Are offshore windmills responsible for whales washing up dead?
Seafreeze fisheries liaison Meghan Lapp discusses offshore wind work and its possible link to whale deaths on ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight.’
Lawmakers, fishermen and marine activists are calling for an investigation into whether offshore wind projects are killing marine life after a recent spate of dead whales washing up along the New Jersey-New York coastline.
Seafreeze fisheries liaison Meghan Lapp told Fox News that the Biden administration's initiative to build wind farms to combat climate change could be threatening the lives of whales as an increasing number have turned up dead in various states across the country.
"I can’t authoritatively say that all off the whales that are washing up are because of offshore wind farms. But what I can tell you is that the seven whales that washed up off New Jersey in the past month have all washed up during intense geotechnical surveying of wind farm leases off of New Jersey," Lapp said Friday on "Tucker Carlson Tonight."
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Seven dead whales washed up along the New Jersey-New York coastline in the last month. (The Marine Mammal Center via AP)
"On the East Coast, there has been an unusual mortality event for humpback whales from 2016 until now," she continued. "The only thing that has changed in the ocean in that time is the fact there have been offshore wind surveys occurring from 2015 until now. Now, magically there are a bunch of humpback whales dying."
Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., earlier Friday called for an investigation to determine whether the survey work for building offshore wind turbines is causing harm to marine life, demanding the cessation of "all offshore wind activity" until an investigation is conducted.
Lapp echoed the lawmaker's call for an investigation, telling Carlson that the "intense sound" caused by such projects could be to blame for the recent spike in whale deaths.
"The only thing that changed in the ocean is the surveying activities that have been going on for offshore wind farms which are essentially carpet bombing the ocean floor with intense sound," she said.
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Wind turbines in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Locals have come out in opposition to the construction of similar offshore developments. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry, File)
"They need to take a very hard look at this. We know that intense sound can cause bleeding in the eardrums of whales and lesions in their ears. Now all of a sudden you have offshore wind farm surveys and you see them stranded on the beaches," Lapp added.
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Lapp warned about the impact of wind turbines in a recent episode of "Tucker Carlson Originals, titled "Blown Away: The People Vs Wind Power," where the Fox News host and his production crew examined how turbines have the capability to decimate wildlife.
The project has been a key piece of the Biden administration's climate agenda as they continue to push for clean energy development.
Wind turbines in the North Sea, not far from Helgoland, Germany. (Reuters/Christian Charisius/Pool)
In July, Biden argued that offshore wind would create jobs and power millions of homes in the future. And the Department of Interior has expanded plans for offshore lease sales for wind development along the nation's eastern and western coastlines and in the Gulf of Mexico. But Lapp said the environmental impact of the project should be thoroughly examined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration before the project can move forward.
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"Nobody is reporting on this. Nobody is looking at this with a critical eye and really there needs to be a suspension of these surveys until somebody can do an investigation," she said.
Fox News' Houston Keene contributed to this report.