Expert noise consultants are concerned that an offshore wind project set to be built just 9 miles off the New Jersey coast would generate noise levels that could cause sleep disruptions and other negative health impacts.
Save Long Beach Island, a grassroots community organization focused on stopping the construction of the Atlantic Shores South project, hired two companies to conduct an analysis of the project’s noise effects upon discovering that the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind nor the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management have ever conducted a noise disruption analysis for an offshore wind project so close to the shoreline.
Rather than conducting an analysis, the BOEM found in its environmental impact statement that “onshore noise from offshore activities will be negligible” and “operational noise from the offshore turbines will not be audible onshore.”
However, XI Engineering and Rand Acoustics, a company that has been previously tapped to provide expert testimony on noise exposure level prediction in at least a dozen proposed wind turbine projects, found otherwise.
After conducting two data analyses, XI Engineering concluded that the long-term running of the 195 proposed wind turbines will reach at least 45 A-weighted decibels for many of the Long Beach Island residents. This exceeds the American National Standards Institute criteria for low-frequency noise.
However, changes in atmospheric conditions can contribute to even higher operational noise levels that exceed New Jersey standards.
“These conditions recur at semi-regular intervals, especially in the spring and summer, and can increase noise levels by 10 to 17 decibels,” Thomas Stavola Jr., the attorney representing Save Long Beach Island, said in a statement. “And besides the audible component of the wind turbine-generator-induced noise, people will also experience low-frequency and infrasonic (below the range of human hearing) sound energy, which has been shown to negatively impact health.”
Rand Acoustics, which conducted just one analysis, corroborated XI Engineering’s findings. In addition, Rand Acoustics found that the “intrusive noise levels” of the operating wind project could “exceed the New Jersey night noise limit of 50 dBBA” approximately one-third of nights per year.
And when the experts conducted analysis of the pile driving necessary to construct the foundation of the turbines, they found it would exceed noise ordinance levels for “several hours a day” in the towns of Briganne and Beach Haven, New Jersey.
Dr. Bob Stern, the president of Save Long Island Beach, requested the expertise of health professionals to determine the long-term effects of the Atlantic Shores South project.
The noise health expert concluded that noise levels ranging from 32 dBA to 53 dBA “have been documented as leading to a variety of acute and chronic adverse health conditions that include annoyance, sleep disturbance, stress and hypertension, and impaired learning and memory.” The health expert concluded against the project’s construction, calling it “inadvisable.”
Now, with three lawsuits already filed against the project for other health and environmental concerns, Save Long Beach Island is teeing up for its fourth lawsuit calling on the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to block the project.
“No responsible official would allow this level of injury and discomfort to its citizens,” Stern said in a statement. “The results of these noise studies put the final nail into the coffin of this ill-conceived project — adding to the nails representing the ruined NJ shoreline, lost tourism, imperiled whales, the risk of impaired vessel navigation, impaired air defense radars at Gibbsboro, to name but a few of the many destructive impacts of the Atlantic Shores South project.”
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In July 2024, The Biden administration approved the Atlantic Shores South project, which promises to produce enough clean energy for more than 700,000 New Jersey homes and produce $1.9 billion in economic benefits. On Oct. 1, 2024, the BOEM gave its final approval of the project to begin construction.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Atlantic Shores South for comment.