The offshore wind industry is facing the fury of fishermen determined to protect their fisheries, their livelihoods and the environment they live and work in.

Along America’s Atlantic coast, fishermen of all shapes and sizes have turned on the offshore wind industry with an industrial scale fury.

Right alongside them are those with a passionate concern for whales, porpoises and dolphins. Another group of critters that the wind industry treats as ‘roadkill’, and why wouldn’t, they? – having helpfully obtained government licenses to kill as many as they please.

Then there’s the effect on the creatures that provide fishermen with income and their customers with dining pleasure. Those effects now include hundreds of tonnes of toxic plastics and fibreglass gunk being spread across the ocean every time one of the blades of these things decides to disintegrate and spew its entrails over America’s coastal waters.

Leslie Eastman reports on the latest insurrection by America’s fishermen.

New England Fishermen Stage Floating Protest at Vineyard Wind Site
Legal Insurrection
Leslie Eastman
30 August 2024

I am continuing to keep an eye on the Vineyard Farms offshore blade failure near Nantucket.  A few weeks ago the facility was closed because of the failure of Vineyard Wind’s newly installed wind turbines, and the city was poised to sue.

After one blade failed and ended up in the water, the beaches were cluttered with sharp fiberglass shards, which is a sub-optimum condition at the height of the summer tourist season.  Continuing investigation into the cause of this environmental contamination incident  determined that a manufacturing flaw in the blade was responsible for the failure.

Now this weekend, a “flotilla” of about two dozen commercial and recreational fishing vessels steamed to the wind farm on Sunday to protest offshore wind development.

The vessels, hoisting anti-offshore wind flags and blasting air horns, departed early Sunday morning from ports in New Bedford, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Rhode Island and along the Cape, converging at about noon on the site of the crippled Vineyard Wind turbine.

“The blade collapse was an eye-opener to a lot of people who before didn’t know that offshore wind is a disaster for the ocean,” said Shawn Machie, 54, who is captain of the New Bedford scalloper F/V Capt. John.

…The “flotilla” protest was organized by the New England Fisherman’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA). Plans kicked into gear when Dan Pronk, captain of lobster boat F/V Black Earl, was collecting turbine debris that had washed up on the shores of Nantucket. He called Machie and other New England fishermen who said they felt they had to “do something before it’s too late,” Machie said.

“We feel like our jobs are just accepted as collateral damage,” Machie said. “We are regulated for sustainability. And that makes sense. We need regulation. But offshore wind is allowed to kill fish and wreck nurseries without any manageable stopping point.”

The protesters indicate the impact on their industry will be more significant than many appreciate…because they can’t trawl on former fishing grounds.

Otto Osmers, a commercial fisherman from Martha’s Vineyard, made the journey from Menemsha at 7 am on Sunday, arriving at the Vineyard Wind site around 10:30 am. Osmers conceded that offshore wind projects like Vineyard Wind can block trawling and crab trap routes, but had other concerns about the project. “The ocean is one of the last undeveloped places on earth,” he remarked about the sight of so many large turbines peppering the horizon. “We put cables down there but it’s largely undeveloped. It’s sad to see that go away.”

Others were more passionate in their displeasure. Sue Zarba, who along with her husband John who fish recreationally, said seeing the scale of the turbines was emotional. “That was the first time I was up close to the turbines, and I was sobbing,” she said in an interview after the protest. “After you’ve seen this offshore wind farm, you cannot unsee it. Soon over one thousand acres just off the coast will be filled with turbines. We will never be able to undo this man-made environmental disaster.”

“This cannot continue because that’s where we fish,” said Zarba. “They’re developing on a tuna fishing ground. You can’t fish around turbines, you can’t trawl.” She added that her son, who attended the protest, was initially skeptical of her protesting but changed his mind once he saw the turbines.

However, their protests are being met with a deaf ear. The National Marine Fisheries Service issued a new biological opinion for flagship offshore wind project Vineyard that finds no adverse effects to endangered whales and other marine wildlife stemming from driving the array’s last 15 monopiles.

“It will have no effect on any designated critical habitat,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries said in a statement. “NOAA Fisheries does not anticipate serious injuries to or mortalities of any ESA-listed whale including the North Atlantic right whale.” The agency said that with mitigation measures, “all effects to North Atlantic right whales will be limited to temporary behavioral disturbance.”

In conclusion, the fishermen are doing the work that environmentalists used to do.

Climate Depot

Buckle up, folks, because the latest scheme cooked up by the climate cultists, called “The Future of Urban Consumption in a 1.5°C World,” is here. But before we dive into the insanity, let’s take a quick look at the Frankenstein behind this disaster—the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.

Formed in 2005, the C40 Cities initiative started as a network of major world cities coming together under the guise of fighting climate change. Founded by then-Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, this group has morphed into a global cabal of 97 cities—representing over 700 million people—working together to impose draconian climate policies that governments wouldn’t dare pass at the national level. These mayors, in love with their newfound global power, have turned C40 into a petri dish for radical climate action, setting the stage for policies so extreme, they’d make the Green New Deal look reasonable.

The group’s mission? To turn cities into the front line of the so-called “climate emergency.” Forget waiting for national governments—C40 thinks it’s time for your local mayor to impose sweeping changes on how you live, what you consume, and what freedoms you have left. And here’s the kicker—they’re doing all of this without your vote or consent, using unelected global bureaucracies to push their agenda.

Their latest report, The Future of Urban Consumption in a 1.5°C World, is the holy grail of eco-dystopian fantasies. It’s a blueprint for gutting the economy, wrecking industries, and—most importantly—controlling every aspect of your life. This isn’t just about reducing emissions; it’s about using climate change as an excuse to expand government control over your personal freedoms.

Consumption-Based Emissions: The New Way to Blame YOU

Let’s kick this off with their latest con, the idea of consumption-based emissions. You buy a car? Well, you’re not just responsible for the gas it burns. Oh no, you’re now responsible for the steel, the rubber, the shipping, and the manufacturing process, regardless of where any of that takes place. 85% of the emissions they’re blaming you for come from somewhere else​, and yet, somehow it’s YOUR fault because you dared to buy a product. See how slick that is?

Urban consumption is a key driver of global greenhouse gas emissions. Cities can have a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions beyond their geographic borders by influencing global supply chains.

This is the scam: shift the blame to YOU, the consumer, and then shame you into compliance. It’s brilliant, really, if your goal is to micromanage people’s lives. They get to blame you for every factory in China spewing carbon because you bought a t-shirt. And here’s the kicker—they don’t expect the rest of the world to clean up its act; they expect YOU to cut back, suffer, and shut up.

Mayors as Mini-Dictators: Power Grabs Disguised as Climate Leadership

Now, onto the real heroes of this story: your local mayor. That’s right, according to this report, city mayors are supposed to morph into eco-warriors and reshape markets by telling you what you can and can’t buy​. Oh, and they’ll be getting into sectors they have no business touching, like aviation, food, and even clothing. Your mayor—who can’t even fill potholes on time—is now going to be in charge of limiting your meat consumption, slashing your car ownership, and determining how often you can fly to visit your family​.

The key consumption categories that cities should target are food, buildings and infrastructure, clothing and textiles, private transport, aviation, and electronics and household appliances.

This is insanity on a whole new level. These bureaucrats, who couldn’t manage a bake sale without screwing it up, are suddenly climate experts who will dictate how you live your life. According to the C40 report, mayors need to be “entrepreneurial” in creating markets that enforce these draconian cuts on consumption. The irony is rich, because when was the last time a government entity ever created anything worth a damn?

These clowns want to create markets? What does that even mean? Translation: they want to crush free markets and replace them with bureaucratic controls, the kind only a socialist could love. They want to shut down industries that make cities thrive—transportation, food, clothing, and more—while dictating what you, the plebeian, are allowed to consume.

Killing Jobs, Crushing Economies: The Economic Suicide Pact

Oh, but wait—it gets worse. The report is full of idiotic recommendations that will blow up entire sectors of the economy. They want cities to cut clothing purchases by 66% by 2050​. Do these morons have any idea what this means for jobs in the retail, textile, and shipping industries? Apparently not. You don’t need new clothes, peasant. Wear that ragged old hoodie for the next 20 years while they lecture you about your “carbon footprint.”

And don’t get too attached to your car, either, because they’re coming for that next. Reduce car ownership by 39% by 2050​? Great idea—unless you actually need to, you know, get places. But hey, if you live in some urban utopia where public transport actually works (it doesn’t), maybe you’ll be fine. For the rest of us in the real world, this is a non-starter.

And let’s not forget aviation. These morons want to slash air travel too because apparently flying to visit relatives is a crime against Gaia. Less flying, fewer jobs, but more trees or something. You’ll just have to accept that Grandma’s birthday isn’t worth the climate destruction caused by your round-trip ticket. Never mind that the people pushing this will still be jetting off to Davos or their fifth climate summit of the year—rules are for you, not them.

Green Tyranny: Engineering Behavior, Not Solutions

Now comes the really insidious part. The entire report is based on the idea that your behavior needs to change—not the behavior of the industries or the energy producers, but yours​. The elitists behind this report are obsessed with engineering how you live, what you eat, and how much you’re allowed to consume.

They want to tell you to eat less meat​, because, of course, animal agriculture is a villain in their story. Forget that many people rely on it for protein and livelihoods—nope, you’re expected to get with the program and adopt a diet of kale and soy because someone in an air-conditioned office decided that’s what’s best for the planet.

And don’t even think about upgrading your phone or replacing your aging refrigerator. Nope, you’ll be punished for that too. They expect you to stretch your electronics and appliances’ lifespan for as long as possible​. You don’t get the convenience of modern living, but hey, at least you can pat yourself on the back for saving the Earth, right?

This isn’t about making life better; it’s about making you suffer. That’s the plan. This is about controlling how you live, while the elites sit in their ivory towers, completely unaffected by the draconian policies they’re enforcing on you.

The Fake Prosperity Pitch: Selling Poverty as Happiness

As if all this wasn’t absurd enough, the C40 Cities geniuses are trying to sell this agenda by claiming it will make you “more prosperous and happy.” Yeah, because nothing says happiness like having your personal choices dictated by bureaucrats​. Nothing screams prosperity like slashing entire industries, killing millions of jobs, and leaving citizens with fewer options for food, transportation, and clothing.

What they’re really doing is pushing poverty and austerity under the guise of “sustainability.” Their idea of prosperity is for you to own less, eat less, and travel less. But don’t worry, they’ll frame this as a “just transition”​—which is code for “you’re going to be poor, but at least the planet will be green.”

The Bottom Line: This Plan is an Eco-Fascist Nightmare

Let’s cut the nonsense. This C40 Cities report isn’t about “saving the planet”—it’s about control. It’s about giving more power to local governments to meddle in your life and destroy free markets under the pretense of environmental responsibility. The fact that they’re pushing this on cities—where the majority of the world’s economic activity occurs—isn’t an accident. They want to crush consumption, cripple industries, and turn you into a compliant little eco-serf, living under the iron fist of the climate elite.

They aren’t just coming for your car, your steak, and your flights—they’re coming for your freedom. And if we don’t push back, we’ll end up living in a world where every purchase, every bite, and every mile we travel is controlled, taxed, and regulated by these climate despots. That’s the future they want: total control, total compliance, and zero freedom.

So no, C40 Cities. We’re not buying it. You can keep your utopian eco-fascism, your behavior controls, and your idiotic plans to kill jobs and wreck the economy. We’ll take freedom, thank you very much.

H/T Tom Nelson