SEA GIRT — Typically, when visitors travel to this seaside hamlet, they are greeted by the famous “Smile You’re in Sea Girt” sign. However, on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 6, motorists on Sea Girt Avenue were greeted by a crowd protesting the proposed offshore wind plan that would make landfall across the street at the National Guard Training Center.
Residents of Sea Girt and other places throughout the Garden State lined the borough’s main street to remind Gov. Phil Murphy of their opposition to the proposed Atlantic Shores offshore wind turbine project that would run power cables under the streets of Sea Girt, Manasquan, Wall Township and Howell. The protesters gathered en masse, holding signs, singing chants, passing out pamphlets and listening to speakers.
The offshore wind project is part of an initiative by Gov. Murphy to produce 100% clean energy in New Jersey by 2035.
Murphy traveled to the training center in Sea Girt on Sunday for the annual Governor’s Military Review, honoring New Jersey National Guard troops and military service members.
Kimberly Paterson, one of the protesters, told The Coast Star, “My goal for today is to send a very strong message to the governor that we are against this plan until the plan can be proven safe and the proof that has been provided does nothing to assure us of safety. The proof that has been provided is really insulting, quite frankly.”
Paterson is the lead spokesperson for Stop The High-Risk Power Cables, the grassroots group that organized the rally. She said the group does not oppose alternative energy; however, it does oppose Atlantic Shores’ plan to run energy cables through her town, Sea Girt.
Paterson said the rally was scheduled after the group got wind of Gov. Murphy’s planned attendance at the National Guard Training Center’s annual military review. While the governor reviewed the soldiers and airmen at the National Guard Training Center, opponents took to the streets outside with bullhorns, street signs, supportive honks and chants to let the governor know their opinion on the proposed offshore wind plan.
Sea Girt Police Chief Justin Macko said that Gov. Murphy traveled by automobile in and out of the training center on the morning of the military review. However, by the time of his departure, the crowd of more than 300 attendees had already dispersed.
The rally attracted Assemblyman Paul Kanitra (R-10), the Republican former mayor of Point Pleasant Beach; and Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican former assemblyman who has already announced his third bid for governor, in the 2025 race. Murphy, a Democrat, defeated Ciattarelli in the 2021 gubernatorial race.
Ciattarelli told The Coast Star, “We need to continue to make a very loud and clear statement that this is a project that an overwhelming number of New Jerseyans do not want. We don’t want offshore wind farms, we don’t want high-risk power cables coming on shore. It’s not good economic policy, it’s not good environmental policy and it’s not good energy policy. We hope the Murphy administration will hear us.”
Addressing the crowd with a bullhorn, Kanitra said, “Here’s the reality of this situation, and I know most of you are here today because you’re looking at cables with unprecedented amounts of energy that are going to be coming feet from your home, but we cannot stop the high risk power cables unless we stop this entire project.”
Representatives of groups including Save the East Coast and Protect Our Coast NJ hopped on the picket line and provided handouts and their two cents on the proposed wind project.
Mike Dean, a representative of Save The East Coast, is a staunch opponent of the proposed offshore wind turbine plan and has been at the forefront of the fight for the past several years.
Dean told The Coast Star, “We’re out here trying to raise awareness about what’s going on and what they want to do in this community. They’ve conducted this whole process as much as they could behind the scenes, sort of secretly, and kept the public out of participation or any kind of involvement in general across the board and it’s got to stop. This is the public trust we’re talking about: the ocean, people’s communities, their homes, schools.”
This is an excerpt of the print article. For more on this story, read The Coast Star —on newsstands Thursday or online in our e-Edition.
Check out our other Sea Girt stories, updated daily. And remember to pick up a copy of The Coast Star —on newsstands Thursday or online in our e-Edition .
Subscribe today! If you're not already an annual subscriber to The Coast Star , get your subscription today! For just $38 per year, you will receive local mail delivery weekly, with pages and pages of local news and online access to our e-edition on Starnewsgroup.com.
Local News
Comments / 0