On June 7, 2023, the Atlantic County Democratic Party its members a seven page email called “Offshore WindNJ Talking Points”. Here are some of the main points and how to respond to them:
1. Democrats: “The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that the current ‘climate crisis’ demands ‘immediate action’ to stop using fossil fuels and to develop ‘renewable energy’. TRUTH: This UN Panel is controlled by the Communist regime in China. It wants to dominate the world by destroying the economies of free countries. Communist China is now building nearly two new coal fired power plants every week. If fossil fuels were really a problem, the best option to replace them is nuclear energy.
2. Democrats: “In order to save the planet from catastrophic weather extremes, countries must stop using fossil fuels”. TRUTH: No evidence of increased catastrophic weather during past 100 years. Fewer people dying from natural disasters. There is more property damage because people are building more expensive buildings near the ocean. “There have been bad fires, floods, tornadoes and storms since the beginning of the earth. Woke” Democrats and their media routinely blame every bad flood, fire, and storm on “climate change” without any evidence. Click Here For Link To: “Unprecedented Fire Season” In Canada: Arson, Coincidence Or “Climate Crisis”? – Liberty and Prosperity
3. Democrats: Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests $7.5 billion to provide 500,000 Electric Vehicle charging stations in America. TRUTH: Democrats want Americans to be totally dependent on electricity that can be closely monitored, controlled, and shut off by the government at any time.
4. Democrats: Offshore wind is a reliable and scalable source of energy immune to supply shortages and price shocks. TRUTH: Offshore wind is to weak, diffuse, intermittent and unpredictable to replace fossil fuels. Only nuclear energy can do that. Germany’s massive investment in wind was shown to be a total failure when Russia stopped supplying cheap natural gas. Click Here For Link To: It’s Not Too Late To Stop Ocean Wind Disaster – Liberty and Prosperity
5. Democrats: Offshore wind power around the world is on track to hit 504 gigawatts in cumulative installations by 2035, a tenfold increase from 2021. TRUTH: Only if Americans are dumb enough to do those projects. Also, 504 gigawatt figure means nothing, as wind turbine ratings falsely assume that the wind will always blow at 26 miles per hour, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.
Democrats: Installing offshore wind turbines will create jobs in New Jersey. TRUTH: Building offshore wind turbines will cause massive tax increases, and double or triple cost of electricity. It will also cause frequent blackouts and power failures. That is why Atlantic City Electric is installing “smart meters”. This will kill far more jobs than building wind and repairing wind turbines will create.
6. Democrats: Wind Turbines are not killing whales. TRUTH: Whales didn’t die like this until sonar testing for wind turbines began. New Jersey wind turbines will be built right in the middle of the migration path for the endangered right whale.
THE ENTIRE SEVEN PAGE EMAIL SENT BY ATLANTIC COUNTY DEMOCRATS IS COPIED BELOW. WE DON’T HAVE TIME TO RESPOND TO ALL OF THEIR “TALKING POINTS”. HOWEVER, OUR PREVIOUS POSTS ON THIS PAGE RESPOND TO MOST OF THEM. PLEASE SCROLL DOWN AND READ THEM! THANKS.
From: Atlantic County Democrats <info@atlanticdemocrats.com>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, June 7, 2023
Subject: Offshore Wind Talking Points
Offshore WindNJtalking points
Source: Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA)
The future increased electrical need—
•The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report also identifies that
the current climate crisis demands immediate action, endingreliance on fossil
fuelsand developing renewable energy lik
e offshore wind.
•In order to save the planet from catastrophic weather extremes, countries must
stop using fossil fuels.We must transition to a clean energy economy now.
•The necessity to have more clean energy resources will expand as we build out
our electric systems toaccommodate electric heating andelectric transportation.
That’s where offshore wind farms will beessential.
•President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests $7.5 billion in EV charging, The Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA’s) landmark support for advanced batteries and new and expanded tax credits for purchases of EVs, plusInfrastructure Law’s buildoutof anational network of 500,000 electric vehicle chargerstobe installed along America’s highways,and in communities where access is limited, there will bemore EVs on the road.New Jersey needs offshore wind to provide the increasein electricityEVs represent.
•Offshore wind provides a reliable and scalable source of energy immune to
supply shortages and price shocks.
•Offshore wind power is also expected to play a key role not only in decarbonizing power grids but also in providing the renewable electricity needed for making “green” fuels like hydrogen forcargo shipping,aviationand steelmaking.
•An analysis by BloombergNEF says offshore wind power around the world is on
track to hit 504 gigawatts in cumulative installations by 2035, a tenfold increase
from 2021.
•Oil and gas volatile price fluctuations, and the dirty fossil fuelpollution its industry causes are plaguing Americans.Prices skyrocketed in 2021 and there is no guarantee it won’t happen again.It’s not the first time the oil and gas industry have used a war and limited supplies to raise prices.
- The good news isthat a clean energy economy has the power to insulate America from these dangers to our health, livelihoods and security. What we need is more renewable, clean energy sources.
•Clean offshore windenergyis critical for public health improvement and helping
the reduce fossil fuel pollutants
New Jersey—jobs, training and economic ripple effects
•The state goal is the largest on the eastern seaboard with 11 gigawattsby 2040.
•In 2021 developers bid a record $4.37 billion to lease areas off the coasts of New York and New Jersey.
•The Atlantic seaboard could producemore than four timesNew Jersey’s current
energy demand.
•With strong, consistent offshore wind and a wide, shallow continental shelf
economical deployment of offshore wind off New Jersey’s coast is idealforfix bed
technology.
•This year, a first-of-its-kind wind farm job workforce development program, called Wind Power Ready, was announced. It is recruiting to train individualsfrom Atlantic City and nearby areas to become wind farm technicians on Orsted projects.
•Wind Power Readypartnerswith local organizationsto provide a pathway for
individuals from underserved communities to start a well-paid and permanent
career in clean energy.
•Wind Power Ready programwasdeveloped in partnership with Rowan College of South Jerseyandis funded through grants from Ørsted, the New Jersey Wind
Institute for Innovation and Training, theGovernor’s Office of Climate Action and
the Green Economy, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
•The program’s hands-on practical experience approach means students could graduate to become offshore wind turbine technicians in less than 22 weeks, while being paid.
•Industry advocates are establishing a supply chain to support the construction and operation of New Jersey’s wind turbines, as well as projects being developed
across the entire eastern seaboard.
•These supply chains will grow jobs, local economies.
• Some 490 companies have joined the registry established by the Business Network for Offshore Wind and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, an effort to help smaller local suppliers, likeboating operators,connect with the developers and other firms.
•A 2022, New Jersey Offshore Wind jobs analysis projected the state can expect
an additional 314,886 net jobs over the next 10 years based on current clean
energy policies and investments.
•The country’s largest permitted project isOcean Wind, 15 miles off Atlantic City,
and will be barely visible. It will produce 1,100-megawatts when operational in
2024 and spur thousands of highly skilled jobs.
•Ocean Wind is projected to reduce carbon emissions by2.2 million tons annually —the equivalent of taking 400,000 cars off the road—and provide a reliable and scalable source of energy, immune to supply shortages and price shocks.
•The average offshore wind farm being considered for New Jersey is projected to
create4,300 skilled, well-paying jobsand add $702 million to the economy.
•The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for Ocean Wind 1 on May 22, 2023. Based on the findings of the FEIS, BOEM will issue a final Record of Decision (ROD) after 30 days granting the project environmental approval to begin construction.
•Ocean Windwill be online in 2024 to power 500,000 homes. The monopile facility under construction in Paulsboro, the New Jersey Wind Port, and a fabrication facility in Baltimore harbor were bolstered by BOEM’s announcement. Both are key in the supply line channels for offshore wind.
•New Jersey’s Economic Development Authority officials say the New Jersey Wind Port alonewill create more than 1,500permanent jobs. The facility’s location puts it in a prime position to get wind turbines out into the ocean for easy construction.
•New Jersey is becoming a nationwide hub for the industry which gives the state
new career opportunities. Training opportunities have been established in Atlantic
City with the workforce development program called Wind Power Ready.
•New Jersey’s strong, consistent offshore wind and wide, shallow continental shelf enables economical deployment of offshore wind using existing technology.
•Businesses, community groups, labor unions, and environmental groups all want to see offshore wind developed responsibly.
•In February, the state Board of Public Utilities granted Orsted, the Danish wind energy developer, approvals toward several easements and permits that authorities in Cape May County had refused to grant the company.
- They used an amendment to New Jersey’s offshore wind law passed in 2021 and signed into law by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy removing most local control over where offshore wind projects come ashore. The law enables an offshore wind developer to apply to the utilities board for an order superseding local controlover such projects.
•The power cablethey got permission forwill run from wind turbines that the company says will be located 15 miles offshore and come ashore in Ocean City, where it will run underground along existing roadways and connect to the electrical grid at the site of the former B.L. England power plant in Upper Township.
Offshore wind potential—
•Offshore wind has the potential to provide more than 2,000 gigawatts (GW) of
energy in the United States—two times the present generation of the entire U.S.
electric grid, according to a National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimate.
•Offshore wind is stronger and more consistent than onshore wind day and night.
•This dynamic clean, renewable energy sector will revitalize the economy with
thousands of skilled jobs while helping to prevent some of the most devastating
effects of the climate crisis.
•As windfarms go up, fossil fuel production will go down as more is taken off line
transitioning the gridto clean energy.Offshore wind energy is key to a prosperous
healthy future.
•According to theOffshore Wind for Americareport, New England could generate
more than five times its projected 2050 electricity demand with offshore wind alone.
•Offshore wind has the potential to be the biggest lever that we can pull to reduce
our emissions, address the climate crisis, meet our energy needs, and grow our
economy simultaneously.
•Offshore wind is poised to become a $1 trillion industry by 2040, creating
thousands of good-paying jobs, providing clean renewable energy, and spurring
economic growth.
•The Biden administration’s offshore wind goal of 30 gigawatts offixed bottom
offshore wind capacity by 2030,will easily be met with current offshore wind
projects in development. Already, 11 states havemore than 35 gigawattsof
offshore wind projects in their combined pipeline.
•Of the 14 states along the Atlantic seaboard, 12 have the potential to produce more electricity from offshore wind than they used in 2019, and seven have the potential to produce more than they are projected to use in 2050, according to theOffshore Wind for Americareport.
•At least nine major component facilities are in development to make the foundations, towers, cables and blades used in offshore wind turbines across the U.S.A.
•According to the American Wind Energy Association, by 2030, operating offshore wind capacity will be between 20,000 to 30,000 MW, and would create up to 83,000 jobs and $12.5 to $25 billion in economic output.
•The U.S. Offshore Wind Power Economic Impact Assessment states that offshore wind is forecasted to create nearly 83,000 jobs across an estimated 74 occupations in the U.S. by 2030, with over 23,000 of those jobs being permanent, full-time jobs that will exist once the projects are fully constructed and operational.
•According to the Workforce Development Institute, 74 different occupations are needed to build an offshore wind farm. The career opportunities range from data scientists, welders, accountants, safety technicians all the way up to marine biologists, engineers, and will generate thousands of additional jobs in construction, manufacturing, turbine demonstration, and transmissionline projects.
•In 2020 alone, more than$31.7 billionof investments were made in new offshore wind assets in Europe.
Current US operational offshore wind—
•Therearetwo operational offshore wind projects in U.S. waters with a total of seven turbines:1, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind pilot project—a 12 MW wind farm off the coast of Virginia—became operational in June 2020 and consists of only two turbines in federal waters.2. The Block Island Wind Farm off the coast of Rhode Island became operational in 2016with five turbinesthat generate approximately 30 MW.
Rhode Islandenvironmental concerns answered with relief—
•Rhode Island’s Block Islandworked with federal, local and state stakeholders, from fishermen,residents,businessesandothercommunitymemberstoensure
everyone’s concerns were heard and headed in a realistic way before construction.
•Coast guard studies helped guide their Block Island offshore wind development
with certain specifications on the sizing and placement of the turbines to minimize
burdens on the commercial fishermen.
•Once the turbines were in place and operational, muscles and vegetation grew on the turbine’s pilons, which created a new environment for fish to thrive. As a result, fishermen now conduct tours of the windfarm as well as catch the fish.
- Now, tourism is up because of the development and the clean energy provided costs are reliable and don’t increase because of world markets, as fossil fuel prices do.
Whales—
•UnderNew Jersey’sResearch and Monitoring Initiativeselected offshore wind
bidderswill be requiredto contribute $10,000 per megawatt to wildlife research
and monitoring is a nation-leading model that we frequently advocate for other
states to replicate.
•We’re at the vanguard of a new clean, renewable energy industry that will
generatethousandsofunionjobsandtraining,createprosperityforour
environmental injustice communities, improve our health, and help protect our
coastlines—including our whales.
•Whalebeachings have been documented by scientists since 2016.The actual
incidents have been in decline:
1.In 2017 there were 78,
2.2018 through 2020 there were 59 each year.
3.In 2021 there were 31
4.In 2022 there were 32.
•Theover-sensationalizedsocialmediastormandaccompanyingheadlines
irrationally, and without any evidence, blamed their deaths on the development of
wind turbines off the coast—despite there being no evidence.
•The rumors blaming offshore wind survey ships as the cause of their deaths have been put to rest by NOAA and BOEM.
•TheMarineMammalStrandingCenterandNationalOceanographicand
Atmospheric Administration have ruled out any link between the death of whales
onthe shores of New Jersey and equipment used in developing offshorewind.
•Authoritieshave also noted that most of the whalesappear to have trauma
consistent with vessel strikes.
•Under federal regulations there are stringent requirements for vessels conducting offshore wind activities that aredesigned to look for marine mammals. An observer must be aboard during daylight hours and two at night using night-vision equipment. Additionally, the offshore wind surveying equipment is smaller, and quieter than the intrusive, noisy, environmental damaging equipment used by oil and gas exploitation.
•Dueto climate change, whalesaremoving into new areas for food,areas with
more people and vessels.
- The whales’ primary feeding grounds in the Gulf of Maine have been warming
faster than nearlyanyother body of water on earth.
•Since 2010, water temperatures have been above average 92%of the time, and
at heatwave levels for 55%. This rise in temperature has led to dramatic declines
in the whales’ main source of food. In search of nourishment, they havebeen
migrating north into fishing and shipping areas.
•Offshore wind is critically important, not only to address the urgentissue of climate change, which is thebiggest threat to wildlife, according to theUnited Nations, but alsoto meetthe New York and New Jersey’s economic development, public health,environmental justice goals.
•We support responsibly developed offshore wind.Any effortsto delay the development of the initial offshore wind projects will only compromise efforts todecrease thedirty energy pollution, createthese great paying union jobsand limitNJ’s ability to reachtheirclimate and clean energy goals.
•The best way to help whales flourish is forhumans to stop using fossil fuels that
have been fueling global warming and thereby endangering the whale’s habitat
and food source.
•Since 2016, Rhode Island’s Block Island has been generating 30MWwithout
whale deaths, fishing or bird disruptions. In fact, it has spurred a new fishing
industry. Platforms reefs have formed around the turbines, attracting new schools
of fish that tourists catch when they hire charter boats.
•Offshore wind powers clean energy that will diminish our dependency on fossil
fuels, and help stop ocean temperature rise.
•Whales are majestic beings who represent our future living in harmony with
nature. Offshore wind is a big part of that futurebalance—a future where our
children have the right to a healthy life free of pollution that causes asthma and
other chronic ailments—free of dirty fossil fuels.
Oil company motives to halt offshore wind—
•We should be questioning thevalidity of intrusive oil company operations that add to the climate crisis, not demonize clean renewable offshore wind.They made $200 billion in profits in 2022, when consumers were payingexponentiallymore for fossil fuel products.
•Offshore wind development is the most environmentally friendly ocean energy.
Oil platforms with their cables and drilling operations are prone to spills and when
there are accidents, like the Deepwater Horizon explosion, they kill wildlife and put the lives andlivelihoods of thousands in jeopardy. The economic fallout takes communities affected decades to recover.Ten years after the Gulf Coast still suffers from the pollution the explosion wrought according toa scientific study.
•The oil industry has drilled, polluted, and has been responsible for major spills
endangering and killing mammals, includingwhales. According to BOEM, oil and
gas companies regularly use high-impact seismic surveys to map the ocean floor
causing blasts so loud and disruptive to the sea bead the results have been similar to the explosions of munitions left over from the early 20th century.
•The threats of fossil fuel exploration, increased shipping, and the danger that
thousands of oil platforms present need to be exposed, not rumors generated by
fossil fuel interest from out-of-state that are funding shadow organizations to delay New Jersey’s transition to clean renewable energy.
•The connections between groups like Save Long Beach Island, the American
CoalitionforOceanProtection,andtheCaesarRodneyInstitutearewell
documented. By the end of 2022, the federal government faced lawsuits from
resident groups in coastal states from North Carolina to Maine.
•Some of the groups received money from Caesar Rodney Institute’s legal fund.
Protect Our Coast New Jersey has a donation button ontheir websitethat goes to
a Caesar Rodney Paypal account.
•The Texas Public Policy Foundation, an oil company-funded advocacy group, is
providing the financial backing and legal expertise for litigation filed by New
England fishing businesses to stop the Massachusetts Vineyard Wind project.
According to theWashington Post, the foundation is taking up the cause of the
whales in court.
•Meanwhile, Big Oil has taken advantage of the war in Ukraine and inflation to reap exorbitant profits off the backs of consumers.
•We can’t let out of state interests delay our progress towards a safer planet for all.
Heath risks from fossil fuels—
•The burning of fossil fuels–especially coal, petrol, and diesel–is a major source of airborne fineparticulate matter(PM2.5), and a key contributor to the global burden of mortality and disease.
•In the United States, communities of color are exposed to higher levels of air
pollution at every income level.
•Fossil fuel production kills.
- As with other environmental justice (EJ) issues, the causes of systemic racial/ethnic air pollution exposure disparities are complex and rooted in part in historical patterns of exclusion and discrimination like redlining.
•Redliningmeans 45 million Americans are breathing dirtier air, 50 years after it
ended. Developers who knew they were polluting putfactories, refineries and
terminals in redlined zones.
•Ananalysis, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology
Letters,found that, compared with White people, Black and Latino Americans live
with more smog and fine particulate matter from cars, trucks, buses, coal plants
and other nearbyindustrial sources in areas that were redlined.
•Those pollutants inflame human airways, reduce lung function, trigger asthma
attacks and can damage the heart and cause strokes.
•People of color, especially Black/African-American people, andlow-incomepeople bear a disproportionately high burden of fossil fuel pollution across theUnited States.African-Americanshave 1.54 times the exposure to particulate matter compared to the overall population.Systemic racism created redlining, thereby making it near impossibleAfrican-Americans to live incommunitieswith less pollution.
•Another analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Toxics Release Inventory finds that oil refineries and petrochemical facilities (which provide key inputs for plastics production) are among the worst polluting sectors of the economy, and that the toxic burden of those sectors falls disproportionately on Black, Brown, Indigenous, andlow-incomecommunities.
•2021 researchfrom Harvard University, found that more than 8 million people died prematurely in 2018 from fossil fuel pollution,significantly higher than previous research suggested.
•Worldwide, air pollution from burning fossil fuels is responsible for about 1 in 5
deaths—roughly the population of New York City.
•In the United States 350,000 premature deaths are attributed to fossil fuel pollution.
•Transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy has immediate health benefits, including preventing premature deaths attributed to fossilfuel pollution.
•Thousands of kids under age 5 die each year due to respiratory infections
attributed to fossil fuel pollution.
Paid for by the Atlantic County Democratic Committee, P.O. Box 237, Absecon, NJ 08201.