Offshore Wind Farms: Are Whales Paying the Price?

Offshore wind projects are booming, but at what cost to marine life? A group called Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI) thinks these projects are causing more harm to whales and dolphins than anyone realizes. They say the loud noises from building and running wind farms can mess up these animals' hearing and even change their behavior. Save LBI has been talking about this for years, but NOAA, the agency in charge of protecting marine life, hasn't listened. So, Save LBI decided to take action. They asked the government to change how they calculate the harm to marine mammals. They also sent in their own comments on a plan by NOAA to monitor the effects of wind farms.Save LBI's big worry is that NOAA is underestimating the harm. They say the noise from wind farms is louder and reaches farther than NOAA thinks. This could mean more whales and dolphins are getting hurt or bothered than anyone realizes. Save LBI even did their own calculations to show this. They want NOAA to set up a special monitoring program to check if their concerns are right. This program should measure the noise levels from wind farms and see how they affect marine mammals. If Save LBI is right, NOAA should change how they calculate the harm to these animals. Save LBI's president, Bob Stern, says the numbers NOAA uses are way off. He says a small mistake in these numbers can mean a big difference in the harm to whales. He hopes NOAA will take their concerns seriously and do something about it.