Negligence ruins Nantucket wind farm, shuts down beaches

Dave Portnoy, the President and CEO of Barstool Sports, is speaking out after a windmill blade snapped and sent nonbiodegradable fiberglass shards into the water, which washed up on Nantucket shores and forced the town to close its beaches.

The Nantucket harbormaster declared on Tuesday that six Massachusetts beaches would be temporarily shut down due to fiberglass debris washing ashore. It is advised that beachgoers wear protective footwear to avoid injury from the sharp fragments.

Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, through their joint venture Vineyard Wind, announced on Tuesday that a blade from a wind turbine off the coast of Massachusetts had snapped, leading to the immediate halt of power production from the turbines.

While the company stated that "nearly the entirety of the blade remains affixed to the turbine," a photo obtained by Planet Chronicle Digital shows the blade mostly severed from its base.

Portnoy, a Nantucket property owner, stated to Fox that he believes Vineyard Wind should have a "one-strike you're out policy" and should no longer be permitted to operate their wind turbines.

When those promoting a green planet are the ones harming it, it raises questions about their sincerity, he said to Planet Chronicle Digital.

Portnoy proposed that the company should be obligated to issue refunds to all individuals who rented a house on Nantucket during the time the beaches are closed.

"Negligence can ruin families' dreams of a perfect vacation to Nantucket, which they save up for years," he stated.

He added that it is uncertain how much sea life will be impacted.

NEFSA CEO Jerry Leeman stated that the scariest aspect of the incident is that it could occur again.

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

He went on to say that "the environment effects are tragic."

The non-biodegradable shards of fiberglass pose a significant threat to endangered whales, dolphins, and porpoises.

If zooplankton mistake nanoparticles from fiberglass for forage, it could lead to a slow-rolling disaster that threatens fishery sustainability, he stated.

Vineyard Wind promptly dispatched services vessels to retrieve three large blade fragments from the sea and is currently collecting debris of non-toxic blade material that has washed up on Nantucket beaches.

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. The cause of the breakage is unknown at this time.

On Monday afternoon, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) issued a work suspension order on Vineyard Wind after it ceased power production.

Vineyard Wind is fully compliant with the order and is collaborating with BSEE to support its assessment and advance critical safety response and debris recovery efforts, according to the company.

The Biden administration's push for offshore wind farming has been met with criticism, as agencies within the administration have been accused of rushing to approve wind projects at the expense of the environment and marine life in order to meet their green energy goals by 2030.

In March 2020, Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, testified before a House Committee that offshore wind may hold promise, but federal and state levels have moved forward without transparency, robust and sound science, or good governance.

According to Zipf, the NMFS previously discovered that offshore wind can have detrimental effects on whales, including increasing ocean noise, which can alter their behaviors; introducing electromagnetic fields that affect their navigation, predator detection, and communication; and altering species composition and survival rates.

""Where is the substantial review? Where is the commitment to the precautionary principle?" Zipf testified, as the NMFS concluded that offshore wind is a new use of marine waters that requires scientific and regulatory review."

The group noted that the unprecedented number of whale deaths in the Northeast in the last half century is solely due to the excessive scope, scale, and magnitude of offshore wind power plant activity in the region.

Zipf highlighted that "climate change is a reality" and "the planet's living resources are in a state of crisis." However, he suggested that offshore wind projects should only be approved after pilot-scale projects have been proven successful and when science supports the use of industrial-scale plants.

In April, NEFSA, a fishing advocacy group representing wild harvesters in New England fisheries, criticized the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) plans to lease 2 million acres of ocean in Maine for offshore wind development, which would allow for the construction of enough wind turbines to produce 32 gigawatts of energy.

The administration is "hurriedly" finalizing a green energy plan to avoid being impacted by a potential change in leadership in November, according to NEFSA and Responsible Offshore Development Alliance.

BOEM will adopt a phased leasing approach for the final WEA and will not lease the entire area. Instead, BOEM will evaluate proposed lease areas within the final WEA based on specific criteria.

The WEA was finalized after extensive engagement with lobster fishermen in fishing communities, but it avoids several other important fishing areas and habitats, including important groundfish areas.