THE NEW YORK BIGHT – WHAT IS IT?

In February, Taffy Williams, who heads NY4whales, raised red flags about the proposal of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), that operates within the Department of Interior, regarding the proposed offshore wind farm in the NY Bight.

This proposal is still in progress:

https://www.boem.gov/Outer-Continental-Shelf-Wind-Energy-Leasing-in-the-New-York-Bight/

NY4whales wrote the following (in summary:)

Our concerns:

300 turbines will involve pile driving with some of the loudest sounds on earth – far exceeding that which can kill humans, impair and likely kill whales, dolphins, etc., or certainly drive them onto the beaches. The area of the construction site is 126 sq. miles.

The site of the wind farm is 11 miles south of Long Beach, LI, in the NY Bight, which has been known as the “Ocean Dumping Capital of the World” (mostly illegal) for some 200 years, receiving the refuse and industrial, chemical, raw sewage, sludge (you name it) waste of our region. Pile drivings will penetrate at least 100’ through the sediment, and likely much more since these are some of the largest wind turbines ever built – 600’ tall, with 180’ blades.

A few years ago, during the battle to stop construction of the Port Ambrose Liquified Natural Gas terminal, sediment samples in the NY Bight were taken. Scientists found carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic PAH’s, PCB’s, heavy metals, acid waste, raw sewage, and a toxic conglomerate just waiting to be released. Construction of the wind farm will release massive amounts of contaminated sediments; these upchurned toxins will migrate throughout the NY Bight and beyond, including to the Hudson River.

What marine life is not killed by the construction of the wind farm, the sediment contamination will.

This wind farm area will create a wall of giant 180’ rotating blades that birds will have to pass over or through. Why do we have to try to fix our global warming disaster by destroying so much – when solar panels on every rooftop would eliminate the need for any wind farm!

Bladeless turbines are now available – these won’t kill birds or bats, and won’t create harmful low frequency noise on land or in the water. 

There are even more detrimental problems with this massive wind farm in the NY Bight, and if you have an opportunity, just say “NO!”. Let’s not jump on the “wind power will save us” bandwagon when we don’t use the best, least “lethal” wind. What we have left on earth is a quickly vanishing treasure. We must urgently protect every life form that is left on this earth – every bird, whale, sea turtle and fish is precious now.

NY4whales supports wind energy, but only if it “does no harm” to whales, birds, marine life, or humans. (This means bladeless turbines, on land only. We believe the NY Bight is perhaps the worse site on the planet to build a wind farm.

Wildlife Watch encourages you to contact NY4Whales to learn more about the proposal:

Taffy Williams,
NY4Whales/NY4Wildlife,
Yonkers, NY 10707 USA,
www.ny4whales.org

Taffy Williams is a member of the Board of Directors of the Cetacean Society International, and a NYS licensed wildlife rehabilitator.