Fishermen, activists protesting offshore wind projects on the East Coast: ‘A manmade environmental disaster’

Critics are sounding the alarm on the ecological consequences of the Biden administration’s green energy agenda, specifically the increase marine wildlife deaths in conjunction with offshore wind farms.

Activists along with local fishermen are particularly concerned about the rise in whale and dolphin beaching.

“What we’re seeing is a failure to properly manage the situation,” Rhode Island fisherman Chris Brown said on “The Bottom Line” Wednesday.

MORE DEAD WHALES ARE WASHING UP ASHORE AS FEDERAL AGENCIES DENY CONNECTION TO OFFSHORE WIND DEVELOPMENT

“The whales have been migrating from their southern stations during the spring up through the mid-Atlantic region, and they didn’t even slow down the acoustic carpet bombing. And as a result, the Atlantic was littered with the dead whales and dolphins and sharks. There doesn’t seem to be any environmental concern. This is a manmade environmental disaster that’s unfolding. I expect that it will half a whale population in 10 years and probably the same for our fish.”

So far this year, more than 30 dead whales and 30 dead dolphins have washed up on the East Coast.

Brown is among those protesting and calling on leadership to consider the consequences of such an aggressive green energy push. 

Other activists including the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) have staged protests at offshore wind farms such as the South Fork Wind Farm off the coast of Rhode Island. 

US OFFSHORE WIND FARMS RAISE CONCERNS ACROSS FISHING INDUSTRY

“We organized this protest to try to draw attention to the very heavy environmental footprint that offshore wind has on our eastern coast,” CFACT President Craig Rucker said on “Fox & Friends” Thursday.

“The Biden administration wants to put up 30,000 megawatts of offshore wind between now and 2030. I guess they believe the world’s going to end in six and a half years like AOC from climate change,” he added. “This means putting up 1,500 wind turbines stretching from the Carolinas right up to New England, and they’re putting these offshore wind turbines about 15 to 30 miles off the coast, right in the prime habitat, in the lanes that a number of species of whales used to go north and south up and down along our coast.”

The turbines are creating disruptions to the ocean ecosystem both with the sounds that are emitted by the machines during the operation phase and even during construction. 

“A lot of noise is being created, and we’ve seen unprecedented numbers of whales beach themselves along the shores. In fact, some estimate there’s been about a 400% increase in whale beaching and whale strikes since they began the offshore wind construction,” Rucker explained.

Rucker pointed out a whale species that is of a particular concern is the Right Whale, one of the most endangered whale species in the world.

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION BLAST FOR ‘HYPOCRISY’ ON OFFSHORE WIND AS IT SCRAMBLES TO PROBE WHALE DEATHS

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), a regulatory body from the Department of Interior that leases offshore areas for energy development, posted a grant notice in May targeted at “addressing key information gaps in acoustic ecology of the North Atlantic Right Whales,” one of the most endangered whale species in the world.

The problem is the government has already approved offshore wind projects, and some experts are saying the attention to the whales is too little too late.

Fisherman in the region are calling the government “hypocritical” after the same federal agencies almost “regulated [them] completely out of business” in an effort to protect the endangered species without any data showing fishermen bring any harm to the right whale.

“I sit on an advisory board to the Rhode Island CRMC and I negotiate with the developers, and it’s deny, deny, deny. They don’t want to be held accountable,” Brown said. “But why should they be? The president is running interference for them.”

“There doesn’t seem to be any environmental concern. This is a manmade environmental disaster that’s unfolding. I expect that it will half a whale population in 10 years and probably the same for our fish.”

– Fisherman Chris Brown

“You elect a president in the wildest dreams that he will uphold the laws of the land, and this one has organized the dismissal of the Magnuson Stevens Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act,” Brown claimed. “These laws are what give us a healthy relationship with the ocean.”

50 BLUE STATE MAYORS CALL FOR OFFSHORE WIND MORATORIUM AMID WHALE, DOLPHIN DEATHS

State leadership and lawmakers are also speaking out on the environmental crisis.

In May, 50 mayors from across the Democrat-led states of New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland sent an open letter to Congress calling for an offshore wind development moratorium in light of recent marine wildlife deaths. 

The mayors expressed concern that the increasing number of whale and dolphin deaths is negatively impacting the ocean ecosystem their communities rely upon.

According to the mayors, since December, at least 39 whales and 37 dolphins have been found stranded on East Coast beaches near where energy developers have been conducting offshore wind surveys. Over the past five days alone, a humpback whale and six dolphins have been beached near such acoustic surveys which some environmentalists argue disturb wildlife.

The trend has not gone unnoticed, and those like Brown and Rucker are taking action to protect the oceans and marine wildlife.

“Everyone that loves the ocean loves the idea of defending the ocean. What a shame it is you have to defend it from a political fiat,” Brown said. 

“The fishermen in the New England area believe that the responsible utility of our nation’s resources is a peacetime act of patriotism that is second to none. And to have that run roughshod over by the president is so disheartening. America is capable of so much more and so much better than what we’re dealing with right now.”

Fox News’ Thomas Cantenacci and Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.