A campaign in NJ to unwind support for offshore wind energy is having an effect

A new poll of New Jersey residents finds that support for offshore wind energy is declining following months of anti-wind activism on the Jersey Shore.

The Monmouth University Poll finds there is still broad support for wind energy, but 4 in 10 residents think wind farms could hurt the state’s tourism economy, and half believe recent whale deaths off the shore were caused by wind development.

The spike in whale deaths began in 2016, long before any wind projects began, and scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have determined the vast majority of whale deaths were caused by ship strikes. Unlike all other shipping activity, survey boats used for wind farms have mammal monitors on board who keep a lookout for marine life.

In 2019, support for wind energy ran as high as 76% in New Jersey, according to the Monmouth Poll. Now only 54% want wind farms to be built off the coast.

“What this poll shows is that coordinated efforts from folks who want to move us away from a clean energy future and keep us tied to dirty fossil fuels, those lies and that misinformation [are] having a significant effect, and it's very concerning,” said Allison McLeod, policy director for the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters.

What this poll shows is that coordinated efforts from folks who want to move us away from a clean energy future and keep us tied to dirty fossil fuels, those lies and that misinformation is having a significant effect, and it's very concerning.

Allison McLeod, policy director, New Jersey League of Conservation Voters

The oil and gas industry is funding a national campaign against renewable energy, including wind, solar and electrification of transportation and homes.

Gov. Phil Murphy has made wind energy a cornerstone of his climate change strategy. The state has helped a wind energy company build a port where turbines will be manufactured and shipped up and down the East Coast.

The Danish wind company Orsted has a federal lease to build a 98-turbine windmill farm about 15 miles off the coasts of Atlantic City and Ocean City. Earlier this week, the company announced it is delaying its Ocean Wind 1 project, about 15 miles off the South Jersey coast, until 2026. It cited supply-chain issues, higher interest rates and insufficient federal tax credits, the Associated Press reported.

Residents at the Jersey Shore have been fighting the wind farms. Initially, they were concerned about what the windmills would do to their ocean views. Then project foes tied whale deaths to the wind developments, heightening the concern.

“The public has become more informed and [is] raising concerns, especially with the lack of good science and transparency,” Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, which opposes the wind farms, said in a statement. “Clean Ocean Action always bases its statements on fact and science. Based on the growing information released about offshore wind and the proposed projects, public concerns are also growing.”

The League of Conservation Voters is part of a coalition supporting clean energy that includes leading environmental groups in the state, as well as labor unions. They are trying to counter concerns about whale deaths by providing information about ship strikes and plastics in the ocean.

“The other thing that we're doing is making sure that people understand that a lot of this misinformation is funded by the fossil fuel industry, by out-of-state interests who have a financial interest in keeping us tied to oil and gas,” McLeod said. “And once folks hear that and know where a lot of this campaign is coming from, they understand that it's a coordinated misinformation campaign.”