine blades into the ocean below is releasing bisphenol A (BPA) into the ocean, poisoning the entire water column and affecting biosystems, including humans. Studies show that the constant leak of sulfur hexafluoride (used as an insulator in electrical equipment) into the atmosphere could contribute to global warming at a rate of more than 23,000 times that of carbon dioxide. Studies show that the petroleum used to build and maintain the turbines, build and maintain the industrial ports, and build and maintain the fleet of ships exclusively designed to serve the offshore wind industry is significant enough to negate any possible global benefit to climate change.
In other words, studies show that the increase in shipping traffic, the increase in high decibel anthropogenic noise, the decrease in upwelling, and the industrial pollution associated with ports are quite possibly not the worst of the impacts to our oceans. The potential to poison our coastal waters is real and something that cannot be justified and cannot be ignored. To poison our air and waters unnecessarily in the name of saving our world from an environmental disaster broadly named climate change and global warming makes no sense whatsoever. Are we so ridiculously shortsighted as to allow for the destruction of our oceans in the name of proliferating an industry that will become obsolete within decades, will not mitigate global warming, and will not ultimately serve humanity’s increasing need for responsible and reliable energy?
Think about it! It’s your and your children’s legacy and our planet’s future. Look past the lies and realize that offshore wind is not even close to “the answer” for our energy needs and our planet’s ability to thrive.
P.S. If you see this opinion piece as an opportunity to claim these are the rantings of a climate denier and ultra right-wing nut, think again. Just because I don’t agree with the solution doesn’t mean I don’t see the problem!
Mandy Davis is the president of the REACT Alliance. Send a response for publication to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Feb 13-23, 2025.