ATLANTIC CITY, NJ (KYW Newsradio) - A proposed wind farm miles off the coast in South Jersey has some people anxious for construction to begin, and others full of questions and concerns.
Whatever side they’re on, the public had the chance Tuesday afternoon to make their voices heard during a Zoom call hosted by the Bureau of Energy Management.
The Zoom lasted nearly four hours. The first half featured BOEM officials discussing the current plans and outlining the specifics of the project.
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There would be close to 100 turbines, located 15 to 27 miles off the coast. The closest turbine would be 15 miles from Atlantic City’s beach. More of those details can be found here.
When BOEM officials were done, the floor was open to anyone on the call to comment.
Dozens of people spoke, some representing organizations, and others simply residents who want to know what’s happening.
The following questions and concerns came up:
- Will the turbines be visible from the coast?
- How will this affect commercial and recreation fishing?
- Seafood restaurants could struggle if fishing is impacted.
- Tourism, rentals and property values could all be hurt by visible turbines
- What will this mean for dolphins, whales, sea turtles and fish?
- Will we hear the construction?
- Will cables be visible on beaches?
The answer to the cables question was that you won’t see them, as they will be buried.
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But there weren’t a whole lot of other definitive answers. This wasn’t necessarily meant to be a question-and-answer session, but rather the chance for BOEM to gather this information in order to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.
BOEM is in the midst of a 30-day public comment period. There are two more scope meeting like this one scheduled for Thursday and next week.
Others who took part in this first meeting used their time to praise the wind farm project, specifically citing the renewable energy it’s meant to deliver, and jobs it would create.
There is still no definitive start date on construction, but the project is supposed to be ready by the end of 2024. See more on the construction plan here.