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Megyn Kelly’s recent segment with Congressman Jeff Van Drew and a student correspondent hit on a truth that too many coastal elites and federal agencies would rather ignore: the Biden administration’s push for offshore wind off the Jersey coast is not some feel-good, harm-free project. Ordinary Americans — fishermen, beach towns, and the families who rely on the ocean — deserve better than top-down energy mandates that skirt hard realities.
Federal scientists themselves admit pile driving and construction will “adversely affect” whales and other marine mammals, even while bureaucrats insist those impacts won’t “jeopardize” species’ survival; that kind of hedging from NOAA is not reassurance, it’s a cover-your-back admission of real harm.
The permits being issued — so-called incidental harassment authorizations — literally legalize distress for marine life by allowing limited hearing injuries and behavioral disruption as an acceptable trade for turbine installation, with specified quotas for how many animals may be harassed. This isn’t theoretical; regulators have quantified the numbers and set thresholds for allowable harm while construction presses ahead.
It’s telling that an uneasy coalition of commercial fishermen, seafood processors, and environmental groups have taken legal action to stop projects like Empire Wind, arguing pile driving and construction pose “imminent, irreversible harm” to marine life and to the livelihoods of coastal communities. When those who make a living from the sea are suing to protect it, politicians should listen — not steamroll them for ideological projects.
The science is straightforward about construction noise: intense impulsive sounds from pile driving can cause temporary or permanent hearing loss, disrupt migration and feeding, and create stress that ripples through marine ecosystems. Congressional analyses and environmental assessments acknowledge the short-term and, in some cases, long-term behavioral impacts on cetaceans and other marine species.
Beyond sound, disturbing the seafloor during construction can resuspend decades of accumulated contaminants — PCBs, heavy metals, and other toxins — making them more bioavailable and introducing another pathway of harm to the food chain and coastal fisheries. We cannot pretend the seafloor is pristine when decades of industrial activity have left a legacy of pollutants that could be stirred up by massive construction.
This is not an anti-energy rant — it is a demand for commonsense, local-first policy. Conservatives care about conservation, about the rule of law, and about protecting families who depend on the ocean. If the administration wants offshore wind, it must pause construction, listen to local stakeholders, tighten protections, and prove beyond doubt that American whales and fishermen won’t be sacrificed on the altar of green ideology.
