Residents of Nantucket, Massachusetts, spoke out on Wednesday at a town hall against a wind power company for a “turbine blade failure incident” that resulted in debris washing up along the beach.
Officials of the small island town located 30 miles off the coast of Cape Cod were forced to shut down beaches on the south shore on Tuesday due to “large floating debris and sharp fiberglass shards,” according to a statement posted to Facebook by the Nantucket Harbormaster’s office. During the town hall, locals accused Vineyard Wind — an offshore wind development company that operates near the island — of taking too long to notify the community and clean up the site, according to videos of the event posted on X by the Nantucket Current.
“This happened Saturday night… There was no notice to mariners until Monday; that’s unacceptable. The town wasn’t informed until Monday,” Nantucket charter boat captain Bobby DeCosta said during the town hall. “There’s nobody in this room that’s been to that sight. I guarantee it. We’ve got a bunch of suits here trying to cover their tracks,” DeCosta continued, gesturing towards the Vineyard Wind representatives present at the meeting.
DeCosta also said that the cleanup response should have occurred much sooner, stating that anyone with prior knowledge of the prevailing winds in the area knew the wind would ultimately reach Nantucket’s shores.
“Anyone with any kind of water knowledge knows that the tide out there around this wind farm goes northeast/southwest and the prevailing wind in the summer is southwest, and this stuff was going to end up on the beach,” DeCosta said. “They had to do a tide analysis before they even started this project, so this is a bunch of crap when they say, ‘Oh, we had to do a [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] study to see where this stuff was going to go’… They were hoping it wasn’t going to go on the beaches so they wouldn’t have to deal with it as much.”
Nantucket charter boat captain Bobby DeCosta, owner of the Albacore, from the top rope:
“We’ve got a bunch of suits here trying to cover their tracks” pic.twitter.com/XFzsYc4zty
— Nantucket Current (@ACKCurrent) July 18, 2024
Local lobsterman Dan Pronk lamented the effects the debris has had on his business and the environment during the town hall meeting while holding a piece of fiberglass that had washed up on the beach, while also addressing Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Moeller personally, according to another video posted on X by the Nantucket Current.
“I fish 800 lobster traps right where you’re putting these tombstones, which is also the end of my business… When you apply [fiberglass]… you have to wear respirators. For what reason? Because it’s toxic. If you breathe those fumes… you’ll get higher than a rat,” he continued. “So, it is toxic. What do you have to say about that, Klaus?”
Nantucket lobsterman Dan Pronk, staring down the Vineyard Wind CEO, says
“I fish 800 lobster traps right where you’re putting these tombstones, which is also the end of my business.” pic.twitter.com/T9xqjjI0T4
— Nantucket Current (@ACKCurrent) July 17, 2024
Following the incident, Vineyard Wind’s operations were “shut down until further notice,” a spokesperson for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement told NBC Boston on Tuesday.
The town of Nantucket on Thursday referred to the turbine debris as a “crisis” and stated that “Vineyard Wind vessels are collecting fiberglass pieces on the site; a very large piece of debris is below the surface, in the water column,” according to a post from the Nantucket Current on X.
The Biden administration has pushed for greater construction and utilization of offshore wind farms as part of his broader green agenda in order to reduce the use of fossil fuels. Recent wind farm projects have been plagued with issues and delays due to high costs and component failures as the industry rapidly develops.
Vineyard Wind did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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