Dave Portnoy, president and CEO of Barstool Sports, is speaking out after blades from offshore wind turbines broke off, sending non-biodegradable fiberglass pieces into the water and washing up on Nantucket’s shores, forcing the town to close beaches.
Nantucket’s port master on Tuesday announced the temporary closure of six beaches in the Massachusetts town after pieces of fiberglass washed up on shore, and said beachgoers should wear footwear to protect themselves from sharp debris.
Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between foreign companies Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners that built the wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts, said on Tuesday that a turbine blade had broken and that electricity generation from the turbine had been immediately halted.
The company also said “substantially the entire blade remains attached to the turbine,” but photos obtained by Fox News Digital show the blade has been largely severed from its base.
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This photo shows a windmill whose blade broke off and fell into the Atlantic Ocean. (Source: Fox News Digital)
Nantucket homeowner Portnoy told Fox there should be a “one strike, one kill” policy against Vineyard Wind and that “they should never be allowed to operate their turbines again.”
“We all want a healthy planet, but it gives us pause when we see those who advocate for a green planet harming it,” he told Fox News Digital.
Dave Portnoy also suggested the company “should be forced to give refunds to everyone renting homes on Nantucket for as long as the beaches are closed.” (Getty Images)
Portnoy also suggested the company “should be forced to provide refunds to everyone renting homes on Nantucket for as long as the beaches are closed.”
“Families save up for years for a vacation to Nantucket and then they inadvertently ruin it,” he said.
“Also, we don’t know to what extent marine life will be affected,” he added.
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Jerry Lehman, CEO of the New England Fisheries Management Association (NEFSA), also responded to the incident, saying, “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 can fall on a beautiful summer day, what will happen if a winter squall or hurricane comes?” he told Fox News Digital.
Giant wind turbine blades for the Vineyard Winds project are stacked on racks at the port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, on July 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa/File)
“The environmental impacts would be disastrous,” he added.
“Non-biodegradable fibreglass debris is a major threat to endangered whales, dolphins and porpoises,” he said.
“They could also enter the food chain if zooplankton mistake the glass fibre nanoparticles for food. This slow-developing disaster is a serious threat to the sustainability of fisheries,” he added.
“We immediately dispatched a service vessel to retrieve three large blade fragments from the ocean,” Vineyard Wind said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Non-toxic blade debris has washed up on Nantucket shoreline and is being recovered.”
“The cause of the failure is currently unknown. GE, the manufacturer of the turbines and blades and the installation contractor for the project, is currently conducting an analysis of the root cause of the incident,” Vineyard Wind said.
Vineyard Wind also said the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) issued a stop-work order on Monday afternoon as it shut down power generation.
“Vineyard Wind is in full compliance with the order and is working with BSEE to assist with evaluations and ongoing critical safety response and debris removal efforts,” the company said.
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Maine lobstermen are landing their latest catch off the state’s coast. (Maine Lobstermen’s Association/Marketing Collaboration)
Offshore wind has been a controversial push by the Biden administration as it seeks to meet aggressive green energy goals by 2030. Agencies within the Biden administration have been accused of moving too quickly to approve wind projects at the expense of both the environment and marine life.
Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, testified before a House committee last March:[w]While some offshore wind projects may be promising, they are being pursued without transparency, strong, sound science, or proper governance at the federal and state levels.”
Zipf testified that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has previously found that offshore winds increase ocean noise, which can affect whale behavior and generate electromagnetic fields that affect whale navigation, predator detection and communication, as well as alter species composition, survival rates and more.
“NMFS concludes that ‘offshore wind is a new use of marine waters and requires scientific and regulatory review of substations,'” Zipf testified. “So where is the substantive review? Where is the commitment to the precautionary principle?”
“An alarming number of whales are dying,” Clean Ocean Action said in a statement after a ninth whale died in the Northeast last February. [whale] “The death toll is unprecedented in the last half century. The only factor that is different from previous years is the sheer scope, scale and scale of offshore development. Wind power plant The group noted activity in the area.
Shown here are turbines from the South Fork Wind Farm, which will be the first to operate off the coast of New York on Dec. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Julia Nickinson)
Zipf stressed that “climate change is real” and that “the Earth’s living resources are at risk.” But offshore wind projects should only be approved if pilot-scale projects prove successful and the science supports industrial-scale plants.
In April, fishing industry advocacy group NEFSA Wildlife collectors in the fishing industry They criticized the New England-wide Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) recently announced plan to lease 2 million acres of Maine waters for offshore wind development — an unprecedented amount of leased acreage that could house enough wind turbines to produce 32 gigawatts of energy.
NEFSA, along with the Alliance for Responsible Ocean Development, said the administration is “rushing” to make a green energy plan “politically safe” that won’t be affected by a possible change of administration in November.
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BOEM told Fox News Digital that it will use a phased leasing approach and will not lease the entire Final WEA (wind energy area), but will consider proposed leasing areas within the Final WEA based on certain criteria.
They said the WEA was finalized “after extensive consultation with local lobster fishermen” and “avoids several other important fishing areas and habitats, including important groundfish areas.”
