Letters

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