'Clean Energy' - Saving The Planet By Killing Birds, Bats And Whales

Americans are waking up to the Green slaughter which has been taking place in Europe for well over a decade. 14 dead whales have washed up onto the beaches of the northeast USA in recent months, coincidentally just when offshore wind farm work has begun. Feds have claimed that there’s “no evidence” the whales were killed by offshore wind farm activities. In support of this statement they claim they have been investigating an elevated rate of whale strandings since 2016:

“NOAA officials said they have been studying the phenomenon of humpback whales dying at elevated rates along the East Coast since January 2016. During that period, 178 of the animals have washed ashore dead between Maine and Florida.

Post-mortem examinations were able to be done on about half the animals, and of those, 40% showed evidence of “human interaction,” such as entanglement with fishing gear or being struck by vessels, said Lauren Gaches, a NOAA spokesperson. In other cases, the animals were too decomposed for an effective investigation.

In no case, authorities said, has a whale been proven to have been killed by offshore wind activity.

“I want to be unambiguous: There is no information supporting that any of the equipment used in support of offshore wind development could directly lead to the death of a whale,” said Benjamin Laws, deputy chief for permits and conservation with NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources. “There are no known connections between any offshore wind activities and any whale strandings.”

Let’s be even more unambiguous shall we. NOAA claims that since Jan 2016, 178 whales have washed ashore between Maine and Florida. That’s 7 years, i.e. 84 months, meaning an average of about 2 whales per month have washed up along a stretch of eastern coastline thousands of miles long. Since December 1st, 2022, fourteen whales have washed up on a far more limited stretch of the north east coastline where it just happens that wind farm work is taking place. That’s seven a month along a stretch of coast measuring maybe 50 miles or so! Spot the difference NOAA? No, of course you don’t. You’re paid not to. Absence of evidence, or the refusal to even look for evidence, is not evidence of absence.

Politico says it’s dividing environmentalists. I say it’s sorting the real environmentalists from the neo-Marxist climate change cultists and Green crony capitalists.

Dead whales are usually a sure-fire way to unite environmentalists — but not in New Jersey.

Instead, a recent spate of beached whales in the Northeast is exposing rifts among activists, energizing Republicans and threatening to complicate one of President Joe Biden’s top energy goals.

Since December, at least nine whales have been stranded on beaches in New Jersey and New York. The deaths are happening as pre-construction work ramps up on offshore wind farms, which are a key part of the nation and New Jersey’s climate change strategy.

There is no evidence the wind work and whale deaths are linked. But Clean Ocean Action, a 40-year-old nonprofit, believes the two things happening at once may be more than just a fluke.

Real or rhetorical, the claim is stirring a new political debate.

The group, which has been one of the few environmental organizations to criticize offshore wind, is using the whale deaths to push for a halt of offshore wind development until officials can figure out what is going on. Its message is spreading.

European authorities have been playing the “no evidence” trick for years now and the death toll in European waters is much higher:

I was criticised by many after I wrote a recent blog piece suggesting that the unusually high mortality rate of marine mammals over the past few years might have something to do with the proliferation of offshore wind farms. I was accused of having a 'basic level of logic' and an 'uninformed opinion'. Interestingly much of the criticism (as usual) came from those with an investment in the wind industry...

There has been precious little independent research into the subject.
An ongoing investigation into this year's huge increase in whale strandings is being carried out by the UK and Scottish governments, neither exactly neutral on the subject of wind farms with both governments heavily invested in offshore energy projects.

1000 Whales Dead This Year
This year alone, it is estimated that upwards of 1000 whales have died around the coasts of the UK and Ireland in an exceptionally high mortality event. In 2017, when some Minke whales were washed up on the East coast of England, it was suggested that noise from nearby offshore wind farms had affected the animals' delicate echolocation mechanisms, but the idea was quickly ridiculed by 'experts' even though it appeared to be a perfectly reasonable suggestion, one that should have at least been investigated further....

2,590 Turbines In North Sea - And Many Unexplained Whale Deaths
If we concentrate for now on the well documented reports of whale strandings around North Sea coasts, we can see, as the map below illustrates, that there are an astonishing 2590 wind turbines currently operating in the North Sea across 40 extensive wind farms.  Let that figure sink in for a moment.....
In the absence of any obvious explanation for the whales' deaths, might it not be entirely logical to believe that they had been disoriented by low level nose emitting from the vast banks of turbines?

Jan/Feb 2016 was catastrophic for Sperm whales in the North Sea and the Wash - I know, I used to live there and remember the tragic local news stories and reports very well. The Wash is literally ‘awash’ with wind ‘farms’ and I would see the cable laying ships regularly plus the daily traffic to and from the construction sites:

Between January 9 and February 4 this year, 29 sperm whales got stranded and died on English, German and Dutch beaches. Environmentalists and the news media offered multiple explanations – except the most obvious and likely one: offshore wind farms.

Indeed, that area has the world’s biggest concentration of offshore wind turbines, and there is ample evidence that their acoustic pollution can interfere with whale communication and navigation.

However, Britain’s Guardian looked for answers everywhere but in the right place. That’s not surprising, as it tends to support wind energy no matter the cost to people or the environment. After consulting with a marine environmental group, the paper concluded: “The North Sea acts as a trap.… It’s virtually impossible for [whales] to find their way out through the narrow English Channel.”

The BBC and the Guardian, in the pay of the Renewables crony capitalists, advanced the absurd ‘expert’ theory that the whales were so busy hunting squid they got ‘lost’ in the shallow waters of the southern North Sea:

The deaths of 30 sperm whales in the North Sea were probably due to them straying into shallow waters while hunting squid, a marine expert said.

Six whales died after washing up on the east coast of England in Skegness and Hunstanton.

The others were found beached in France, Germany and the Netherlands.

Dr Peter Evans, director of the Sea Watch Foundation, dismissed suggestions man-made objects had affected the animals' ability to navigate.

He said: "We've now had 30 animals stranded around the southern part of the North Sea - making it the biggest we've ever had.

"The animals which were first stranded in Holland had quite a lot of a particular species of squid in their stomachs - which they can catch, up in the Norwegian Deep."

He said they "got into danger" after heading south, possibly following shoals of squid.

"What happens, particularly south of Dogger Bank, is that the depths are much shallower than anything they are accustomed to.

"They normally live out in very deep waters, about 3,000 metres deep - south of Dogger Bank it's mainly less than 50 metres - and can be less than 20."

Here is one of those silly ‘lost’ whales who ended up on a beach in the Wash:

Tourism in Snettisham and Hunstanton got a boost apparently; I wasn’t among those gormless spectators who flocked to see the body of this magnificent beast. Utter tragedy. It’s not just whales, it’s not just offshore turbines, it’s iconic birds of prey being splatted by onshore turbines:

Such sacrifices of endangered wildlife will continue to be necessary in order to save the planet from the imaginary ‘climate crisis’ invented by the Guardian in 2018.

Update: 31 Jan 2023:

Here is Tucker Carlson talking about the Politico article on whale deaths: