On Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order that halts leases for offshore wind development in federal waters and pauses permits, loans and approvals for those projects. One justification was to provide time to examine the impact on wildlife, including marine animals such as whales.
While whale populations are threatened, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) points out that “there are no known links between large whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activities.” The Marine Mammal Commission came to the same conclusion.
To ensure safe offshore wind development, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has specific requirements. One is an acoustic exclusion zone around survey vessels to ensure no marine mammals are nearby before sound sources are used. Visual monitoring is also required to minimize vessel strikes. Additionally, offshore wind surveys are conducted using high-resolution geophysical surveys. These use sound sources that are much quieter than air guns used by oil and gas development and are unlikely to harm marine mammals.
What does contribute to whale deaths is climate change. As waters warm, whales move to new areas where they’re more likely to have human interactions, including more boat strikes and fishing gear entanglement.
This makes the executive order particularly short-sighted. Offshore wind could help address climate change without bringing harm to marine life. If this administration is truly concerned about whale deaths, it would do better to increase wind development and focus on other ways to mitigate climate change.
Erica Bartlett
Portland
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