Does offshore wind harm whales?
Studies have consistently shown that there is no scientific evidence backing the claim that whale deaths are linked to offshore wind.
This false narrative has been spread by groups linked to fossil fuel companies like the Heartland Institute and the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, which seek to block clean energy progress and “have a long history of rejecting the scientific consensus that climate change is driven by human activity,” and have criticized and even called for the repeal of the Endangered Species Act.
Marine mammals are sensitive to underwater noise and may be impacted by increased vessel traffic, which both increases ocean noise and increases the potential for vessel strikes. The blasting and drilling associated with the construction of fixed-bottom turbines, which may impact marine mammal behavior (Ketten et al., 1993), is not expected to be a component of floating offshore wind development. Existing long-term and future marine mammal-specific research will help identify exactly where cetaceans (whales, porpoise…) and pinnipeds (seals, walrus…) are in the Gulf in all seasons, as well as what effect, if any, electromagnetic fields associated with offshore wind arrays have on marine mammals.