By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff
 |
| In case you were interested, Charlestown's Tina Jackson (left) thinks wind turbines are bad |
Despite multiple arrests and convictions for drugs, bad checks and assault, Jackson claims she was just the right person to represent Charlestown. Voters didn't agree.
The legacy of Jackson's campaign lives on in the form of $50,088 in unpaid fines for violations of Rhode Island's campaign finance law. Click here to read my wrap-up article on Jackson's 2012 escapades that included losing the corporate charter for the fishermen's group that she headed - presumably the base of expertise she draws on for her comments in this article. - Will Collette
The House of Representative is set to authorize a study to determine if offshore wind facilities are killing whales and other sea life.
The sponsor of the proposed legislative commission,
Rep. Sherry Roberts, R-West Greenwich, sought the study after a juvenile humpback whale washed
ashore in Jamestown in June 2017.
The story received international
attention after conservative media websites publicized speculation that the
Block Island Wind Farm was to blame for the whale’s death.
Former
commercial fisherman and Republican political candidate Tina Jackson of
Charlestown is convinced the five turbines are
to blame for killing the whale. She said she warned the community that
Deepwater Wind's Block Island Wind Farm would hurt the environment. She has
offered no proof.
“And look what happened. Sure enough
within five months of Deepwater (Wind) going on-line there were seven whale
deaths and two turtle fatalities. There hasn’t been seven dead whales in a
decade, let alone in five months’ time. So it’s clear that the turbines are a
problem. It’s the only logical reason for the tragedy.”
The death of the Jamestown whale is one in a spike in humpback whale deaths along the Eastern Seaboard that began in January 2016 and continues today.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) fisheries division classifies the deaths of 76 humpback
whales as a marine mammal "unusual mortality event."
Vessel strikes appear to be the
leading cause of deaths, but only about half of the whales have undergone
partial or full necropsies. Most of the deaths, including the Jamestown
whale, are classified as “undermined."
Richard Fuka, president of the Rhode Island Fishermen's Alliance, said the
study should be done before larger wind facilities are built in the designated
offshore wind area between Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The fishing industry
in both states is at risk of destruction, he said.
The damage European offshore wind
facilities have done to fishing isn't getting reported in the U.S. media, Fuka
said. “This (issue) is a standout above and beyond the regulations that are
crippling us currently.”
Current studies, Fuka said, are done
on the behalf of wind developers and therefore don’t present an unbiased view
of the problems, such as the limitations on fishing in and around the turbines.
“We know what's happening on top of
the water. We don’t know what’s happening on the bottom of the water," he
said.
In April, the National
Coalition for Fishing Communities asked Massachusetts Gov.
Charlie Baker to approve no more than 400 megawatts of offshore wind projects
in the wind energy area on the outer continental shelf, a prime fishing
location.
“A detailed study plan that enjoys
broad support among fishing stakeholders is urgently needed,” according to
a coalition statement.
Last month, Massachusetts approved
an 800-megawatt wind facility and Rhode Island was awarded a 400-megawatt
project in the federal wind energy area between Block Island and Martha’s
Vineyard.
Most existing studies, including a 14-part series completed in 2017
by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, have concluded that wind turbines
alone don’t harm sea life but rather that the pile driving of the structures
scares away dolphins and other mammals. The operation of the wind turbines also
contributes to the many sources of noise in the ocean that affect sea life,
such as ships and sonar.
Jackson claimed that the mainstream
studies are vague and confusing and don't refute the risks from the rare metals
in the turbines' magnets, which, she said, are worse than nuclear waste.
Wind turbines "are highly
detrimental to the environment all the way around,” Jackson said.
The House is likely to authorize the
study commission next week. The five-member board would have until May 7, 2019
to issue a report.