Wildlife and Wind: Fact Checking America’s Wind Industry
By Erika Pietrzak, March 3, 2025
Wind power accounts for more than 10 percent of the electricity generated in the U.S., supporting both the environment and job creation in the green energy sector. Despite misinformation suggesting otherwise, studies confirm that offshore wind energy is a dependable resource that poses no real threat to marine wildlife and can even help enhance ocean habitats.
Today, wind energy is the largest renewable source of energy generation in the United States, equating to more than 10 percent of the country’s electricity. In the US, more than 73,000 wind turbines provide 153,000 megawatts of energy, enough to power 46 million homes. In 2023, the wind energy sector invested 10 billion USD in new projects, providing work for over 131,000 workers. Since 2000, the wind generating capacity in the US boomed from 2.4 gigawatts to 150.1 gigawatts. As of May 2024, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory reported that of the 80,000 megawatt capacity offshore projects in the pipeline, 90 percent are “either in the permitting phase or earlier in the process.”
On the first day of President Donald Trump’s second administration, he signed an executive order entitled “Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects.” Within this order, the President cites increasing electricity demands, maintaining fishing industries, and “impacts on ocean currents and wind patterns” as some of the main reasons for his decision. The order withdrew all wind energy leasing within the Offshore Continental Shelf (OCS), a political line 200 nautical miles off the coast of the United States. For the US, this constitutes more than 3 billion acres. It also “temporarily prevents consideration of any area in the OCS for any new or renewed wind energy leasing for the purposes of generation of electricity or any other such use derived from the use of wind,” but does not include oil, gas, or mineral extraction.
To better understand what this order means and the real relationship between marine wildlife and wind turbines, I sat down with the principal investigator of Wildlife and Offshore Wind, a collaboration of diverse experts working on a comprehensive evaluation of the potential effects of offshore wind energy on marine life. Dr. Doug Nowacek is a professor at Duke University and runsNowacek Lab which“combines research in marine mammal bioacoustics and behavioral ecology with the development of new tools for oceanographic research.” Dr. Nowacek testified to Congress in 2015 “on the use of seismic airgun surveys and their potential impacts on marine life” and “has served on the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel,” where he has contributed to “numerous publications, recommendations, and practical guidance on industry/nature coexistence.”
During a rally after his inauguration, Trump cited aesthetic reasons, in addition to complaints on electricity demands, impacts on fishing, ocean currents, and wind patterns, for the crackdown on wind energy. Some projects, like the Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard turbine proposals, were turned down for aesthetic reasons. Still, the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law 2024 report states that there are little to no changes in property value when introducing wind turbines nearby. Offshore wind farms, in particular, are tens of miles offshore and thus can rarely be seen. Even when they are visible, the turbines are but a blip in the sea.
President Trump continuously states that wind energy is unreliable and cannot be trusted in our energy grid. However, this is a bold lie. As Doug Nowacek outlined, societies have been using wind for thousands of years for travel. Compared to wind turbines on land, offshore wind is extremely reliable. It is constant, is not limited by other structures, and is strong. Wind energy contributes to electrical grids through the variability of wind power from fluctuations in weather. Furthermore, wind energy is often equal to, or cheaper than, energy from natural gas or coal. As wind energy is further developed, the turbines get larger and thus can produce more energy for the same amount of wind, increasingly becoming even more reliable over time.
As for the claims around wind energy and marine life, there is no current research to support President Trump’s claims. Trump stated that windmills are “causing whales to die in numbers never seen before” and continued by stating that “The windmills are driving them crazy. They are driving the whales, I think, a little batty.” According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there is “no scientific evidence that noise resulting from offshore wind site characterization surveys could potentially cause whale deaths … [and] no known links between large whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activities.” Doug Nowacek staunchly supported these findings saying “this was one of the few times in my career I've ever given unequivocal answers. We have no evidence that any offshore wind activity has had any negative effects on marine mammals, full stop.” Commissioner at the Marine Mammal Institute and fellow Duke professor Andy Read told The Guardian that Trump “displays an astonishing lack of knowledge of whales and whale strandings.” Other researchers have corroborated these findings, saying there is “no evidence that any activities associated with offshore wind cause nor have any connection to whale strandings.” Europe has been involved in the offshore wind industry for the last three decades and there is currently no evidence that wind turbines may be negatively impacting marine life. In fact, turbines can even function as artificial reefs, increasing marine life abundance in the area. Since “fish like to have an address,” Doug Nowacek outlined how, especially in shallow waters, can increase biodiversity around wind turbines. This potential is currently being further explored by the PrePARED Project in the UK and can be revolutionary to wind energy globally.
While the noise production during construction and dismantling can cause the immediate disruption to marine animals, “there is no evidence” that any of the surveys or “pile driving has caused any harm, and certainly has nothing to do with” mortalities. In 2019, IUCN partnered with groups around the world to mitigate the biodiversity impacts of wind energy, publishing guidelines for all phases of wind projects with an emphasis on early work screening. The noise increased by pile driving, vessel traffic, and other changes made to develop wind turbines in the ocean is considerable, but it should be noted that the ocean is already louder than many may initially believe and is oftentimes louder than vessels or sonar. Many species experience minor behavior changes to anthropogenic noises, if any changes at all.
Even for economic reasons, wind energy is the smart next step in American energy. To maintain fishing industries, wind turbines must go through significant marine spatial planning efforts that emphasize the areas where there is little interest from the fishing industry. Doug Nowacek also mentioned that recreational fishing can be increased through artificial reefs and offshore wind can even increase biodiversity. This bolsters tourism and allows for hotspots to be easily found by recreational fishermen. Through wind energy, thousands of jobs are created and energy prices can be lowered in a sustainable manner.
Altogether, Doug Nowacek and many other scientists have been tirelessly working to improve wind energy and make our future more sustainable. Many people have “been fed not only money but propaganda from all of those climate deniers and the fossil fuel people” who believe they are saving animals or people’s jobs, when in reality they are harming the very systems they seek to help. Brown University’s Climate Lab recently published a study showing the rampant misinformation. In fact, actions from Donald Trump and other anti-wind energy individuals are “acting counter to what the animals actually need, which is to reduce climate change.” Even though many Americans may be “acting in earnest and sincerely,” the significant misinformation and attacks on the wind industry are “completely mislead[ing]” Americans, harming our nation, and jeopardizing the world’s future.
While wind energy in our oceans has its setbacks and challenges, the misinformation coming from the Trump administration is nothing short of lies. Wind energy is a reliable, clean energy alternative that can be built miles away from coasts, unable to be seen by people on the shore. The amount of offshore wind industry available is between two and four times “the amount of electricity we're using as a country right now,” Nowacek stated. Wind energy is loosely linked to changes in marine animals' behavior, but it is not found to cause any harm to marine life and can even bolster marine biodiversity. Altogether, the wind industry is a viable, reliable alternative to burning fossil fuels and is a necessary next step in diversifying American energy while protecting the planet.
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