Marine conservation organizations have raked in donations from companies behind offshore wind energy projects, including the developer of one project potentially linked to a surge in whale deaths along the eastern seaboard, according to a recent report.
Orsted, Avangrid and British oil company Shell, backers of some of the biggest offshore wind projects in the U.S., sent funds to marine conservation nonprofits, according to a list by marine life coalition Save Right Whales. Each nonprofit has supported and promoted offshore winds, even after evidence emerged that potentially linked wind farms and other green ventures from one company to a recent increase in whale deaths.
“Impacts on whales are becoming very evident. From Maine down to N.C., environmental groups are not engaging the way they normally would about something like cell towers,” Lisa Linowes, executive director of Wind Action, which is part of the Save Right Whales coalition, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Even if big wind companies are only sending small amounts of money to these non-profits, what they’re doing is buying goodwill.”
Danish-based renewable energy company Orsted is the largest operator of offshore wind projects in the U.S., according to their website. They partnered with Eversource, New England’s largest energy delivery company, offering electric, water and gas service on multiple American projects, including Revolution Wind, according to their website.
The Revolution Wind project in Connecticut and Rhode Island is aimed at helping both states reach 100% renewable energy and conserve energy for the entire New England region, according to its website. It is expected to be fully operational by 2025.
Through Revolution Wind, both companies sent funding to nonprofit ocean and marine life research and education institutes, like a $500,000 grant to the Woods Hole Institution (WHOI) in 2018 that funded research and a $950,000 grant to Project Oceanology in 2021, to be distributed over four years, which funded K-12 education programs and curriculums that promote offshore wind.
“WHOI was awarded a contract for research, not a donation, from Orsted to demonstrate, evaluate and improve on methods to detect North Atlantic right whales from acoustic buoys, a field in which WHOI scientists and engineers have unique expertise,” a spokesperson for WHOI told the DCNF.
“Orsted has no control over the research process, the conclusions reached during the course of the research, nor the dissemination or communication of research results. WHOI’s research does not constitute endorsement of any company or industry,” they added.
Orsted gave the most funding, a 1.25 million dollar grant to the Connecticut-based Mystic Aquarium in 2021.