'The rush to install these expensive and expansive offshore wind farms — with industrial cables tearing up towns like Sea Girt, Manasquan, Wall and Howell — is a catastrophe in the making... Gov. Murphy’s blatant disregard for the concerns of local residents, the dangers presented by these projects, and the reckless spending in pursuit of them makes no sense whatsoever.'

                                    - Congressman Chris Smith (R- Manchester)

The wind farm that is currently progressing off the Jersey Shore is Atlantic Shores, which is actually composed of three wind farms, according to the company website, Atlantic Shores Wind:

• Atlantic Shores North: A wind farm about 9-10 miles off Barnegat Light
• Atlantic Shores South: 195 turbines 8.7 miles off Atlantic City at its closest point to land
• Atlantic Shores Bight: A third lease area much farther out to sea, located in an area known as the Atlantic Bight.

AtlanticShoresWind.com is a private subsidiary owned by Shell Oil and EDF Renewables. They currently hold the leasing rights to three areas of the Atlantic Ocean on which they plan to build turbines.

Energy from Atlantic Shores will be brought ashore in Monmouth County: Underground cables will be built under the ocean floor and make first landfall in Sea Girt. Offshore wind energy will be brought onshore at the Sea Girt military beach and the cables will run underground to the Larrabee Collector Station in Howell, according to this map of the project from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Management.

The high-voltage electric cables will be buried 3.5 to 8 feet underground and run within 35 feet of homes, schools, businesses and recreation areas; they will be buried within 10-15 yards of homes, recreational facilities, schools and underneath the Coast to Capital Bike Trail. The cables will carry up to 6,400 megawatts of power.

"That’s nearly 10x the power of the recently closed Oyster Creek nuclear plant," said Viviani. "Based on the evidence presented by the BPU, no project of this magnitude has been tested or implemented."

According to Viviani, the NJ Board of Public Utilities is expected to award contracts to begin building on-shore infrastructure for the transmission lines at the end of 2024.

"And then the towns and hopefully Monmouth County will have the opportunity to file lawsuits," she said. "That's what we've been told. But they can't file litigation until contracts are awarded. There are still a lot of people in Wall, Manasquan and Sea Girt who don't know these underground power lines are being planned."

If all goes as planned, Atlantic Shores South expects to begin laying cable to connect to land in the first quarter of 2025.

Viviani says the transmission lines will be run directly under Sea Girt Avenue, on which she lives.

"The cables will be 30 feet from my living room," she said. "Our whole message is that high-powered cables should not be put anywhere close to residential areas."

On Sept. 24, Howell Mayor Theresa Berger, Sea Girt Mayor Donald Fetzer, Manasquan Mayor Michael Mangan and Wall Twp. Mayor Kevin Orender sent a letter to the NJ Board of Public Utilities, asking the BPU to delay awarding any contracts until environmental and safety reviews can be done.

"Our communities are along the likely route of the project and we and our residents have grave concerns regarding the safety and health hazards of routing up to 6400 MW of high-voltage cables through our neighborhoods," read the letter, signed by the four mayors. "We call upon the BPU to indefinitely defer any award of contracts for this work until the economic, safety, environmental and other issues are resolved and can clearly support moving forward."

The federal government says Atlantic Shores South will generate 2,800 megawatts of electricity, enough to power close to one million homes. President Biden said he has a goal of creating 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030, an ambition back by Gov. Murphy.

Assemblyman Paul Kanitra (R-10) joined Ciattarelli at the protest Sunday.

"As Governor Murphy has relentlessly escalated his offshore wind goals — from 3,500 megawatts in 2018 to a staggering 11,000 megawatts by 2040 — this radical push prioritizes ideology over public health and safety," said Kanitra. "The high-risk power cables proposed for Sea Girt and Manasquan could be placed within 35 feet of homes ... We must stand united to end the industrialization of our beautiful Shore, starting with electing leaders in 2025 who will put a stop to this madness."

“The rush to install these expensive and expansive offshore wind farms — with industrial cables tearing up towns like Sea Girt, Manasquan, Wall and Howell — is a catastrophe in the making,” said Congressman Chris Smith (R- Manchester), who was not able to attend Sunday's rally.

"Governor Murphy’s blatant disregard for the concerns of local residents, the dangers presented by these projects, and the reckless spending in pursuit of them makes no sense whatsoever. It’s long past time Governor Murphy tune in and listen to the great residents of our state."

Prior on this topic: Sea Girt Residents Fight Plans To Bring Wind Energy Ashore In Town (August 2024)

Energy From Latest Approved NJ Wind Farm Brought Ashore In Sea Girt (July 2024)