A local grassroots organization is clapping back against offshore wind after a Sept. 10 press briefing in Hammonton, where some of New Jersey’s federal lawmakers and project supporters renewed a call to expand the industry, despite concerns turbines could interfere with military radar.
“Considering the many negative impacts of these projects brought to light over the last few years, the intense shore community opposition to them and the widespread concern over keeping electricity and other basic needs affordable, the obsession with these offshore wind projects is hard to fathom,” said Bob Stern, president of Save LBI and a former manager of the Office of National Environmental Policy Act Affairs for the Department of Energy.
Save LBI’s latest pushback comes as House of Representatives Frank Pallone Jr. (D-6th) and Donald Norcross (D-1st) joined labor leaders and environmental advocates in condemning the Trump administration’s decision to buy out offshore wind developers.
The event was held at Ironworkers Local 399, where New Jersey union members have spent years training for careers in the emerging offshore wind industry. Speakers said the administration’s decision to pay developers nearly $4 billion to cancel offshore wind leases nationwide will cost the state well-paying union jobs and deprive residents of clean, reliable and affordable electricity at a time when rising demand is already driving up utility bills.
“New Jerseyans are getting crushed by electric bills and paying through the nose at the pump because of Trump’s illegal war with Iran,” Pallone said. “Meanwhile, he is taking our tax dollars and paying big companies to walk away from projects that would have produced cleaner, more-affordable energy and created good union jobs. We’re literally paying billions to get less energy and fewer jobs. It’s completely backwards.”
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