We at EPIC have gotten a lot of questions about offshore wind. How tall would the wind turbines be? Where would the power go? What are the expected environmental impacts and what could be done to avoid them? The projects are big, new, and complex — all of which can make it hard to fully understand what is being proposed. A lack of easy access to digestible information about offshore wind also contributes to the confusion.
The problem is confounded by the misinformation and disinformation being spread about offshore wind. Researchers at Brown University’s Climate and Development Lab have tracked how the fossil fuel industry and dark money groups have funded the development of organizations hostile to offshore wind and the dissemination of disinformation about offshore wind. Because of this, members of our community may be unknowingly consuming and sharing disinformation designed to harm the offshore wind industry and benefit the fossil fuel industry.
To combat this problem, and with contributions from Humboldt Waterkeeper and the Redwood Region Climate and Community Resilience (CORE) Hub, we’re announcing a new website designed to help better inform the community. The website, available at northcoastoffshorewind.org, attempts to answer frequently asked questions that we have received about the proposed project so that you, the public, can become better informed and make a decision about whether this project is right for Humboldt. The purpose of the website is to provide a centralized place to learn more about the details of the proposed offshore wind projects, along with potential benefits, costs, and risks associated with the projects.
It’s important to note that we do not yet know everything about these projects! The offshore wind companies are going to be spending the next five years conducting surveys and gathering information so that they can inform their project design. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) requires this lengthy site assessment process precisely because so little is known about the deep ocean off our coast. So, questions like “how many turbines would there be?” are impossible to answer because the offshore wind companies themselves don’t know yet.
As we learn more about these projects, we will regularly update the website, and it will become a great place to stay informed. Have a question that you don’t see answered? Or think we got something wrong or left something out? We will be taking new questions and adding new information to the website as time goes on so that it can be as informative and up-to-date as possible. So, please check out our website! Available at northcoastoffshorewind.org or by scanning the QR code below.
