RESEARCH & MEDIA

Explore in-depth articles, reports, and visual resources that uncover the environmental, economic, social, and technical impacts of offshore wind energy.

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Environmental Impacts

“The ocean is not a construction zone. Industrializing it under the guise of green energy will lead to irreversible ecological collapse.”

Dr. Bonnie Brady, Long Island Commercial Fishing Association

Environmental Impacts

Expose the widespread ecological damage offshore wind inflicts on marine life, fragile ecosystems, and the health of our oceans, with cumulative impacts that escalate with every new project.

Offshore Wind’s Broad Reach:

    • NJ Wind Farm Construction Harm: Explores how wind farm construction can harm whales, birds, and other marine life (Patch NJ Report).

      • Summary: Highlights concerns raised in a federal report about the potential harm to marine life and birds caused by offshore wind farm construction.

    • Environmental Impacts of Offshore Wind (2024): This infographic by Seas At Risk illustrates the various environmental effects of offshore wind energy throughout its lifecycle, detailing impacts from construction to decommissioning (Seas At Risk).

      • Summary: Exposes the relentless environmental toll of offshore wind across its lifecycle, revealing how it scars marine habitats, disrupts wildlife, and pollutes oceans, undermining any claim to sustainability with a trail of ecological destruction.

 (Source: The draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS))

Marine Life Under Siege: Noise Pollution and Habitat Disruption:

    • HRG Survey Noise Pollution: Explore the detrimental effects of survey noise on marine biodiversity (Rand Acoustics Letter).

      • Summary: Highlights how HRG surveys generate disruptive noise pollution in marine ecosystems, which can interfere with marine mammals' communication, navigation, and feeding behaviors, ultimately threatening their survival during critical lifecycle stages.

    • Porpoise Mortality: Detailed findings on the rise in porpoise deaths due to offshore wind projects (Medium Article).

      • Summary: Documents a sharp increase in porpoise fatalities linked to offshore wind projects, where turbine-related noise and habitat degradation disrupt their echolocation, leading to increased stress, strandings, and death. 

“There were 18,399 harbour porpoises washed up on Netherlands beaches between 2000 and 2024 (to August).

Compare that figure to the previous 24 year period (1975 to 1999) when a total of 1,026 were recorded. That’s a 1693% increase....

There are already around fifty offshore wind farms operating in the North Sea, literally thousands of turbines... nearly all constructed

since 2000... We know the problems we face as the human race continues to plunder the earth’s natural resources, and we

acknowledge that we have to address issues of climate change and over-consumption, but it’s morally and ethically

wrong if this is accomplished at the expense of other species...”

- Jason Endfield (Porpoise Mortality)

    • Anchor Scour Damage to Seabed Fauna: Examines damage caused by anchor scour to marine ecosystems through a detailed analysis of offshore wind turbine anchoring impacts. (Science of the Total Environment)

      • Summary: Details how anchoring systems for offshore wind turbines rip through seabed habitats, annihilating marine fauna and disrupting spawning grounds essential for fish populations, leaving behind a legacy of ecological ruin with no viable recovery in sight.

    • Underwater power cables make lobsters bad swimmers (2022): Report detailing how electromagnetic fields from offshore wind cables impair lobster mobility. (Phys.org)

      • Summary: Exposes how offshore wind power cables cripple lobster movement, threatening shellfish populations and coastal fisheries with unseen electromagnetic pollution that undermines marine life.

 

  • Sulphur Hexafluoride Risks: Briefing on the risks of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), the most potent greenhouse gas with significant global warming potential of 25,200 times greater than CO2 over a 100-year period, used in offshore wind turbine electrical components (Sulphur Hexafluoride Final Briefing).

  • Summary: Explains the role of SF6 in turbine operations and highlights its significant environmental risks due to its potency as a greenhouse gas.

  • Summary: Uncovers how offshore wind noise pollution disrupts fish communication and behavior, endangering populations and unraveling marine food webs with no regulatory recourse.

“There are some data showing that fishes receiving high intensity and particularly impulsive, sounds will experience damage

to body tissues… it appears that the swimbladder expands and contracts rapidly, thereby damaging the proximate organs including

liver, kidney, gonads and the swimbladder itself. For example, of five species exposed to high intensity simulated pile driving

signals, only the hogchoker Trinectes maculatus, a flatfish without a swim bladder, showed no tissue damage.”

- An overview of fish bioacoustics and the impacts of anthropogenic sound on fishes (2019)

    • Offshore Windmills and the effects of electromagnetic fields on fish (2007): Examines how electromagnetic fields from offshore wind infrastructure affect fish physiology and behavior. (AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment)

      • Summary: Details how offshore wind’s electromagnetic fields scramble fish navigation and health, silently wreaking havoc on marine species and fisheries with unchecked technological interference.

Fatal Skies: Bird Collisions and Habitat Loss from Offshore Wind:

    • Bird Collision & Displacement: Analysis of bird migration patterns disrupted by offshore turbines (BOEM Report).

      • Summary: Details how offshore wind turbines pose significant collision risks to migratory birds, particularly those of high conservation concern. The study highlights habitat fragmentation and displacement that forces birds into less suitable environments, increasing mortality rates.

Economic Evaluations

“Wind power receives billions in taxpayer support, yet we see project after project failing.” 

Daniel Turner - Power the Future

 Economic Evaluations

Follow the money behind offshore wind. Unpack the hidden financial toll on taxpayers, the destruction of fishing economies, and the corporate profiteering masked as green investment — all while energy prices soar and promises fall flat.

 

The Hidden Costs: Financial Burden of Offshore Wind:

    • Economic Implications for California: The financial toll of California's wind plans (California Free Beacon).

      • Summary: Critiques California's offshore wind initiatives, projecting substantial financial burdens on taxpayers without commensurate benefits.

 

    • CEC AB525 Adopted Final Report: Details California’s offshore wind energy goals and regulatory framework as outlined by the California Energy Commission under Assembly Bill 525.

      • Summary: Lays bare California’s reckless offshore wind obsession, unveiling a convoluted regulatory nightmare that burdens taxpayers with exorbitant costs, piling economic hardship onto residents already reeling from inflated energy prices.

 

    • Impacts to the Commercial Fishing from OSW in California: A letter from fishing organizations to the California Energy Commission detailing economic and environmental impacts on fishing from offshore wind.

      • Summary: Slams offshore wind for crushing California’s fishing industry, detailing how it obliterates livelihoods, slashes economic output, and leaves coastal communities reeling from industrial overreach.

 

    • Morro Bay 2017 Commercial Fisheries Economic Impact Report: Assesses the economic vitality of Morro Bay’s fishing-related businesses and workforce.

      • Summary: Exposes how offshore wind threatens Morro Bay’s thriving fishing economy, risking the collapse of a vital marine-dependent community with costly, disruptive industrialization.

    • Not made in America: Factory shortage stalls offshore wind (2023): Reports on supply chain issues driving up offshore wind costs on the East Coast. (Politico)

      • Summary: Reveals how offshore wind’s reliance on foreign factories jacks up costs, stalls projects, and burdens taxpayers with an inefficient, import-dependent boondoggle.

 

    • Value of Fishing Grounds California North Coast (2023): Evaluates the economic worth of fishing grounds off Northern California. (CA Fisheries Resiliency Association)

      • Summary: Highlights how offshore wind jeopardizes Northern California’s valuable fishing grounds, slashing economic returns and gutting a critical industry with reckless development.

 

 

    • False economic promise of offshore wind (2024): Investigates the misleading economic claims of offshore wind viability. (Cato Institute)

      • Summary: Debunks offshore wind’s economic hype, exposing its inflated costs and dismal returns that saddle communities with debt while delivering little beyond broken promises.

 

    • Robert Bryce testimony before the House Subcommittee on Energy (2020): Testimony on how renewable policies, including offshore wind, raise costs for consumers.

      • Summary: Slams offshore wind mandates for hiking energy costs, burdening ratepayers with inefficient schemes that enrich corporations while impoverishing everyday Americans.

 

    • Offshore Wind Energy (OSW): Cost and Economic Impacts – Part 1 (2024): Examines the high costs and economic inefficiencies of offshore wind energy. (California Globe)

      • Summary: Exposes offshore wind as a costly fiasco, draining public funds with minimal output, proving it’s an economic disaster that punishes taxpayers for corporate gain.

 

Economic Fallout: Offshore Wind's Toll on Tourism and Fisheries:

    • Tourism Losses: Offshore wind’s impact on coastal tourism (NJ Tourism Report).

      • Summary: Explores significant declines in coastal tourism in New Jersey as visitors avoid areas near industrialized wind farms. The study highlights potential long-term damage to local economies reliant on beachgoers, recreational fishers, and hospitality industries.

 

    • Breaking Wind - Robert Bryce: Critically examines offshore wind’s impact on energy reliability and economics through a detailed critique by energy journalist Robert Bryce.

      • Summary: Dismantles the fantasy of offshore wind as a practical energy solution, spotlighting its outrageous costs, inconsistent power delivery, and crippling economic fallout that threatens the livelihoods of coastal communities.

 

 

Corporate Influence and Profit Motives:

    • Golden State Wind: Covers offshore wind project developments specific to California, detailing plans for the Golden State Wind initiative.

      • Summary: Showcases California’s misguided offshore wind gamble, exposing plans that endanger marine life and coastal livelihoods with reckless ambition, heedless of the irreversible damage left in their wake.

“Bottom-fixed wind turbines can be placed in waters up to depths of approximately 50m,

but the waters off the central coast of California (where this project will be located)

are much deeper at approximately 900–1,300m...“

- Golden State Wind

    • Blackstone's $3B Investment in Offshore Wind: Details Blackstone’s multi-billion-dollar investment into offshore wind infrastructure, outlining financial commitments to renewable projects.

      • Summary: Exposes how corporate behemoths like Blackstone dump billions into offshore wind, chasing profits while leaving oceans and communities to bear the crushing burden of environmental ruin and economic displacement.

 

    • BP & Equinor Offshore Wind Partnership: Details a major offshore wind partnership between oil giants BP and Equinor, focusing on their U.S. renewable energy strategy.

      • Summary: Highlights the cynical pivot of oil titans BP and Equinor to offshore wind, accelerating ecological devastation under a green facade while pocketing profits at the expense of vulnerable marine ecosystems.

“The Norwegian state-backed energy group that dropped ‘oil’ from its name as part of a push into renewables is

pivoting back to fossil fuels in the hunt for shareholder returns. Equinor, renamed from Statoil in 2018, said... it was planning

to increase production of fossil fuels and halve its spending on renewables.”

— Financial Times, summarized in Energy Digital

 

Community & Social Implications

“Industrial activity and development of ports can result in significant environmental burdens for communities living near the ports, including air, water, noise and light pollution (EPA, 2021). This not only affects residents but also workers and visitors who might recreate near port areas.”

CCC 2022

Community & Social Implications

Offshore wind’s impacts don’t stop at sea. They ripple through the lives, economies, and health of coastal communities. Hear directly from impacted residents, workers, and fishing communities as they confront the noise, pollution, displacement, and deception that follow offshore wind into their harbors and homes

 

    • Winds of Change: - A personal perspective of Morro Bay commercial fishermen on the real-life impacts of offshore wind development

      • Summary: A local fisherman’s testimony on the adverse effects of offshore wind development on their livelihood and community.

 

    • Wind industry money behind media misinformation about whale deaths (2023): Investigates how wind industry funding distorts media narratives about whale deaths linked to offshore wind.

      • Summary: Unveils how offshore wind cash silences truth about whale deaths, manipulating media to bury the industry’s role in marine devastation and mislead coastal communities.

 

Through the Lens: Documenting Offshore Wind's Real-World Impacts:

 

Morro Bay, CA

Conservationist Lisa Linowes listening to high decibel sonar mapping by wind industry with Rob Rand (Credit: Jonah Markowitz, “Thrown to the Wind,” 2023)

Figure 33. Site rendering of example integration facility within SLO Bay. Breakwater may or may not be required depending on the final location of the wharf, construction season, throughput requirements, and sensitivity of the foundations to wave motions during integration. Note that a larger facility may be required to accommodate increased throughput, if needed.

Policy & Regulation

“Environmental safeguards are being steamrolled in the name of speed. Offshore wind permitting today isn’t regulation. It’s rubber-stamping...”

Michael Shellenberger, Environmental Policy Expert & Author

Policy & Regulation

Uncover the broken permitting system and regulatory loopholes that fast-track offshore wind at the expense of marine life, coastal communities, and environmental protections, advancing massive projects with minimal oversight or accountability.

 

Broken Rules: Regulatory Failures in Offshore Wind Permitting:

    • Incidental Harassment Authorization: Analysis of permitting processes and legal compliance (NOAA Report).

      • Summary: Highlights gaps in regulatory enforcement, particularly regarding incidental harassment of marine species during wind farm construction.

 

    • BOEM NY Bight PEIS Report: BOEM’s assessment of offshore wind development’s impact in the NY Bight region, evaluating environmental and regulatory implications.

      • Summary: Uncovers a sham regulatory process in the NY Bight, where environmental devastation is glossed over and rubber-stamped, abandoning marine life and coastal residents to the unchecked ravages of offshore wind expansion.

“Empire Wind’s permit from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration allows the harassment of these marine

mammals — expected to include temporary deafness of over 300 whales in its first year of construction. More than 150 endangered

right, fin and sei whales are permitted to be harmed in this way, crippling their underwater navigation and communication abilities.”

- Bonnie Brady (Danger at sea, NY’s offshore wind power will kill whales, ground ships and more)

    • CEC Report - Offshore Wind Energy Development Off the California Coast: Report from the California Energy Commission on the feasibility and impacts of offshore wind energy development.

      • Summary: Exposes California’s flawed push for offshore wind, revealing a regulatory framework that ignores ecological harm and economic burdens, steamrolling communities with unchecked ambition.

 

 

    • California Coastal Commission Consistency Determination for BOEM (2022): Reviews BOEM’s offshore wind leasing consistency with California coastal policies.

      • Summary: Reveals a rubber-stamp approval process for offshore wind leases, sidelining coastal protections and paving the way for ecological ruin with flimsy regulatory oversight.

“As a new technology, potential effects associated with underwater sound are unknown.

Collisions with large vessels (‘ship strikes’) are the leading cause of death for blue and fin whales off the U.S. West Coast, and

extreme ocean conditions could cause turbines to break from their moorings, potentially damaging seafloor habitat.”

— California Coastal Commission Consistency Report to BOEM (2023)

 

“The potential impacts for marine mammals and sea turtles associated with the Proposed Action include

noise, vessel collisions, and entanglement in mooring systems. These effects on hearing ability or disturbance can disrupt

critical biological behaviors such as migration, feeding, resting, communication, and breeding.”

— BOEM Morro Bay Draft EA 

 “The potential consequences of these impacts on marine mammals of the Atlantic OCS are unknown. Irreversible

impacts on marine mammal populations could occur if one or more individuals of an ESA-listed species were injured or killed.

Collisions with large vessels (‘ship strikes’) are recognized as the leading cause of death for blue and fin whales,

and construction will expose marine life to harmful levels of underwater noise.”

— BOEM Ocean Wind 1 Draft Environmental Impact Statement (2022)

    • California Coastal Act: Text of the 1976 California Coastal Act, aimed at protecting marine environments.

      • Summary: Highlights how offshore wind flouts the Coastal Act’s marine protections, trampling regulations meant to safeguard ecosystems with industrial sprawl and regulatory loopholes.

“Marine resources shall be maintained, enhanced, and, where feasible, restored. Special protection shall be given

to areas and species of special biological or economic significance… Uses of the marine environment shall be carried out

in a manner that will sustain the biological productivity of coastal waters and that will maintain healthy

populations of all species of marine organisms…”

— California Coastal Act

 

Technical Challenges

“Wind turbines do not actually operate at 100% efficiency. They operate at 35% to 45% efficiency. However due to the intermittency and variation of the wind the actual output is much worse. The effect of the enhanced fluctuations is dramatic. The capacity factor, the ratio of actual delivered power for offshore wind is 20-40%.” 

Robert Sidenberg - The Morro Bay Wind Farm and Demise of Port San Luis

Technical Challenges

Delve into the engineering hurdles of offshore wind projects, many of which rely on unproven, undeveloped, or entirely uninvented technologies.

 

Engineering Challenges: Risks of Floating Turbine Technology:

    • Potential Impacts of Floating Wind Turbine Technology: Discusses potential environmental risks associated with floating offshore wind turbines, focusing on marine species and habitats.

      • Summary: Warns of the reckless deployment of floating turbines, an unproven technology that threatens to shred marine habitats, destabilize ecosystems, and wreak havoc on ocean life with no safeguards against its destructive fallout.

“Secondary entanglement could pose a significant risk and have population-level impacts,

particularly if highly endangered species occur in the areas around FOWT… While secondary entanglement

risks in FOWT are currently unknown, it is critical to monitor for effects.”

- Maxwell et al., 2022, Journal of Environmental Management

    • HVDC Cooling Systems White Paper: (2022) Explores how high-voltage direct current (HVDC) systems used in offshore wind affect marine ecosystems through technical analysis. (BOEM)

      • Summary: Exposes how HVDC cooling systems spew heat and toxic pollutants into fragile ocean waters, roasting marine life and amplifying ecological destruction under the false banner of clean energy.

 

Material and Resource Concerns:

    • Mines, Minerals & Green Energy Reality Check: (2020) Examines the environmental toll of rare earth mineral extraction for wind energy, detailing mining impacts for turbine production. (Manhattan Institute)

      • Summary: Lifts the curtain on offshore wind’s dirty secret, revealing how rare earth mining for turbines devastates landscapes, poisons water supplies, and fuels an environmental disaster that dwarfs any supposed benefits.

 

    • Rare Earth Elements & Offshore Wind (2023): Discusses the sourcing challenges and sustainability concerns of rare earth elements used in wind turbines, based on a Columbia University analysis. (Columbia Climate School)

      • Summary: Slams the unsustainable plunder of rare earths for offshore wind, spotlighting the ecological wreckage and exploitation of vulnerable regions that shatter the myth of this technology as a green solution. 

 “Most wind turbines use neodymium–iron–boron magnets, which contain the rare earth elements neodymium and

praseodymium to strengthen them, and dysprosium and terbium to make them resistant to demagnetization. Global demand

for neodymium is expected to grow 48 percent by 2050, exceeding the projected supply by 250 percent by 2030… Meeting the

broader mineral demands of the energy transition [including EVs, batteries, and renewable infrastructure]

could require 384 new mines globally by 2035.”

— Columbia Climate School, April 2023

Videos & Documentaries

“This is not about the environment. This is not about climate change. This is not about getting us off fossil fuels. This is purely about money. That’s why these projects are being built. There’s an enormous amount of money. It’s JPMorgan, it’s Goldman Sachs… They are heavily involved in expanding wind energy in this country.”

Lisa Linowes in Blown Away: The People vs. Wind Power

Videos & Documentaries

A curated collection of impactful visual resources highlighting the devastating environmental and social implications of offshore wind energy projects.

Captured Reality: Documentaries Exposing Offshore Wind Impacts:

    • Blown Away: The People vs. Wind Power – A Tucker Carlson Originals Film
      An investigative documentary examining the human, environmental, and political consequences of offshore wind development.

      • Summary: Explores how offshore wind projects are impacting marine life, displacing coastal communities, and raising questions about environmental justice and energy policy. Through interviews with fishermen, scientists, and residents, the film exposes the overlooked costs of offshore wind and the influence of powerful industry interests behind it.

 

    • Block Island Wind Farm - Offshore Wind Documentary: This film provides an in-depth look at the Block Island Wind Farm, chronicling its development and operational impacts off Rhode Island’s coast (Block Island Wind Farm Documentary).

      • Summary: Unveils the harsh reality of the Block Island Wind Farm, exposing how its towering turbines disrupt marine ecosystems and local fishing grounds, serving as a grim warning of offshore wind’s unchecked toll on coastal life.

 

    • Planet Wind Documentary: Features insights from over twenty offshore wind experts, offering a global perspective on the technology’s deployment and effects (Tethys).

      • Summary: Exposes the hollow promises of offshore wind through expert testimony, detailing its rampant ecological damage and economic folly, painting a damning picture of a technology that sacrifices oceans for corporate gain. (Positive view of OSW)

 

    • Winds of Change: A personal perspective of Morro Bay commercial fishermen on the real-life impacts of offshore wind development

      • Summary: A local fisherman’s testimony on the adverse effects of offshore wind development on their livelihood and community.

 

    • Shining the Light on Offshore Wind: Illuminating Environmental, Economic, and Community Impacts (2024): A recorded community forum hosted by REACT Alliance featuring expert presentations on the wide-ranging consequences of offshore wind development. Speakers included physicist Dr. C, economist Dr. David Henderson, policy researcher Michael Hogan, Long Island Commercial Fishing Association director Bonnie Brady, and Morro Bay City Councilmember Zara Landrum.

      • Summary: Provides a powerful, fact-based examination of offshore wind’s environmental, economic, and social impacts. This forum equips viewers with the tools to challenge industry claims and advocate for responsible, community-conscious energy policy grounded in science and lived experience.

 

Bonnie Brady (Long Island Commercial Fishing Association director) & Nicole Dorfman (REACT Alliance Director)

“Morro Bay is our home. We never wanted to leave. This is our home… You don’t experiment with the ocean. This [the ocean] is not a test tube. This is not a laboratory.. This isn’t about energy. It’s about money.”

Offshore Wind projects, from pre-construction surveying through to facility operation, are fraught with a plethora of destructive environmental issues and have the potential to kill and harm countless marine species, and migrating and soaring marine birds. 

Offshore Wind has proven to be inefficient in output, expensive to operate and has needed subsidization to continue long-term energy production all over the world. The cost of onshore infrastructure, in and of itself, renders the project absurdly costly, and the industrialization of our ports will damage our current local economies irreparably.