Rep. Smith of New Jersey said he is making a ‘full-court press’ to get answers on recent whale deaths
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who represents a district along the Atlantic coast, introduced legislation Friday that would mandate a federal investigation into the role wind energy development may have played in the recent uptick in whale deaths.
Smith’s bill would require immediate, comprehensive investigation into the environmental approval process for offshore wind projects. According to the New Jersey lawmaker, Biden administration officials have ignored his calls for an investigation into the matter and for a moratorium on offshore wind development until the cause of the whale deaths was conclusively determined.
“Nine dead whales have washed up on our beaches since early December, and we still have no meaningful answers from Governor Murphy or the Biden Administration on the broader impact of these projects on the marine environment as they rush to build the largest offshore wind farm in the nation,” Smith said in a statement.
“As part of a full-court press for answers, my legislation will investigate the level of transparency from federal agencies that greenlighted this aggressive offshore wind development and determine how much scrutiny was implemented in reviewing the environmental and maritime safety of this project, especially given its unprecedented size and scale,” he continued.