Category Archives: Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind

New Jersey’s Save LBI Unveils Plan to Secure Reliable and Affordable Electricity, Urges Lawmakers to Act on Escalating Energy Crisis and Reconsider Offshore Wind Development

LONG BEACH ISLAND, N.J., Aug. 26, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Save Long Beach Island, Inc. (Save LBI), a grass-roots organization with more than 10,000 supporters dedicated to sound energy policies and preserving our shore and ocean environment, today urged the New Jersey Legislature to put politics aside and enact meaningful laws that address the mounting energy crisis and reconsider the role of offshore wind development.

Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)
Image caption: Save Long Beach Island, Inc. (Save LBI).

The organization is proposing a multifaceted plan that would:

  • Reduce the cost of importing electricity from PJM Interconnection by restoring affordable in-state baseload and high-demand “peaking” capacity.
  • Shield NJ ratepayers from high costs associated with the significant energy demands of AI data centers.
  • Reconsider the role of offshore wind development, a failed experiment that depends on billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to deliver intermittent power while destroying the environment and disrupting local shore communities.
  • Demonstrate leadership on greenhouse-gas reduction by increasing in-state nuclear capacity and deploying other carbon reducing measures that could be used worldwide — without mandating artificial renewable-energy quotas.

A Path to Energy Stability

“Delivering reliable, affordable energy is vital to New Jersey residents and businesses and should be the responsibility of all of the State’s elected representatives,” said Save LBI president Bob Stern. “Even before electricity rates jumped 20% in June, New Jersey rates were already among the highest in the nation at 33% above the national average. [*note 1] And two-thirds of that increase is tied to surging data-center demand across the PJM grid system [*note 2] on which the State now heavily relies.”

The State’s reliance on out-of-state power stems from the misguided belief that reliable, in-state “baseload” power could be shut down and replaced by intermittent offshore wind energy that is costly as well as damaging to the environment and local shore communities. Today, New Jersey imports more than 25% of its power (about 5,000 megawatts) [*note 3] from PJM at premium rates. By 2030, demand is projected to rise by another 1,200 megawatts — driven largely by new data centers that require steady baseload power [*note 4] — which will lead to even higher costs and potential supply shortages. [*note 5] (For more background on the impact of current energy policy, see “The Rising Cost of Electricity in New Jersey” on SaveLBI.org.)

“Save LBI is calling on the legislature to assert leadership over the NJ Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU), regardless of who occupies the Governor’s office,” Stern said. “It is the responsibility of our elected representatives — not regulators — to set energy policy.”

Save LBI’s energy plan includes five distinct actions:

  1. Expand nuclear power. New Jersey’s nuclear facilities in Salem and Hope Creek now supply more than 20 percent of the state’s electricity and are critical to maintaining baseload reliability — the ability to generate a continuous supply of electricity across NJ. Several thousand megawatts of capacity could be added to these sites, as well as at the shuttered Oyster Creek Power Station in Lacey Township, by deploying Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and using existing transmission infrastructure. [*note 3] Under recent licensing streamlining procedures, the SMRs could come online in the 2029 to 2032 time frame.
  2. Deploy natural gas to ensure a reliable supply of energy. Modern combined-cycle and peaking units can deliver thousands of megawatts of reliable power and could be operational within three years.
  3. Reconsider Offshore Wind. In recent years, the industry has faced significant public opposition, escalating costs, and widespread cancellations. Offshore wind projects are heavily dependent on taxpayer subsidies, unable to meet baseload demand, interfere with the accuracy of radar used for national defense and navigation, harm coastal tourism, and pose a serious threat to marine mammals, including the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, to name a few of the many negatives. Offshore wind is also the most expensive source of energy:
    • The cost per unit (1 megawatt-hour) for offshore wind of power delivered, including grid backup and interconnection costs, is about $300, which is two to almost four times higher than nuclear ($141/MWh for large reactors, $101/MWh for small modular reactors) or combined-cycle gas ($78/MWh). [*note 6]
    • The 20-year cost to New Jersey ratepayers for the current 11,000 MW offshore wind plan is staggering: $101 billion — adding roughly $11,000 per household, $95,000 per commercial user, and $796,000 per industrial user. [*note 7] And these are conservative estimates that reflect outdated, lower pricing and exclude the cost of grid backup.
    • On a percentage basis, the Atlantic Shores South project (off the coast of Long Beach Island, Brigantine, and Atlantic City) alone would increase bills by 11% for residential users, 13% for commercial users, and 15% for industrial users. [*note 8]
    • New Jersey’s full 11,000-megawatt plan would raise average bills by 33 percent in 2035 and 89% in 2045. [*note 9] Again, these estimates are conservative and do not factor in transmission and grid backup costs.
    • State taxpayers have already spent nearly $1 billion to build the unused Paulsboro Offshore Wind Manufacturing Facility and the New Jersey Wind Port staging area in Lower Alloways Creek. Billions more may be needed for turbine removal since current rules do not obligate developers to bear that cost. The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has announced plans to revise leasing and permitting rules — rules that should stipulate turbine removal.
  4. Make data centers pay their fair share. AI/data center demand is a major driver of PJM price increases. Without corrective measures, costs will continue to be unfairly shifted to households. The Legislature should direct BPU to ensure data centers cover the full cost of their demand, including transmission upgrades.
  5. Assume a global leadership position. Climate change is a global challenge. New Jersey alone cannot make a measurable impact, but it can lead by funding a comprehensive study of greenhouse-gas reduction and climate-preparedness strategies that can be deployed worldwide, and then demonstrating and exporting the most promising solutions.

Given the status and history of offshore wind in New Jersey, the Legislature should consider rescinding the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act (OWEDA), which mandates artificial renewable energy goals, or — at a minimum — prohibit new offshore wind procurements until federal rules are revised and a plan for the removal of wind turbines is assured. (Notably, New Hampshire has already cancelled its offshore wind program.)

“All energy sources have their pluses and negatives,” concluded Stern, who served as a manager at the U.S. Department of Energy at a time when the country was looking to reduce its dependency on foreign oil. “Selecting the best mix requires consideration of many factors, including availability, reliability, cost, longevity, and long-term environmental and social impact. Whenever you base policy on just one factor — especially something like climate change that the State can’t meaningfully influence — you run into trouble.”

About Save LBI

Save LBI is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization that has been active in ongoing litigation and other efforts to protect the coastal and marine environment from the senseless industrialization of our oceans. The organization is led by Beach Haven, N.J. resident Bob Stern, a Ph.D. scientist with experience in environmental planning and environmental law. He is a former manager of the U.S. Department of Energy office responsible for overseeing environmental protection related to energy projects and the Bureau of Air Quality Planning within the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP).

For more information on Save LBI and its efforts, click here: https://www.savelbi.org.

Contact: https://www.savelbi.org/contact

REFERENCES

  1. U.S. Energy Information Administration: Electric Power Monthly, July 2025, https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/
  2. Regional Plan Association (RPA): What’s happening with electric rates in New Jersey? August 2025, https://rpa.org/news/lab/whats-happening-with-electricity-rates-in-new-jersey
  3. Whitestrand LLC – Wanted: A New Jersey Energy Policy that Works and is Affordable, August 2025, https://whitestrandllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Propsed_NJEnergyPolicyReport.pdf
  4. PSE&G 2025 Load Forecast Adjustments, December 2024, https://www.pjm.com/-/media/DotCom/planning/res-adeq/load-forecast/pseg-documentation.pdf and PJM 2025 Long-Term Load Forecast Report, January 2025, https://www.pjm.com/-/media/DotCom/library/reports-notices/load-forecast/2025-load-report.pdf
  5. Tariff Revision for Reliability Resource Initiative by PJM Interconnection LLC (FERC docket ER 25-712-000), December 13, 2024, https://www.lawofrenewableenergy.com/2024/12/articles/energy-policy/ferc/pjm-files-reliability-resource-initiative-at-ferc-requesting-expansion-of-transition-cycle-2-for-reliability-resources/
  6. Whitestrand LLC: A Comparison of the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of Various Generating Sources, January, 2025, https://whitestrandllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/LCOE_Study.pdf
  7. Whitestrand LLC: Impact of New Jersey Offshore Wind Program on State Electric Rates, November 2023, https://whitestrandllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ImpactOfOffshoreWindOnElectricRatesLBT10.pdf
  8. Whitestrand LLC: Economic Analysis of the Atlantic Shores, South Offshore South Wind Project, August 2024, https://whitestrandllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/EconomicAnalyisisOf-TheASSouthProject.pdf
  9. Whitestrand LLC: Analysis of the New Jersey Energy Master Plan, May, 2025, https://whitestrandllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/AnalysisOfNJerseyEMP.pdf

NEWS SOURCE: Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)


This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)), who is solely responsible for its accuracy, by Send2Press Newswire. Image, if any, was provided by the news source and not this website or the wire service. Information is believed accurate, as provided by the news source, but is not guaranteed.

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EPA Decision to Reevaluate Clean Air Permit for Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project Is a Big Win for Save LBI and New Jersey

LONG BEACH ISLAND, N.J., March 21, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — The beleaguered Atlantic Shores South offshore wind project was dealt another major blow on Friday (March 14) when the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) appeals board [*link 1] sent the project’s Clean Air Act permit back to the regional EPA office that issued it for reevaluation. The action was in response to a Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI) petition challenging the merits of the permit approval and requesting further review [*link 2], and follows a string of setbacks for the controversial plan to erect two hundred 1,000-foot wind turbines as close as 8.7 miles off the coast of southern Long Beach Island, Brigantine, and Atlantic City.

The Atlantic Shores South lease area (green) off the coast of NJ spans 286 square miles. Source: Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind.
Image caption: The Atlantic Shores South lease area (green) off the coast of NJ spans 286 square miles. Source: Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind.

“This is a significant event because to my knowledge it is the first time that a federal approval for any offshore wind project has been overturned, and it highlights the lack of full disclosure and questionable science and mathematics that has characterized other applications and approvals,” said Bob Stern, president and co-founder of Save LBI, the non-partisan watchdog group formed in 2021 to protect the ocean and New Jersey Shore communities from the destructive impacts of offshore wind. The move also means the Atlantic Shores South project does not currently have all of the federal approvals it needs to install wind turbines off the coast of New Jersey.

“The Atlantic Shores’ permit contained substantial analytic deficiencies, rendering it non-compliant with the Clean Air Act, so I am pleased to see the EPA recognize the necessity for re-examination,” said Thomas Stavola Jr., the attorney for Save LBI.

Stern, an experienced Ph.D. engineer who managed the U.S. Department of Energy office overseeing environment protection related to energy programs, called the ruling that granted the clean-air permit “deeply flawed.”

For starters, air-quality modeling for the project was not done properly and the State’s Regional Haze Implementation Plan failed to consider emissions from construction and operation of the wind complex, which would be only 9 miles from the protected Brigantine National Wilderness Area and Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. Stern has long maintained that air pollutants from the construction and ongoing operation and maintenance and repair of those turbines would degrade air quality in a unique and pristine natural environment that is subject to stringent air-quality requirements under the Clean Air Act. In 1977, Congress acknowledged the uniqueness of the Brigantine Wilderness Area by designating it a Class I area and granting it special air-quality and visibility protections under the Clean Air Act.

Visual simulation of Atlantic Shores South project - Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Image caption: Visual simulation of Atlantic Shores South project from Holgate, New Jersey. Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

A Mountain of Bad News for a Faltering Project

In the weeks leading up to Friday’s EPA air-permit ruling, the prospects of the Atlantic Shores South project grew increasingly dim. On January 13, Save LBI filed a major, first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Marine Fisheries Service, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, U.S. Department of Interior, and Atlantic Shores for violating a number of federal environmental statutes, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, and the Coastal Zone Management Act.

Within a few weeks, Shell New Energies and EDF Renewables, 50/50 partners in the venture, both paused investment in the project, writing off $2 billion in losses, and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) declined to award the significant additional rate subsidies Atlantic Shores had requested to fund the project.

Despite what appears to be a cataclysmic breakdown in the fortunes of Atlantic Shores, Stern reiterated Save LBI’s resolve to seek a “permanent end” to the Atlantic Shores South and North projects, the latter of which has yet to receive any federal approvals. This includes the passage of federal legislation to remove investment tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act and the cancellation of these wind lease areas.

“We are hopeful that other federal agencies, particularly the Interior Department and NOAA, will take note of the EPA’s action and reconsider their prior approvals, especially those dealing with marine mammal impact,” Stern concluded, adding, “We have written to both asking for that.”

About Save LBI

Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI) is an organization of citizens and businesses on and off the Island working together to protect the ocean and Long Beach Island and neighboring communities from the destructive impact of the Atlantic Shores projects and potentially other offshore wind projects. As a not-for-profit, non-partisan entity, we do not endorse any political candidates but vigorously pursue policies and actions that protect the Island and New Jersey communities. The organization is led by Beach Haven resident Bob Stern, a Ph.D. engineer with experience in environmental law who previously managed the U.S. Department of Energy’s office overseeing environment protection related to energy programs and projects. Save LBI is fighting to stop the ill-conceived Atlantic Shores projects. Visit SaveLBI.org for more information.

Contact: https://www.savelbi.org/contact

For more information click here: https://www.savelbi.org

* LINKS:

1. EPA Order Granting Motion for Voluntary Remand

https://yosemite.epa.gov/oa/eab_web_docket.nsf/9C7B7CF33923032185258C4D0058F4A7/$File/Atlantic%20Shores%20Order%20Granting%20Motion%20for%20Voluntary%20Remand,%20FINAL.pdf

2. Save LBI Calls Out EPA for Approving Clean Air Permit for Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project: https://www.savelbi.org/_files/ugd/a85a2b_9603162138a04835b0c2f5c32b76af8e.pdf

MULTIMEDIA:

Image 1: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/25-0321-s2p-asoffshore-300dpi.jpg

Image 1 Caption: The Atlantic Shores South lease area (green) off the coast of NJ spans 286 square miles. Source: Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind.

Image 2: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/25-0113-s2p-savelbi-300dpi.jpg

Image 2 Caption: Visual simulation of Atlantic Shores South project from Holgate, New Jersey. Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

NEWS SOURCE: Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)


This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)), who is solely responsible for its accuracy, by Send2Press Newswire. Image, if any, was provided by the news source and not this website or the wire service. Information is believed accurate, as provided by the news source, but is not guaranteed.

To view the original story, visit: https://www.send2press.com/wire/epa-decision-to-reevaluate-clean-air-permit-for-atlantic-shores-offshore-wind-project-is-a-big-win-for-save-lbi-and-new-jersey/

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Save LBI Encouraged by Collapse of Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Projects, Presses on with Litigation to Ensure Permanent Victory

LONG BEACH ISLAND, N.J., Feb. 11, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI), the non-partisan watchdog group formed in 2021 to protect the ocean and New Jersey Shore communities from the destructive impacts of offshore wind, announced today that, while it is gratified by the collapse of the controversial Atlantic Shores South projects, the organization will remain vigilant and continue the fight to ensure that these projects and the Atlantic Shores North project are canceled and never return.

Visual simulation of Atlantic Shores South project - Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Image caption: Visual simulation of Atlantic Shores South project from Holgate, New Jersey. Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

The controversial Atlantic Shores South plan to erect 200 wind turbines as close as 8.7 miles off the coast of southern Long Beach Island (LBI), Brigantine, and Atlantic City, began unraveling on January 30 when Shell New Energies, which owns 50 percent of Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, announced that it would write off a billion-dollar loss and step away from the projects. The announcement came just 17 days after Save LBI filed a comprehensive federal lawsuit against the projects alleging noncompliance with five laws. Four days later, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) refused to award significant additional rate subsidies that Atlantic Shores had requested to fund the projects.

“This is a major victory for shore values, communities, and common sense,” said Bob Stern, president and co-founder of Save LBI in a letter thanking supporters. “But there is also unfinished business here to ensure that these projects, or similar ones, never reappear, and that the flawed Federal and State processes and impact-assessment methods that carried such a costly and damaging project this far are fundamentally changed.”

Stern identified several areas in which Save LBI will continue its fight to permanently end Atlantic Shores South and Atlantic Shores North, including the passage of federal legislation to remove investment tax credits and other incentives for offshore wind under the Inflation Reduction Act and the cancellation of the two wind lease areas. “We have written to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary [Douglas] Burgum suggesting that, and will be filing a formal petition asking for cancellation,” Stern said. “Our recent federal lawsuit provides ample justification for such cancellation.”

Save LBI will also seek to overturn prior project approvals through its ongoing litigation — which if granted, would set a precedent for other cases — and continue its longstanding campaign to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale by filing a petition with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish a safe migration corridor along the East Coast. That petition, which asks NOAA to designate the corridor as critical habitat, will demonstrate that the Atlantic Shores projects and other offshore wind projects in these sensitive areas would seriously impede or block whale migration.“ We will ask that all wind projects be excluded from that critical habitat corridor,” Stern said.

Finally, Stern welcomed the new Administration’s review of the leasing and permitting practices for all offshore wind projects and urged everyone involved with Atlantic Shores South to “reflect on how a project with virtually no benefit, high cost, and significant environmental damage proceeded so far. Our work on this over the last few years showed that the entire process of site selection and project review was fundamentally flawed.

“We will continue our efforts to inform the public, the media, and our elected representatives as to the true costs and impacts of these projects, suggest improvements for the leasing, environmental review, and financing practices used, and offer constructive energy supply options to keep the lights on,” Stern concluded.

About Save LBI:

Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI) is an organization of citizens and businesses on and off the Island working together to protect the ocean and Long Beach Island and neighboring communities from the destructive impact of the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind projects and potentially other offshore wind projects. As a not-for-profit, non-partisan entity, we do not endorse any political candidates but vigorously pursue policies and actions that protect the Island and New Jersey communities.

The organization is led by Beach Haven resident Bob Stern, a Ph.D. engineer with experience in environmental law who previously managed the U.S. Department of Energy’s office overseeing environment protection related to energy programs and projects. Visit SaveLBI.org for more information.

Contact: https://www.savelbi.org/contact

For more information click here: https://www.savelbi.org/

LINKS:

Save LBI Sues U.S. Agencies and Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, Challenging Federal Approvals Greenlighting Marine Ecosystem Devastation, Including Risks to Critically Endangered Whales

Click here (PDF): https://www.savelbi.org/_files/ugd/a85a2b_ea578a317854424389201d397b96325e.pdf

Save LBI Letter to Supporters

Click here: https://www.savelbi.org/

Save LBI to Petition the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to Provide Safe Migration Corridor for Critically Endangered North Atlantic Right Whale

Click here (PDF): https://www.savelbi.org/_files/ugd/a85a2b_82a935ca190b42a5b2a7a322f5169f56.pdf

MULTIMEDIA:

Image link for media: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/25-0113-s2p-savelbi-300dpi.jpg

PHOTO CAPTION: Visual simulation of Atlantic Shores South project from Holgate, New Jersey. Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

NEWS SOURCE: Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)


This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)), who is solely responsible for its accuracy, by Send2Press Newswire. Image, if any, was provided by the news source and not this website or the wire service. Information is believed accurate, as provided by the news source, but is not guaranteed.

To view the original story, visit: https://www.send2press.com/wire/save-lbi-encouraged-by-collapse-of-atlantic-shores-offshore-wind-projects-presses-on-with-litigation-to-ensure-permanent-victory/

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New Jersey’s Save LBI Coalition Sues U.S. Agencies and Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, Challenging Federal Approvals Greenlighting Marine Ecosystem Devastation, Including Risks to Critically Endangered Whales

LONG BEACH ISLAND, N.J., Jan. 13, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Save Long Beach Island (LBI), an organization that has been actively litigating issues surrounding marine mammal, human health, economic, and other impacts connected to offshore wind industrialization off New Jersey since 2022, has filed suit against the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Marine Fisheries Service, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, U.S. Department of Interior, and the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind project for violations of a number of federal environmental statutes.

Visual simulation of Atlantic Shores South project - Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Photo caption: Visual simulation of Atlantic Shores South project from Holgate, New Jersey. Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

“This lawsuit serves as the first of its kind, launching a wide-ranging challenge against Atlantic Shores’ federal approvals, based on violations of environmental statutes such as the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act, and the Clean Air Act,” said Thomas Stavola, Jr., Esq., the attorney representing Save LBI. “We believe we have organized a compelling case that will demonstrate that these federal agencies were derelict in their respective duties to take critical information into account, and moreover, made arbitrary assumptions that entirely failed to disclose and consider the injurious impacts of the Atlantic Shores South project.”

Bob Stern, Ph.D., the primary plaintiff and president of Save LBI, further explained, “For example, the agencies assume, incorrectly, that no North Atlantic right whales will suffer injury or death as a result of the Atlantic Shores South project. The evidence contradicts that assumption. In fact, our review and independent mathematical analyses shows a systemic underestimation of impact, and clearly indicate that the noise caused by pile driving, and, soon after, perpetual operational noise, will injure and kill high numbers of marine mammals — and, yes, injure and kill a number of North Atlantic right whales, a critically endangered animal that cannot afford to suffer any deaths given their numbers are now less than 340 total.”

The lawsuit ultimately seeks to have all federal approvals rescinded and the Atlantic Shores South project halted — stopping construction and preventing devastation to marine mammal life in the NJ/NY Bight regional waters. Eight other co-plaintiffs have joined Save LBI in this action, many of whom will be severely economically impacted due to the egregious harm to the marine ecosystem and the aesthetic, recreational blight imposed on the Jersey Shore via the circa 200 1,000-foot-plus high monstrosities slated to be constructed starting less than 9 miles east of Long Beach Island.

These inexcusable damages by the Atlantic Shores South project are not limited to marine mammal devastation, but also include significant impacts to tourism, shore economies, statewide energy bills, national defense, vessel navigation, and home values — all of which have been swept under the rug by much of the mainstream media, many elected officials, the Atlantic Shores company, and the federal agencies in their inexplicable haste to approve a project still in search of a clear purpose and need.

“We hope this lawsuit will serve as the vehicle to finally illuminate the damage being wrought here and to impose significant pressure on Atlantic Shores to withdraw, as their obfuscation of the project’s true effects are indefensible. The agencies simply cannot objectively argue that their approvals were made in accordance with the best science,” concluded Bob Stern.

This lawsuit was filed in federal court in the United States for the District of New Jersey on January 10, 2025.

About Save LBI

Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI) is an organization of citizens and businesses on and off the Island working together to protect the ocean and Long Beach Island and neighboring communities from the destructive impact of the Atlantic Shores project and potentially other offshore wind projects. As a not-for-profit, non-partisan entity, we do not endorse any political candidates but vigorously pursue policies and actions that protect the Island and New Jersey communities. The organization is led by Beach Haven resident Bob Stern, a Ph.D. engineer with experience in environmental law who previously managed the U.S. Department of Energy’s office overseeing environment protection related to energy programs and projects. Visit SaveLBI.org for more information and to make a donation.

Contact: https://www.savelbi.org/contact

For more information click here: https://www.savelbi.org

MULTIMEDIA:

Image link for media: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/25-0113-s2p-savelbi-300dpi.jpg

Photo caption: Visual simulation of Atlantic Shores South project from Holgate, New Jersey. Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

NEWS SOURCE: Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)


This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)), who is solely responsible for its accuracy, by Send2Press Newswire. Image, if any, was provided by the news source and not this website or the wire service. Information is believed accurate, as provided by the news source, but is not guaranteed.

To view the original story, visit: https://www.send2press.com/wire/new-jerseys-save-lbi-coalition-sues-u-s-agencies-and-atlantic-shores-offshore-wind-challenging-federal-approvals-greenlighting-marine-ecosystem-devastation-including-risks-to-critically-endangere/

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New Jersey’s Save LBI Coalition Demands Full Disclosure of Structural and Safety Data for Atlantic Shores South Wind Turbines

BEACH HAVEN, N.J., Nov. 21, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Amid numerous recent instances of wind-turbine failures in the U.S. and around the world, the New Jersey citizen’s group Save LBI today called for an immediate and full public disclosure of all data related to the design, manufacture, maintenance, and failure rates for the components of the 200 wind turbines Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind plans to erect off the coast of southern Long Beach Island (LBI), Brigantine, and Atlantic City, New Jersey. It is also calling on the NJ Board of Public Utilities (NJ BPU) not to make any project-enabling new subsidy award unless and until that information is provided.

Vineyard Wind turbine-blade failure off Nantucket, MA in July (top); Vestas turbine collapse in August
Photo Caption: Vineyard Wind turbine-blade failure off Nantucket, MA in July (top); Vestas turbine collapse in August, one of three failures in six months at the Ameren wind farm in Schuyler County, MO.

The Vestas V236-15.0 MW turbine contracted for use by the Atlantic Shores South project is an unproven, first-of-its-kind design that stands 1,048 feet tall — three times the height of the Statue of Liberty — making it one of the tallest wind turbines in the world. It has three massive blades, each longer than a football field, which translates into 600 spinning behemoths in the Atlantic Shores South (OCS-A 0499) project area, the closest of which would be only 8.7 miles from shore, closer than anywhere else in the world.

Atlantic Shores should provide full, up-front disclosure on a number of issues, including:

  1. Technical details and Material Safety Data Sheets on all materials used in turbine manufacture.
  2. A discussion of the hazards associated with each material, including epoxies used for bonding.
  3. Failure rates and the potential consequences of turbine blade and other component failures impacting the marine environment, local food chain, and human life.
  4. Protocols for mitigating the environmental impact of turbine failures.
  5. Data on the structural integrity of the wind turbines (including the blades, towers, and other key components) as to their ability to withstand hurricanes, nor’easters, or other major storm events. (Project approvals have been granted even though a study by the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium (NOWRDC) commissioned by the NJ Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has yet to be completed.)

In the wake of the blade failure at the Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Nantucket in July, Dr. Robert Stern, president of Save LBI, sent two letters to Atlantic Shores CEO Joris Veldhoven inviting Atlantic Shores to participate in a panel discussion at the LBI Foundation of the Arts & Sciences. Both were ignored, revealing a shocking level of arrogance and disrespect for a community that is justifiably concerned.

A Call for Transparency Amid the Rush to Build Ever-Larger Wind Turbines

Save LBI’s call for corporate and State Agency transparency follows a string of at least eight catastrophic offshore and onshore wind-turbine failures between April and November of 2024. The failures spanned three different turbine suppliers — Vestas, Siemens Gamesa, and GE Vernova — and involved not only collapsing blades but entire turbine structures toppling over [*notes 1-8]. Half of these failures involved Vestas turbines, causing great concern over the integrity of the colossal blades and supporting structures Atlantic Shores is planning to locate near New Jersey beaches [*note 9].

According to a 2023 report in Maintworld, a magazine for maintenance and asset management professionals, “turbine failures are on the uptick across the world…The instances are part of a rash of full collapses. A recent report says production issues may be to blame for the mysterious increase in failures [*note 10].”

In a May 2023 report entitled “Vertical Limit: When is bigger not better in offshore wind’s race to scale?” GCube Insurance, an underwriter for renewable energy projects, reviewed 10 years of claims data and found “offshore wind’s risk landscape has significantly shifted, as manufacturers push to develop bigger machines…Over the past five years, the race to scale turbine technologies has seen the leap from 8 megawatt (MW) to 18 MW turbines occurring in a fraction of the time it took to go from 3 MW to 8 MW. While this is a fantastic technological achievement, such rapid commercialization of ‘prototypical’ technologies is now leading to a concerning number of losses, and subsequently piling financial pressure on manufacturers, the supply chain, and the insurance market, according to GCube.” [*note 11]

Save LBI’s demand for accountability also comes amid revelations of a quality-control-data falsification scheme at a blade manufacturing facility in Canada [*note 12], and concern that such misrepresentations could be an industry-wide problem. “Our sources indicate that [falsifying data] is a widespread practice in the industry,” according to a Radio Gaspésie report [*note 13].

NJ: The De Facto Test-Bed for Super-Sized Wind Turbines

Atlantic Shores will be among the first to deploy the “super-sized” Vestas V236-15.0 MW wind turbine, which has never been tested in the harsh marine environment it will inhabit. Instead, testing was done on a land-based prototype turbine at the Østerild National test center in Denmark. New Jersey will, in effect, become a real-world Guinea pig for these newly designed gargantuan turbines.

In a series of videos on vestas.com, company executives boast how Vestas is “…leading the way into this new super-sized segment of wind turbines” and “…entering into some unprecedented territory on many of the manufacturing processes that we employ for building the blade [emphasis added]. We need to scale up renewables fast and the V236 15.0 megawatt is there to do just that. [*note 14].”

The structural integrity of the new “super-sized” blades is of particular concern to Save LBI and local communities because they are primarily made of a fiberglass composite similar to the material used in the GE Vernova Haliade-X blade [*note 15], which spontaneously collapsed while undergoing testing at the Vineyard Wind project. The blade failure sent countless shards of fiberglass and pieces of foam into the ocean, causing beach closures during the height of tourist season and putting marine life and the local food chain at risk.

“The Vineyard Wind disaster and the many others like it are wake-up calls that raise serious concerns about the structural integrity of wind turbines and the long-term impact of such failures on the environment — the effects of which are still being felt in Nantucket four months later [*note 16],” Dr. Stern said. “Even some proponents of offshore wind are now questioning whether the obvious risks are worth the purported benefits. Is this what those of us who live in the shadow of Atlantic Shores South have to look forward to?”

“It’s past time for NJ BPU staff and Atlantic Shores to directly engage and disclose the full impact of this ominous offshore wind project to the local communities that will be directly affected by it before any further work or decision-making proceeds,” he concluded.

About Save LBI

Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI) is an organization of citizens and businesses on and off the Island working together to protect the ocean and Long Beach Island and neighboring communities from the destructive impact of the Atlantic Shores project and potentially other offshore wind projects. As a not-for-profit, non-partisan entity, we do not endorse any political candidates but vigorously pursue policies and actions that protect the Island and New Jersey communities. The organization is led by Beach Haven resident Bob Stern, a Ph.D. engineer with experience in environmental law who previously managed the U.S. Department of Energy’s office overseeing environment protection related to energy programs and projects. Visit SaveLBI.org for more information and to make a donation.

Contact: https://www.savelbi.org/contact.

For more information click here: https://www.savelbi.org/.

References

Note: If a link doesn’t work, copy and paste the URL into a browser.

  1. Halkirk 2 wind facility shut down after [Vestas] turbine breaks, Nov. 9, 2024, https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/halkirk-2-wind-facility-shut-down-after-turbine-breaks-1.7104801
  2. Blade broken off Siemens Gamesa turbine at Swedish wind farm, Nov. 7, 2024, https://energywatch.com/EnergyNews/Renewables/article17617839.ece
  3. [Vestas] Wind turbine collapses in Schuler County [Missouri], third incident in six months, Oct. 31, 2024, https://khqa.com/news/local/wind-turbine-collapses-in-schuyler-county-third-incident-in-six-months

    https://www.rechargenews.com/wind/third-vestas-turbine-collapse-forces-us-wind-farm-offline/2-1-1733379

  4. [Vestas] Wind Turbine collapses in Schuyler County, Missouri, Aug. 27, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQHl5hTV5a0
  5. Second GE Vern ova turbine blade reportedly fails at UK’s Dogger Bank wind farm, Aug. 23, 2024, https://www.offshore-mag.com/renewable-energy/article/55135538/second-ge-vernova-turbine-blade-reportedly-fails-at-uks-dogger-bank-wind-farm
  6. Vineyard Wind incident was not first time a GE Vernova wind turbine came apart, Reuters, July 18, 2024 https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/vineyard-wind-incident-was-not-first-time-ge-vernova-wind-turbine-came-apart-2024-07-18/
  7. Dogger Bank Makes Statement on Site Incident [GE Vernova blade], May 10, 2024, https://nawindpower.com/dogger-bank-makes-statement-on-site-incident
  8. All northeastern [Vestas] wind turbines taken offline after 1 collapses in Schuyler County [on April 26], May 3, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sUCoZJ1Asc
  9. Energy analyst Philip Totaro on Vestas failures at the Ameren wind farm in Missouri, Nov. 2024, LinkedIn post: “The High Prairie hashtag#windenergy project in Schuyler County, Missouri suffers the third wind turbine collapse in six months. The project, owned by Ameren, has 163 units of Vestas V120 2.2-MW on 92 meter towers and 12 units of Vestas V112 3.45-MW on 94 meter towers. The causes of the previous collapses have not been publicly released.”

    https://www.linkedin.com/posts/philiptotaro_another-turbine-collapses-in-schuyler-county-activity-7257949289107120128-br3K?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

  10. Why do wind turbines break down more often? Jan. 31, 2023, https://www.maintworld.com/Asset-Management/Why-do-wind-turbines-break-down-more-often
  11. Ever-Growing Offshore Wind Turbines Bring Unsustainable Market Risks – GCube, May 4, 2023, https://www.offshorewind.biz/2023/05/04/ever-growing-offshore-wind-turbines-bring-unsustainable-market-risks-gcube/

    https://gcube-insurance.com/Insights/Reports/Vertical-Limit

  12. Canada station reports “falsification scheme” at turbine plant, Nov. 12, https://www.mvtimes.com/2024/11/12/canada-station-reports-falsification-scheme-turbine-plant/
  13. Possible falsification of data at LM Wind Power, Oct. 24, 2024, https://www.radiogaspesie.ca/nouvelles/actualite/falsification-possible-de-donnees-chez-lm-wind-power/
  14. Official documentation for the Vestas V236-15.0 MW wind turbine to be used in Atlantic Shores South project, com/en/energy-solutions/offshore-wind-turbines/V236-15MW
  15. Official documentation for the GE Vernova Haliade-X offshore wind turbine used in the Massachusetts Vineyard Wind project, com/wind-power/offshore-wind/haliade-x-offshore-turbine
  16. GE Vernova and Vineyard Wind Provide Update on Incident and Response Action Plan, Oct. 23, 2024, com/press-releases/2024/10/23/ge-vernova-and-vineyard-wind-provide-update-on-incident-and-response-action-plan

MULTIMEDIA:

Photo link for media: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/24-1121-s2p-savelbipic-300dpi.jpg

Photo Caption: Vineyard Wind turbine-blade failure off Nantucket, MA in July (top); Vestas turbine collapse in August, one of three failures in six months at the Ameren wind farm in Schuyler County, MO.

NEWS SOURCE: Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)


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