Public input to Regional Assessment for Offshore Wind

I am submitting input to this Draft Regional Assessment on Offshore Wind proposals as a Concerned Citizen of & for NS.

• Many environmental protection organization’s beliefs and the wind industry’s mantra claim that unlike oil, offshore wind provides power without the risk of oil spills or carbon pollution. However, the procurement of multiple non-renewable mineral resources used by the wind industry is definitely not carbon neutral.
• Turbines can contain rare earth elements that are mined in environmentally unsustainable ways https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/161/1/012069
• Turbines contain gold, also mined in environmentally damaging ways https://www.earthworks.org/campaigns/no-dirty-gold/impacts/
• Turbines contain energy consuming steel https://www.mightyearth.org/wp-content/uploads/Construction_Destruction_FINAL.pdf
• Turbine bases can contain large volumes of cement that is energy intensive in production and often contains and leaches environmentally hazardous industrial waste material https://www.greenspec.co.uk/building-design/environmental-impacts-of-concrete/
• Increased lithium mining to procure battery backup systems for wind is destroying and polluting environments worldwide and contributing to carbon emissions. https://www.osvehicle.com/the-negative-impact-of-lithium-mining-on-the-environment/
• There is an abundance of gear oil contained in each turbine that does still risk leakage during operations and regular oil change maintenance. Used gear oil also requires transport and disposal that is not often considered in wind’s green energy summations.
• Non-recyclable fibreglass blades are being land-filled on decommission https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2020/05/07/not-so-green-energy-hundreds-of-non-recyclable-fiberglass-wind-turbine-blades-are-pictured-piling-up-in-landfill/
• Wind turbines alter the aesthetic value of landscape to many https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10098-019-01734-9
• “Wind farms have been touted as a means to help reduce the impact of climate change, but new research is emerging that shows wind farms can actually decrease the accuracy of weather forecasting. “ https://emergencypreparednesspartnerships.com/how-wind-farms-affect-weather-forecasting/
• ‘maximizing global wind development could have as big an effect on climate as the climate models give for doubling CO2” https://cornwallalliance.org/2022/03/do-wind-farms-change-the-weather/
• In similar comparisons of other traditional fishing grounds, and despite the estimate that Maine’s offshore development could produce x913% of current state electrical use https://usa.oceana.org/offshore-wind-state-state-analysis/ “Governor Janet Mills has signed into law LD 1619, which prohibits new offshore wind projects (https://www.maine.gov/governor/mills/news/mills-administration-introduces-bill-prohibit-offshore-wind-maines-heavily-fished-waters-10) in State waters. The prohibition preserves State waters for recreation and fishing – where up to 75 percent of Maine’s commercial lobster harvesting occurs – and cements into law Maine’s priority of locating offshore wind projects in Federal waters in the Gulf of Maine.” https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2021/06/22/offshore-wind-ban-compromise-comes-out-of%E2%80%AFcommittee%E2%80%AF/
• Nova Scotian bylaws currently permit for wind installation at 1.5 km from a non-developers house. Our coastal ecosystems and traditional ocean usages require better protections from this energy industries planned expansions. Marine mammals are known to be negatively affected by excess marine noises. Turbines are not quiet mechanisms and are known physical hazards to migrating birds and other coastal species.
•  “President Trump signed an order prohibiting offshore leasing for energy exploration, development or production off the coast of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Trump said Sept. 25 during an event (https://coastalreview.org/2020/09/trump-confirms-nc-va-drilling-moratorium/) he would add North Carolina and Virginia to the moratorium. Though not explicitly stated in the executive orders, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has confirmed that wind energy is included in the withdrawal.” https://coastalreview.org/2020/10/offshore-moratorium-includes-wind-energy/
• Political games of back and forth with all associated federal and state legal costs surrounding this proposed industrial expansion are ongoing in the U.S. with President Biden recently repealing Trump’s order. Nova Scotia’s decision makers will do better to garner world comparisons and less legal expense in this debate.  https://coastalreview.org/2022/08/new-law-repeals-offshore-wind-energy-lease-moratorium/
• Environmental protection groups that would normally adamantly protest further oil or gas lease expansion somewhat hypocritically appear to instead be in league with the same energy corporations in the same fragile ocean ecosystems for industrial wind development in pursuit of promised and mandated “green energy”. Greenwashing is best description.
• New technologies such as https://www.pondtech.com/technology (https://www.pondtech.com/technology/) and https://www.eavor.com/  are worthy of further debate and energy investments towards reduction of fossil fuel emissions.

Thank you for this public opportunity for comment in this discussion.

Kindly,

Trudi Rhynold

Concerned Citizen of & for NS (on Facebook)