New Jersey shore residents raised alarm bells that an offshore wind project would negatively affect the air quality of a protected wetland.
An offshore wind project planned just nine miles off the coast of New Jersey is waiting on approval for a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency, but residents from Jersey Shore communities raised concerns that the project’s construction will endanger the air quality in the Brigantine Natural Wilderness Area.
The Biden administration gave the green light to the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind project last month. The company behind the project plans to build 200 wind turbines in three different leased areas totaling more than 400 square miles. Construction is expected to begin this year after Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind gets approval from the EPA for its Outer Continental Shelf, or OCS, air permit application.
The permit is required under the Clean Air Act to regulate the “offshore emission of air pollutants” from the construction of the project, which requires diesel engines to “piledrive” enormous 50-foot-diameter steel foundations deep into the seabed.
“The project will also use portable diesel engines temporarily located on the wind turbine generators and offshore substations during construction,” the EPA wrote. “The majority of these portable engines will become permanent diesel engines that will be located on each offshore substation and used occasionally during the project’s operation for regular testing and in case of the need for emergency power if the connection to the grid is lost.”
The EPA notes that a “very small amount of air pollutants,” which include nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, sulfur dioxide, and greenhouse gases, will be emitted from the project, and they will be covered under the permit.
“Air quality analysis showed that the impacts on air quality from the construction and operation of the Atlantic Shores Project will not cause or contribute to a violation of applicable National Ambient Air Quality Standards ('NAAQS') or PSD increments,” the EPA found.
Prevention of Significant Deterioration increments are standards set to ensure that the air quality meets public health standards and adheres to an “adequate margin of safety.”
However, Save Long Beach Island, a group of New Jersey residents fighting the project, has raised concerns that the construction of the project will degrade the air quality in the Brigantine National Wilderness Area, which includes the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.
The project will be just nine miles away from the Brigantine National Wilderness Area. It’s an area consisting of 6,681 acres of saltmarsh and barrier beach habitats and was designated by Congress in 1975 to be a preserve refuge for wading birds, shorebirds, beach-nesting birds and other wildlife. Above all it is an important nesting area for the piping plover, which is listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
In its environment review, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management acknowledged that the project would adversely impact bird populations, causing “displacement and avoidance behavior due to habitat loss or alteration, equipment noise, and vessel traffic.” The bureau also found that birds could be killed by colliding with the operating wind turbine generators.
“The Brigantine National Wilderness Area, extending from the southernmost part of Long Beach Island into Brigantine, is a unique and pristine natural environment that is afforded stringent protections from air pollutants under the Clean Air Act," said Bob Stern, president and a founder of Save LBI. “The pollutants include fine particles that will affect visibility and fauna and flora.”
The Long Beach Island suggests that the project would be in violation of the Wilderness Act . Passed in 1964, it established the National Wilderness Preservation System to protect federally designated wilderness areas, “secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness” and ensure “the preservation of their wilderness character.”
The EPA held a public hearing for the air permit on Aug. 12.
“All comments received during the public comment period or made during the public hearing will be considered in arriving at the final permit decision,” the EPA stated. “EPA’s final permit decision may be appealed administratively within 30 days of service of notice of the final determination.”
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If the EPA dismisses Save LBI’s concerns, they intend to pursue further legal action against the project through the backing of half a dozen other laws including the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, as they say the project poses a significant risk to the North Atlantic white whale, of which less than 400 remain in the wild.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the EPA for comment.
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