Barstool Sports President and CEO Dave Portnoy is speaking out after an offshore windmill blade snapped and sent nonbiodegradable fiberglass shards into the water, washing up on Nantucket shores and forcing the town to close its beaches.
On Tuesday, the Nantucket harbormaster announced that six of the Massachusetts town’s beaches would be temporarily closed after pieces of fiberglass washed ashore and said anyone walking the beach should wear footwear to protect themselves from the sharp debris.
Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between foreign entities Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, which built wind farms off the coast of Massachusetts, said Tuesday that a blade from a turbine had snapped and that power production from the turbines was stopped immediately.
The company also said “nearly the entirety of the blade remains affixed to the turbine.” But a photo obtained by Fox News Digital depicts the blade mostly severed from its base.
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This view shows a windmill after a blade snapped off and fell into the Atlantic. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
Portnoy, a Nantucket homeowner, told Fox he thinks it should be a “one-strike you’re out policy” for Vineyard Wind and that “they should no longer be allowed to operate these windmills.”
“Everybody wants a healthy planet, but when the ones advocating for a green planet are the ones damaging it, it makes you pause,” he told Fox News Digital.
Portnoy also suggested the company should “be forced to refund every person who rented a house on Nantucket for as long as the beaches are closed.”
“Families save up for years to take a vacation to Nantucket only to have it ruined by negligence,” he said.
“Also, there is no telling how much sea life will be affected,” he added.
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New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA) CEO Jerry Leeman also reacted to the incident, saying that “the scariest thing” is that “it could happen again.”
“As a fisherman, I know how powerful and volatile the North Atlantic is. If this blade fell off on a beautiful summer day, what would happen during a winter squall or a hurricane?” he told Fox News Digital.
Giant wind turbine blades for the Vineyard Winds project are stacked on racks in the harbor in New Bedford, Mass., on July 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa/File)
He went on to say that “the environment effects are tragic.”
“Shards of fiberglass, which are not biodegradable, are a huge threat to whales, dolphins and porpoises, some of which are endangered,” he said.
“Nanoparticles from the fiberglass could even enter the food web if zooplankton mistake particles for forage. This slow-rolling disaster is a serious threat to fishery sustainability,” he added.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Vineyard Wind said it “deployed services vessels immediately to recover three large blade pieces from the ocean” and that “debris of non-toxic blade material has washed up on Nantucket beaches and are being recovered.”
“The cause of the breakage is unknown at this time. GE, as the project’s turbine and blade manufacturer and installation contractor, will now be conducting the analysis into the root cause of the incident,” Vineyard Wind said.
Vineyard Wind also said that upon ceasing power production, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) issued a work suspension order on Monday afternoon.
“Vineyard Wind is in full compliance with the order, and is working in collaboration with BSEE to support its assessment and advance critical safety response and debris recovery efforts,” the company said.
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Maine lobstermen haul in their latest catch off the state’s coast. (Maine Lobstermen Association/Marketing Collaborative)
Offshore wind farming has been a contentious push by the Biden administration, which aims to hit aggressive green energy goals by 2030. Agencies within the Biden administration have been accused of moving too fast to approve wind projects at the expense of both environmental and marine life.
Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, testified in March last year before a House Committee that “[w]hile some offshore wind may hold promise, federal and state levels have moved forward without transparency, robust and sound science or good governance.”
Zipf testified that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) previously found that offshore wind can increase ocean noise, which can affect behaviors of whales; introduce electromagnetic fields that impact their navigation, predator detection and communication; and change species composition and survival rates, among other things.
“The NMFS concludes with, ‘Offshore wind is the new use of our marine waters, requiring substation scientific and regulatory review,’” Zipf testified. “So, where is the substantial review? Where is the commitment to the precautionary principle?”
Clean Ocean Action noted last February following the ninth whale death in the Northeast that the “alarming number of [whale] deaths is unprecedented in the last half century.” The only unique factor from previous years is the excessive scope, scale and magnitude of offshore wind power plant activity in the region, the group noted.
Shown here is the first operating South Fork Wind farm turbine off New York on Dec. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Zipf emphasized that “climate change is real” and “living resources on the planet are in crisis.” But offshore wind projects should only be approved after pilot-scale projects are proven to be successful and when science supports industrial-scale plants.
In April, NEFSA, a fishing advocacy group that represents wild harvesters in fisheries across New England, criticized the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) recently unveiled plans to lease 2 million acres of ocean in Maine for more offshore wind development – an unprecedented leasing area that would allow for construction of enough wind turbines to produce 32 gigawatts of energy.
NEFSA, along with Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, said the administration is “rushing” to “political-proof” a green energy plan insulated from a possible administration change in November.
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BOEM told Fox News Digital that it will conduct a “phased leasing approach, and that BOEM does not intend to lease the entire final WEA (wind energy area) … but rather BOEM will now consider proposed lease areas from within the final WEA based on certain criteria.”
They said the WEA was finalized “after extensive engagement with lobster fishermen in fishing communities” and “avoids several other important fishing areas and habitats, including important groundfish areas.”
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