Comment from Anonymous

Why Isn't the Trump Administration Using the Endangered Species Act? Offshore wind farms are being paid to go away. Why not fine them under the ESA? Violations under the Endangered Species Act cost $25,000 per occurrence. This is the civil penalty imposed directly by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and doesn’t include court fees etc. The Trump administration is currently paying offshore wind firms to drop their farms from our coasts. The cost? Currently over $885 million. Why aren’t we making these groups pay for their removal themselves? Let’s look at BluePoint Wind, which operated off the coasts of New York and New Jersey starting in May 2023. In 2023, 43 endangered North Atlantic right whales were found dead off the Atlantic coast. If a quarter of these deaths were attributable to BluePoint Wind, it would owe the government $270,000 for 2023 alone due to the deaths of these great endangered species. In 2024, 4 endangered North Atlantic right whales died off the coast of New York. If these deaths were attributable to BluePoint Wind, it would owe the government $100,000 for 2024 alone. The 2018 drop in the North Atlantic right whale population is coincident with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management auctioning off our waters in the outer continental shelf. BOEM should be dissolved. BluePoint Wind operates 38 miles off the coast of New York. Forty percent of the endangered North Atlantic right whale population forage the New York - New Jersey corridor every year, with their babies. Remember too we don’t find all the dead endangered whales. NOAA admits it only finds about 1 in 3. There are dozens of endangered species killed, deafened and/or bludgeoned to death by offshore wind cables, seismic blasting, airgun blasting and boats from narrowed shipping lanes and we never know about it. Annoyingly, NOAA’s team does not seem to perform checks for burst eardrums on the dead whales it finds. NOAA indicated we are living through an “Unusual Mortality Event” for whales, and have been since 2017. Burst eardrums from the absolutely monstrous submarine blasting required for offshore wind are a telltale sign of the damage done, and could be used to assert Endangered Species Act violations and fines. Seismic blasting required to plant and move offshore wind platforms is louder than a rocket launch! But NOAA, BOEM etc seemingly refuse to check for burst eardrums, and do not publish these features in their whale autopsies. They should, and we should use the Endangered Species Act as it was meant to be used. If you do not have attorneys capable of understanding and prosecuting the Endangered Species Act, please hire them from Save the Right Whale, Save Our Coasts and the many other organizations fighting offshore wind.