OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY SAYS 'MISINFORMATION' FROM FOES IS A STRONG HEADWIND IT MUST FIGHT

The U.S offshore wind energy industry says it needs to fight back against disinformation being spread by opponents of wind farms.

During the first day of a national offshore wind conference Tuesday in New Jersey, which has become ground zero for vocal, well-organized opposition to such projects, numerous industry officials said they are in a difficult battle against deliberate falsehoods.

These include thus far unsubstantiated claims that offshore wind preparation is killing whales along the East Coast.

“We know it wasn’t us, and we have the research to back it up,” said Crystal Pruitt, an external affairs official with Atlantic Shores, which plans two offshore wind farms off the New Jersey coast. “But the hardest thing to do is prove a negative.”

She said the industry needs to publicly push back against disinformation.

“If you’re telling me that the hum from turbines 10 to 12 miles off the beach is going to cause me to go insane, that is not real, and someone needs to say that,” Pruitt said.

Paulina O’Connor, executive director of the New Jersey Offshore Wind Alliance, said she and others in the industry have met with opponents to give them facts about the industry.

“I don’t think we’re getting through to them,” she said. “I don’t feel like we’re having that breakthrough. It’s hard to predict what crazy thing they’re going to come up with.”