Fishermen struggle with wind turbine 'disaster' while Emhoff socializes on Nantucket.

The New England fishermen's association is highlighting the fundraising trip of Vice President Kamala Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, to Nantucket amid the island's ongoing recovery from a wind turbine disaster.

This week, Emhoff replaced Jill Biden as the headliner for fundraisers originally scheduled by the first lady before President Biden withdrew from the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Harris.

On Tuesday, a fundraiser took place on an island roughly 30 miles off the Massachusetts mainland. Laura DeBonis, a business and nonprofit technical consultant who previously worked for Google, and Ken Jarin, partner in a Washington, D.C., law firm, hosted the reception at an unspecified location on the island. Emhoff was a special guest at the event.

An offshore wind turbine blade, the length of a football field, snapped off into the ocean two weeks ago, sending shards of fiberglass ashore and temporarily closing six of the island's beaches, creating an ongoing safety hazard for fishermen.

The Vineyard Wind blade disaster has confirmed fishermen's worst fears about offshore wind. Massive fiberglass shards remain a huge navigational hazard for our members, as stated by Jerry Leeman, CEO of the New England Fishermen's Stewardship Association, to Planet Chronicle Digital.

"The developer has not yet provided answers regarding the potential harm of micro-particles from fiberglass debris on local marine life."

He said, "We hope Mr. Emhoff learns about the effects this disaster has brought to coastal communities during his visit to Nantucket."

The joint venture Vineyard Wind, which built wind farms off the coast of Massachusetts, is a beneficiary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a domestic policy achievement of the Biden-Harris administration.

In October, Vineyard Wind announced a $1.2 billion "first-of-its-kind tax equity package" for commercial-scale offshore wind with three U.S.-based banks, claiming it to be "the largest single asset tax equity financing and the first for a commercial-scale offshore wind project."

At the time, Rep. Bill Keating, D-Mass., commended the announcement, linking it to the "effect" of the IRA.

The first commercial-scale offshore wind project in the US, Vineyard Wind 1, commenced construction on-site in late 2021 and completed its nation's first offshore substation in July 2023. This 800 MW project is situated 15 miles off the coast of Martha's Vineyard.

Last month, when the blade fell, Leeman stated that the "scariest thing" was the possibility of it happening again.

If this blade fell off on a beautiful summer day, what would happen during a winter squall or a hurricane?

Neither the Harris campaign nor the White House responded to Planet Chronicle Digital's request for comment.