House Republicans are planning to ask the Government Accountability Office to investigate the possibility that the construction of ocean wind turbines is killing whales and dolphins, the latest threat to President Joe Biden's plans to massively ramp up offshore wind.
House Resolution 1, the energy legislative package House Republicans passed in March, included an amendment from Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) directing GAO to investigate whether federal agencies adequately considered the effects on whales and other species in approving construction and operations plans for offshore wind projects in the Atlantic.
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That legislation isn't going anywhere in the Senate, so members plan to go to GAO directly to request the investigation, Smith told the Washington Examiner.
Smith is working on the letter with House Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman, whose office is actively drafting the request with his input, Smith said.
"There's multiple areas where there has to be serious review," Smith said of the offshore wind program. "They're striving to just get this done yesterday."
Smith and other members have raised a suspicion that offshore wind construction and related activities are contributing to the recent series of marine mammal deaths along the eastern seaboard, despite federal agencies' insistence that there is no evidence of any link between wind and whale mortality.
The Biden administration wants to set up 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 to displace demand for fossil fuels in the power sector and has held four offshore wind lease sales to advance its goal.
The United States has no active commercial-scale offshore wind installations yet, but two projects are under construction in the Atlantic Ocean and plan to begin producing electricity this year, including South Fork Wind off the costs of Rhode Island and New York.
Pre-construction activities, which include the use of sonar and seismic surveying of the sea floor, are also underway for other projects in the region.
Environmental reviews for various projects from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which oversees energy development in the Outer Continental Shelf, have stated that impact pile driving, seismic exploration, and sonar surveys can lead to injuries in marine mammals or affect their behavior, but the agency has generally said such impacts can be mitigated.
Democrats have dismissed Republicans' calls for a wind moratorium on the basis of threats to wildlife as a partisan maneuver to thwart Democrats' climate change agenda.
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) said Republicans have "suddenly discovered an interest in protecting whales" but declined to back earlier legislation to protect whales during a House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing on Wednesday focused on the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's fiscal year 2024 budget request.
Other proponents have downplayed the concerns and pointed to pronouncements from BOEM and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that there's no evidence linking wind to whale mortality.
"We know this is not a real issue [but] just the latest topic that opponents of clean energy have latched onto out of convenience," Jeff Grybowski, CEO of US Wind, said during a recent industry conference.
US Wind is the developer behind MarWin, a wind facility planned off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland, that has generated strong opposition locally.
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Smith expressed confidence that the chairman's signature would make the probe a certainty.
"We will get it. I used to be committee chairman, and when you ask for a GAO study, and you're a committee chairman, you get," he said. "When you ask for it as John Q, you don't get it."