Opinion: Lawsuit against wind farm is shortsighted
Commercial fishing interests are very shortsighted in filing a NIMBY lawsuit against the wind farm area off Long Island [“Suit over wind farm auction,” News, Dec. 9]. Deepwater Wind, the developer of the new Block Island wind farm and one likely bidder to develop the Long Island site, has demonstrated that the construction of an offshore wind farm can be managed in cooperation with a variety of interest groups and done in a way to avoid harming wildlife. By suing to stop or stall the leasing of an area for urgently needed renewable energy, the fishing groups ignore the very real crisis of climate change. Climate change imperils the world’s oceans, and without building offshore wind power, the damage from climate change to the ecosystems that support commercial fishing will more likely lead to the collapse of fisheries because of warming and acidifying oceans. Elizabeth Sabbatini, Old Brookville Link 08:25
That is the most ridiculous article I have ever read. The shortsighted view is the one taken by that author. Trading a renewable resource such as squid that is caught and found instensely in that location for the habitat destruction caused by industrial construction on the ocean floor needed by these species to survive and reproduce is no tradeoff. The East Coast of the United States supplies the WORLD with calamari, aka squid. You can’t farm that. But wind farm construction on their prime habitat may forever alter the productivity of that species. That is not acceptable. It will also forever alter the sustainability of a productive fishery, with very real and devastating socioeconomic impacts to coastal communities. Furthermore, climate change is actually projected to be beneficial to some species, such as squid. But if their habitat is destroyed, and if sustainable harvest of that species is jeopardized by wind farm construction, that benefit will be lost. Unfortunately, proponents of offshore wind often ignore other important factors, and certainly do not present the public with the biological and ecological threats these facilities pose to marine species. Or destruction of important coastal communities. Do you like eating calamari? It’s high time people start realizing where their food comes from.