🐬Rep. Jeff Van Drew has been against wind projects along the Jersey Shore

🐬Wind project opponents say they are responsible for spikes in strandings

🐬The Republican says he is working on an executive order with Donald Trump


U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd District, an opponent of wind energy off the Jersey Shore, says he is working with President-elect Donald Trump on a executive order that would halt its development.

Ever since the number of dolphins and whales stranding on New Jersey beaches spiked in December 2022 and continued into 2023, Van Drew and opponents have blamed work on turbines for contributing to their deaths. At least 53 dolphins, the highest number in 20 years, and 14 whales stranded themselves in New Jersey in 2023, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center. In 2024, 52 dolphins and nine whales stranded.

The Republican who ran Trump's 2024 reelection campaign in New Jersey said the incoming president is committed to stopping the wind projects that he says never should have been approved in the first place.

"The Biden administration rammed them through the approval process without proper oversight, transparent lease agreements, or a full understanding of their devastating consequences. They are an economic and environmental disaster waiting to happen. The Biden administration's reckless green agenda put politics over people, and that ends now," Van Drew said in a statement.

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Dolphin and porpoise strandings between 2002 and 2024 in New Jersey
Dolphin and porpoise strandings between 2002 and 2024 in New Jersey (Marine Mammal Stranding Center)
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One project ends, another proceeds

Economics have been the biggest factor in slowing down wind projects off New Jersey's coast.

Offshore wind power company Orsted in Nov. 2023 scrapped its Ocean Wind I and II projects in southern New Jersey, saying the projects were no longer financially feasible. The company cited supply chain issues, inflation and a failure to gain enough government tax credits.

The federal government in October gave a key approval Tuesday to an offshore wind farm to be constructed by Atlantic Shores between Atlantic City and Long Beach Island It would generate 2,800 megawatts from 197 turbines, enough to power 1 million homes.

The project still requires a review by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and several state permits, the company said.

Whale strandings between 2002 and 2024 in New Jersey
Whale strandings between 2002 and 2024 in New Jersey (Marine Mammal Stranding Center)
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