I am thrilled that South Fork Wind Farm is now fully operational, delivering enough clean power for about 70,000 homes on the East End [“Governor Hochul and Other Officials Gather at Stony Brook Southampton Campus To ‘Flip the Switch’ on $2 Billion South Fork Wind Project,” 27east.com, March 15]. The more electrons that are generated from offshore wind turbines, the fewer electrons need to be generated from turbines powered by fossil fuels. And the more hope we have to mitigate the climate crisis.
But fossil fuel interests are working to hold back the progress we are making on climate. A recent Sierra Club report followed the money to document a coordinated campaign to discredit wind and solar power.
Whether spreading disinformation about the supposed dangers of offshore wind to whales, or funding advertising campaigns about their environmental bona fides, fossil fuel companies aim to keep the oil and gas profits flowing. They have moved from denying climate change outright to slowing down efforts to mitigate it.
According to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in New Jersey, whales and other marine mammals have been washing up on beaches for several years, long before offshore wind activity. Many animals bear signs of blunt force trauma consistent with ship strikes. Others die after entanglement in fishing gear.
Due to changing ocean temperatures, whales are following their food sources — into shipping lanes or commercial fishing areas. Climate change is the ultimate cause of increased whale deaths.
Community groups opposing offshore wind are often backed by dark money from the oil and gas industry, often with benign-sounding names like the American Coalition for Ocean Protection and Save Right Whales. These groups support community opposition, which has caused public support for offshore wind to drop — ironically, further endangering, from climate change, the animals that misguided citizens aim to protect.
Read the Sierra Club report at sierraclub.org. Meanwhile, we can at least celebrate our 12 new wind turbines and look forward to more coming online to serve other parts of Long Island and New York City.
Governor Kathy Hochul and Democrats in the legislature deserve credit for keeping New York’s climate plans moving ahead.
Stephanie Doba
Sag Harbor
Shut Him UpFolks: it is time to take Michael Daly at his word(s), unpleasant as that may be. First: glide by his smarmy greeting card calls for “love.” His own words reveal him, above all, and consistently, a purveyor of hate and...
Suffering in SilenceWhen our world gets out of balance, we lose our comfort and security. Too much or too little of anything spikes our fear, and we lose our sense of peace. Those who have what they want and need are comfortable....
Advocate & Adjudicate?The previous administration of [Supervisor Jay] Schneiderman and current board member Tommy John Schiavoni did not give high priority to monitoring appointed public officials for ethical lapses in their private life activities. This laissez-faire policy towards ethics enforcement appears to...
Soil Is CallingIn a book titled “In Old Southampton,” Abigail Halsey reminds us that in the early days of Southampton, “every man was a farmer and a fisherman.” But those days are long gone and most people, today, have no connection to...
A Web of InterestsKudos to Craig Catalanotto [“What Are We Doing?” Letters, April 18] and Barbara Ring [“Tangled Web” Letters, April 18] for their letters to the editor shining a light on the web of special interests, conflicts of interest and misinformation that...
Dates of InfamySeptember 11 and October 7, similar dates of infamy for strong allies with similarly divergent reactions. Now gathered mobs of protesters are cheering on those who cry “Death to America” and call for the complete annihilation and genocide of the...
Your VoiceOn June 25, registered Democrats will go to the ballot box to determine who will represent their ticket for New York’s 1st Congressional District. Although CD1 has recently been held by Republicans, both parties have assumed leadership over the years....
Master ClassI thank Barbara Ring for aptly proving my point. In response to my letter [“An Alliance,” Letters, April 11], which decried the state of civic public discourse in Hampton Bays as being overtaken by misinformation, fear-mongering and conspiracy peddling, Ring...
