The relationship between offshore wind turbine construction noise and marine mammal fatalities is now incontrovertible: Wind Industry’s Wanton Whale Slaughter Caused by Constant Deafening Construction Noise

The underwater cacophony created during offshore construction is laid out in Michael Shellenberger’s documentary Thrown To The Wind (see the video below) and this post: US Govt Lying About Offshore Wind Industry’s Whale Slaughter

The biology we share with marine mammals, like whales, dolphins and porpoises provides the perfect point of comparison regarding the natural response to loud and terrifying noise. That cetaceans have become confused, anxious, if not terrified, by the underwater cacophony created during the construction of these things offshore should come as no surprise to human beings. At least those gifted with a sense of empathy and compassion. People like Calvin Luther Martin, that is.

In this piece, Calvin draws the obvious link that the wind industry is so desperate to avoid.

Acoustic Rape
Calvin Luther Martin
River City Malone
4 September 2024

Are you aware that many whales and dolphins have washed up — dead — along the NJ coast and points north, since April 2024?

The reason is undoubtedly from the pressure-wave (also known as “acoustic”) assault on Cetus (whales and dolphins) vestibular organs of “hearing” and “behavior” by the wind companies, who use (pressure-wave) blasting to scan the ocean floor, followed by (pressure-wave) blasting for installing the turbines, followed by (pressure-wave) infrasound from operational turbines.

This image shows vividly what the wind companies are doing (or will do) to these creatures off the coast of NJ, Montauk NY, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard MA. I call it “acoustic rape.”

The image, above, combines Dr. Nina Pierpont’s research into human Wind Turbine Syndrome, with what one might now call Cetus (whale, porpoise) WTS. (Pronounced, “See-tus.”)

Cetus has the same inner ear organs we humans have. See the image to the left. (Note the inner ear, vestibular apparatus superimposed on the whale image, above, precisely where Cetus’s ear is located.) What Cetus doesn’t have is a middle ear like ours. Ours has an air space; Cetus’s middle ear does not have an air space.

Human outer, middle and inner ear structures

Human and whale & dolphin inner ear (vestibular) structures

The key with Cetus is this: Pressure waves affect its hearing (inner ear: cochlea) and motion/position/depth sense (inner ear: saccule and utricle). Undoubtedly, the whale’s “mood” is also affected by saccular and utricular perturbation/dysfunction.

By “mood” I mean behavior akin to “depression” and “despair” and “anxiety” and “panic” in humans. Yes, there is a well-established link in Homo between vestibular dysfunction and anxiety and panic. There’s no reason to think this doesn’t occur in Cetus with similar perturbation — as from marine “pile driving” and construction “explosions” and the infrasound from operational wind turbines. Note that the turbine infrasound penetrates the water and sea-floor itself, since the turbine is firmly embedded in the sea-floor.

Humans share these inner ear structures with loads of other species, including amphibians (frogs) and fish. This signals us that these inner ear structures are an ancient evolutionary adaptation by Mother Nature—God, if you prefer.

How does all this result in whales and dolphins winding up dead on the Atlantic seashore? It seems to have to do with their depth sense going bonkers; that is, they don’t know how deep they are as they navigate the corridors of the sea. All these sea mammals are air breathers, unlike fish who breathe through their gills. Whales and dolphins have to surface for a breath of air.

Dr. Pierpont, a PhD (Princeton) biologist, suggests that a dysfunctional vestibular system (“depth” gauge) results in their taking a gulp of air too early—thus gulping water—and literally drowning, the same way you and I (we, too, are mammals) will drown when we swallow water.

The way to confirm this, of course, is by doing autopsies on the beached whales and dolphins. Problem is, Uncle Sam isn’t revealing the autopsy reports.

Until this happens, the reasons for the mysterious deaths remain conjectural, although, as I say, a dysregulated vestibular apparatus is virtually certainly involved in something going terribly wrong. (Note that these creatures show no outward, physical signs of trauma. Nor do they show signs of being ill, as with an infection.)

It’s time for the outrage against this acoustic violence to be dialed up. This must stop! (There are numerous ad hoc groups along the Atlantic coast who are up in arms over these deaths. They know it’s from the wind companies’ blasting and turbine infrasound.)

I often ask myself how Dr. Martin Luther King would orchestrate this outrage. King remains my role model and inspiration in matters of unpopular justice.

River City Malone

By Robert Bradley Jr.

“Modern wind farms are reliable, safe, state-of-the-art power plants with well-tested technologies that meet approved standards and hundreds of thousands of hours of operating experience,” the U.S. Department of Energy states. Except when they fail under normal conditions–or abnormal ones.

“Wind Turbines Destroyed by Typhoon Yagi,” read one recent headline. This (during peak hurricane season 2024) has wind power in the (not-so-good) news. Not only were older turbines destroyed by the 150 mile-per-hour typhoon (Category 4 in hurricane terms); new “more efficient typhoon-resistant versions” were leveled too. For multi-million dollar structures, the risk and the cost of insurance are major issues.

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The U.S. offshore wind industry will be spared–but only because of projects that have been abandoned or delayed. But what would happen if such naked structures are built, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico or off the Atlantic Coast?

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences research article, “Quantifying the Hurricane Risk to Offshore Wind Turbines” (February 13, 2012), remains relevant today to the energy policy debate. DOE’s recent confident statement, in fact, was pre-refuted by the five scholar authors.

The article’s conclusions follow:

“The U.S. Department of Energy has estimated that if the United States is to generate 20% of its electricity from wind, over 50 GW will be required from shallow offshore turbines. Hurricanes are a potential risk to these turbines. Turbine tower buckling has been observed in typhoons, but no offshore wind turbines have yet been built in the United States.”

“We present a probabilistic model to estimate the number of turbines that would be destroyed by hurricanes in an offshore wind farm. We apply this model to estimate the risk to offshore wind farms in four representative locations in the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal waters of the United States. In the most vulnerable areas now being actively considered by developers, nearly half the turbines in a farm are likely to be destroyed in a 20-y period.”

“Typically, wind turbines are designed based on engineering design codes for northern Europe and the North Sea, where nearly all the offshore and coastal wind turbines have been built. These codes specify maximum sustained wind speeds with a 50-y return period of 42.5–51.4 m/s (83–100 knots), lower than high intensity hurricanes.”

“Offshore wind turbines … will be at risk from Atlantic hurricanes…. Wind turbines are vulnerable to hurricanes because the maximum wind speeds in those storms can exceed the design limits of wind turbines. Failure modes can include loss of blades and buckling of the supporting tower.”

“In 2003, a wind farm of seven turbines in Okinawa, Japan was destroyed by typhoon Maemi, and several turbines in China were damaged by typhoon Dujuan. Here we consider only tower buckling, because blades are relatively easy to replace (although their loss can cause other structural damage).”

“There is a very substantial risk that Category 3 and higher hurricanes can destroy half or more of the turbines at some locations.”

Final Comment

Hurricane Category 4 and 5 winds are a threat to existing and even state-of-the-art industrial wind turbines. Category 3 (the baseline of the above article) is a real threat as far as is known. Category 6 (which climate alarmists predict is the future) will make all existing structures in hurricane prone waters susceptible.

The authors stay politically correct by looking to a new future:

Reasonable mitigation measures—increasing the design reference wind load, ensuring that the nacelle can be turned into rapidly changing winds, and building most wind plants in the areas with lower risk—can greatly enhance the probability that offshore wind can help to meet the United States’ electricity needs.

But such would increase cost, reduce output, and/or limit offshore wind below politically desired levels. All aggravate the already bad economics and poor prospects of offshore wind in the U.S.