The following are excerpts of remarks by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) at today’s hearing on the harmful effects of offshore wind industrialization on our environment, marine life, and economy.  The hearing, chaired by Rep. Andy Harris, MD (R-MD) and attended by Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), was held in Ocean City, Maryland and adds to expert testimony provided at last year’s critical hearing in Wildwood, NJ.  

            “In just the last two and a half months, three major industrial wind development companies pulled out of their industrial wind farm projects off our Atlantic coast. 

            The remarkable about-face, in which Orsted, Equinor and BP stated that the projects were economically unsustainable is even more stunning in light of the massive tax-subsidies and lavish praise they have received from the Biden Administration—and in my state from Governor Murphy. 

             Both the Biden and Murphy Administrations refuse to heed numerous warnings from local leaders, residents and experts who simply ask for honest review and study of the economic, environmental, and national security concerns inherent in a reckless push for massive wind industrialization off our coast. 

            Tragically, despite this public failure, the Biden Administration aims to plow ahead continuing with false promises of better energy and new jobs—promises that have always been over-hyped and ultimately collapse under the scrutiny of the taxpayers and boardrooms.

            What more will it take?

            Earlier this process, like canaries in coal mines, the spate of tragic whale and dolphin deaths and a well-founded suspicion that geophysical surveys including the use of sonar may be a contributing cause, brought new light and increased scrutiny to the fast tracking of approximately 3,400 offshore wind turbines covering 2.4 million acres by 2030 —all embedded into the ocean floor by pile drivers—or floated— off our Atlantic coast. 

            Despite our calls for an honest review, the offshore wind industrialization approval process has left unaddressed and unanswered numerous serious questions concerning the potentially harmful environmental impact on marine life and ecosystems, maritime and aviation traffic, the fishing industry, and our strong and growing coastal tourism industries.

            Since the two administrations dismissed our concern, we took another route. 

            In March, the House of Representatives passed our amendment–with broad bipartisan support in a  vote of 244-189—to have the Government Accountability Office investigate the impacts of wind turbines.  The GAO audit, which we ultimately secured in June, is now underway investigating the sufficiency of the environmental review process for offshore wind projects of the Marine Fisheries Service, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and any other relevant Federal agency.  The GAO will report to Congress on the impacts of offshore wind projects on marine life and coastal ecosystems, the sustainability of our fisheries and shoreline beaches, maritime traffic, and the effects of severe weather on offshore wind projects and their impacts to our coastal environments.

            Additionally, another amendment we put forth to the FAA Reauthorization Act in July would require the President or his designee to certify that offshore wind turbine projects in the North Atlantic and Mid-Atlantic Planning Areas “will not weaken, degrade, interfere with, or nullify the capability of radar relied upon by the Federal Aviation Administration or the Armed Forces.”

            It would also require the DOT IG to conduct a comprehensive review of the sufficiency of the process used to approve offshore wind projects in areas critical to air travel and national security. It awaits action in the Senate.

            All of this is necessary because BOEM failed to consider the catastrophic consequences of large-scale ocean industrialization.

            Along with the economic unsustainability of the projects, we have serious, well-founded concerns that offshore wind turbines will interfere with radar capabilities and as a consequence, create a dangerous and potentially catastrophic impact on both military and commercial aviation activities, annihilate the fishing industry, and destroy the coastal tourism industry so many small communities have worked hard to build.

            If and when the proposed wind turbines go online, vessel navigation—including U.S. Navy ships, merchant ships, fishing boats, and search and rescue operations by the Coast Guard—may be significantly hampered due to radar interference.

            The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine released a report in 2022 entitled Wind Turbine Generator Impacts to Marine Vessel Radar and found that wind turbine generators “obfuscate the marine vessel radar for both magnetron-based and solid-state radar… and “can cause significant interference and shadowing that suppress the detection of small contacts…”

            The study also found that “wind turbine mitigation techniques for marine vessel radar have not been substantially investigated, implemented, matured or deployed.”

            The vulnerability of massive structures the size of the Chrysler Building to hurricanes, nor’easters and superstorms has not been adequately investigated and vetted. 

            Yet, one study in 2012 found that: “There is very substantial risk that Category 3 and higher hurricanes can destroy half or more of the turbines at some locations.”

            Offshore wind development in the Mid-Atlantic and North Atlantic Planning Area will affect some of the busiest ocean and air space in the country—including the areas surrounding Newark, New York, Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington DC—which contain major international airports, dozens of smaller airports, military and coast guard aviation facilities, and some of the busiest commercial ports in the United States. 

            Lockheed Martin has admitted the progression to larger wind turbines – such as the ones proposed under current BOEM regulations – interferes with current radar technologies ability to gain a clear picture of the horizon.

            The Department of Defense has expressed serious concerns over offshore wind development off the Virginia Coast and it is important to determine exactly what those concerns are and whether the potential harms off the Virginia Coast in anyway apply to the North Atlantic and Mid Atlantic Planning Areas.

            I have personally read some of the environmental impact studies for these projects, and they confidently—almost arrogantly—assert that problems that might arise can all be “mitigated.”

            The United Kingdom has spent three years trying to mitigate the effects of radar to no avail.

            Fighter pilots have admitted to using offshore turbines to hide during training exercises.

            No significant study as to the impacts on Coast Guard Search and Rescue Operations has been carried out to date.

            The Wall Street Journal has termed the Biden Administration’s foolhardy ocean industrialization policy “The Multibillion-Dollar Clean Energy Bet Gone Wrong” as company after company pulls out of offshore wind projects because they are insolvent and require billions in taxpayer dollars for survival.

            In response to the vigorous opposition by local communities, and specific issues raised by local communities, stakeholders such as our local fisherman and long-time environmental activists – rushed efforts are underway to justify decisions made in Washington behind closed doors that will fundamentally transform the future of our coastal communities.

            As our distinguished panel will share with us today, it is clear these efforts are too little, too late on the part of offshore wind proponents.

            With so much at stake—and out of an abundance of caution and concern—the ocean industrialization off our coasts must be stopped.”

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