Another NJ poll finds offshore wind support has taken a nosedive - New Jersey 101.5 FM
Another NJ poll finds offshore wind support has taken a nosedive
Public opinion in NJ is turning fast on clean energy question
⚫ Stockton University last polled about this topic in 2019
⚫ People cite concerns about marine life and ocean views
⚫ New Jersey's first wind farm is delayed for now
Most New Jersey residents agree that climate change is a real concern, but fewer people today believe that offshore wind farms are a good idea for the Garden State.
The latest poll out of Stockton University recorded a 30-point drop in support for New Jersey's plans to build wind turbines at sea to generate electricity, compared to four years ago.
Fifty percent of New Jersey adults are in favor of offshore wind for the state, compared to 80% in 2019, the poll finds. Thirty-three percent of adults in the latest poll say they oppose offshore wind farms, compared to 15% in 2019.
“When the concept of wind farms moved from abstract policy considerations to preparing for actual construction, many residents, said, ‘Not in my backyard, or at least not off my beach,” said John Froonjian, director of the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton.
Poll respondents who live in coastal municipalities were more likely to show opposition to offshore turbines. Only 33% of coastal area respondents said they favor such construction. Support was at 77% four years ago.
Overall, the main reasons for opposition to offshore wind were obstructed ocean views and potential harm to sea life. Since the beginning of 2023, environmentalists in New Jersey have been calling on officials to either halt work on wind turbines, or at least conduct a thorough investigation into the initiative’s impacts, because of a series of whale and dolphin beachings in the area.
Stockton’s poll recorded a strong divide along partisan lines. Seventy-three percent of Democrats are on board with offshore wind turbines, as opposed to 22% of Republicans.
In the poll of nearly 600 Garden State adults, 72% expressed concern about climate change, and a little more than half said it is very important for the state to combat it.
“People are still concerned about this issue, but they’re just less supportive of wind farms as a potential solution to climate change in the area,” said Alyssa Maurice, research associate at the Hughes Center.
A small majority said renewable energy sources such as wind will improve the climate. Twenty-eight percent said alternative sources would have no effect.
In August, a poll released by Monmouth University cited dwindling support for offshore wind among New Jersey residents. Support was at 54% and opposition was at 40%, compared to 76% support and 15% opposition in 2019.
New Jersey's first wind farm likely won't arrive until 2026. Orsted, the developer, announced in August that the Ocean Wind I project off New Jersey's southern coast will be delayed due to supply chain issues and concerns about finances.
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Windfarm projects proposed for NJ coast — and what they might look like
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and those recently commissioned by a group opposed to the wind farm development.
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Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.