Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

See, Hear, Speak No Evil on Four Whale Deaths

—

by

Steve Haner
in , , ,

The Daily Press credits Jennette’s Pier for these two photos it published.

Another whale has turned up dead on a beach, the fourth found on Virginia or North Carolina beaches within one week, several within sight of Dominion Energy Virginia’s offshore turbine project.  This one was identified as a juvenile sperm whale and is the furthest from the project site.

In all the news coverage so far, no intrepid reporter has told their viewers or readers what (if anything) is going on out in the ocean on the construction site. Dominion’s federal license allowing “incidental take” of marine mammals began its five-year effective period in early February. It would be fair to ask the utility if contractors are actively surveying the sea floor with sonar at this time or doing any preliminary pile driving.

If you read the federal permit, both activities are recognized as potentially detrimental to whales and other mammals, but especially to the whales with their acoustic sensitivities. The other major risk posed comes from all the necessary boat traffic to, from, and around the massive construction area. More traffic equals more opportunities for collisions.

The print and broadcast media in Virginia are just as compromised by Dominion’s massive advertising spending as are our legislators by its massive campaign donations. In addition, some digital media are compromised by the donations, direct or indirect, from the wind and solar industrial complex.  The federal agencies responsible are so enthusiastic for the Biden Administration’s wind plans they can be dismissed as cheerleaders, not regulators.

We are in a “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” trap.

If there is zero construction activity during this period that might have contributed to these whales ending up on beaches, tell us so. But if the reporters do not even ask…

— Steve Haner

Published in the Daily Press and credited to Jennette’s Pier, a North Carolina government facility.

Share this article

ADVERTISEMENT

(comments below)

ADVERTISEMENT

(comments below)

Comments

50 responses to “See, Hear, Speak No Evil on Four Whale Deaths”

  1. Kathleen Smith Avatar
    Kathleen Smith

    Great question. It is interesting that the clause about accidental killing of mammals was even in the licensing permit. Seems to me they know about it way in advance.

    1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
      Eric the half a troll

      Many operations that MAY have a detrimental effect on protected species seek permits with incidental take allowance. If one were to cause the death of a protected species (even inadvertently) without such a permit in place, one would be in very serious trouble indeed. It is not an “after the fact” kind of thing.

    2. Rosie Avatar
      Rosie

      They have to produce that for approval. What Steve is hoping is that you’re incurious enough to dig no further into documents such as the BOEM’s 45 page final impact statement or the 335 page opinion on how it will impact the environment.

      Dominion are not ecologists, and likely have a small staff to take impacts into consideration so they don’t waste time getting proposals rejected over regulatory violations. The NOAA and BOEM have the responsibility to look into those claims and all other possibilities Dominion may have missed or “accidentally” omitted.

    3. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      The permit is based on expectations of harassment, not death, of the critters. But the concern is they get disoriented by the vibrations and then beach, where they cannot survive. Four in a week could be natural, certainly, but the question is valid. Are they banging away with sonar or driving piles now or in recent weeks? I truly do not trust NOAA to give a damn.

      1. David Wojick Avatar
        David Wojick

        Or they can get hit by ships especially if temporarily deafened (deafness is allowed). I pointed this out to NOAA over a year ago specifically for the DOM site which lies in heavy traffic..

        https://www.cfact.org/2022/09/27/how-to-kill-whales-with-offshore-wind/

  2. William O'Keefe Avatar
    William O’Keefe

    Thanks for posting this and asking a very important question.
    The probability of a coincidence is low.
    This is just one more unintended consequence of the foolish rush to accelerate the reduction in emissions.

    1. Kathleen Smith Avatar
      Kathleen Smith

      I agree, not a coincidence. 4 in a week?

    2. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      never had such concerns when we were drilling for oil and gas, eh?

      1. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        These complaints exactly were raised in opposition and we are NOT drilling on the East Coast, are we? If you didn’t exist Larry and I invented you, I’d be accused of imagining a dunce.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          not doing any noise involving piling driving at all on the East Coast ever?

          And when did you first become “concerned” – after your “concern” about climate?

          Yep.. you guys on the right – name calling is your go to when called out… right? can’t seem to help yourselves.

          1. Stephen Haner Avatar
            Stephen Haner

            Only you bring it out in me. Sorry. I need to just stop engaging with you at all.

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            remorse ? au contraire!

            It’s the real you, right?

            You write a bogus blog post and say you shouldn’t engage?

            geeze….

        2. William O'Keefe Avatar
          William O’Keefe

          Steve, you saved me from making a similar comment. But aren’t you being unfair to dunces?

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            this is who you guys are – it ‘s like you’re 5 yr olds and you can’t help it even as you’ve become full geezers! 😉

          2. Donald Smith Avatar
            Donald Smith

            And yet you keep hanging around here. For which I am grateful. It allows us to contrast and compare you, the prototype progressive, with grownups. You just keep being you, Larry.

          3. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Been here longer that most of you , right? so “hanging” around?

          4. Stephen Haner Avatar
            Stephen Haner

            The most common question I get from other readers is how I put up with him. The second question is about Nancy, but in his case he usually offers just snark.

          5. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            And Nancy’s snark is more often than not clever and humorous (at least to me).

            So he’s got that going for him…

            …which is nice…

  3. John Harvie Avatar
    John Harvie

    Pile driving causes sound propagation for a long distance and has to be very disorienting and painful

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      and happens when you build bridges, tunnels, and oil and gas rigs , shore facilities, etc, right?

  4. Irene Leech Avatar
    Irene Leech

    This is just like ignoring the things happening along the MVP construction route. It appears that our regulators are ignoring all citizen documented problems, rushing to complete construction with a mantra that some disruption has to occur but will disappear once built. There’s no consideration of permanent damage or infrastructure failure/ explosion.

  5. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    IF the folks who are “concerned now, have also been as concerned about ship strikes and net entrapment.. I might think it’s more than crocodile tears.

    We need to create the marine equivalent of migratory zones and paths where ships have to observe and avoid if we really want to deal with the issue. Chances are we’re only seeing a small percentage that get hit and/or entangled that wash ashore.

    We kill hundreds of millions of critters a year with cars, buildings, bridges, pipelines, powerlines – and ships and fishing nets that we KNOW as fact. So far, the stuff about the wind turbines is Grade A FUD mostly by folks who never gave a rat’s behind about whales before the turbines.

  6. Donald Smith Avatar
    Donald Smith

    Supposedly, after the battle of Stalingrad, Hitler’s staff said they were worried about public reaction to the disaster. Hitler’s supposed reply: “The duty of the men of Stalingrad is to be dead.”

    Perhaps for the Sierra Club and the wokeists, the duty of the whales off Virginia’s beaches is to be dead.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      Ya’ll simply do not understand environmentalists and/or are okay being willfully ignorant.

      In their mind, ANY reason to save a river or a wilderness area or Bay, etc whether it be a snail darter or some even more obscure plant or critter.

      For some reason, ya’ll find this wrong and believe it so much that you would adopt similar tactics to “save” (NOT) something you never cared about from the get-go, just to act “cute” about something you really don’t understand from the start anyhow.

      I’m not a supporter of the extreme green stuff, never have been but I do believe we need to take care of special places and the planet in general. Sorry if that is too “woke” for you.

      And do note the tendency of you folk to name call and use pejoratives in discussion and debate … it speaks of your own character and yep you do it to other also not of your kind.

      1. Donald Smith Avatar
        Donald Smith

        Larry, we do it to you because we love you, and bow before your superior intellect.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          https://media0.giphy.com/media/3oz8xPIblfyMdZwM8w/giphy-downsized-small.mp4

      2. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        I’m not a supporter of the extreme green stuff, never have been…

        Earlier you said environmentalists are totally consistent across the board on their issues. You even threw in the all-encompassing term “totally” to bolster your statement.

        So which is it? Do you support environmentalists or not?

  7. Rosie Avatar
    Rosie

    Another episode of “Haner Pretends to Care About Whales.” Weird he doesn’t mention other, proven causes of whale deaths, such as fishing ships, ship propellers, or warming seas causing whales to migrate closer to the shore where they risk beaching. I mean, the uptick in whale deaths predate the wind farm projects (found construction began March 2016 for RI’s farm; whale deaths saw the first spike in 2016).

    It’s critical to note that Haner has nothing but correlation, and believes that if more whales die then his correlation becomes causation. That’s not how it works. If I give 50 patients medicine and 30 die and then 20 more die, that still doesn’t mean the medicine killed them. It was the fire and later sustained injuries in the apartment complex where they all lived.

    Steve, here is my challenge to you: produce a study proving the acoustic activity is causing whales to strand themselves. We have evidence the boat traffic is harmful,, but an accepted risk for the overall environmental good the wind farms can provide. Right now you have a hypothesis and a hope that enough correlating can become cause.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      Yes, .. it’s the climate deniers who seem most worries about the whales… never heard about their concerns before with respect to other well known causes of whale mortality – i.e. ship strikes and net entanglement.

      But hey.. once climate is at issue, all kinds of “concerns” bubble up , so to speak.

      1. William O'Keefe Avatar
        William O’Keefe

        Larry, what you don’t know about climate change would fill the Washington Monument. And, your comments about climate deniers and conservatives is a case of the kettle calling the pot black.
        Check this out–https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/did-exxon-make-it-rain-today-part-ii-houses-upon-the-sand–Nordhaus is no denier.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Bill, you’re really showing your own ignorance and acceptance of conspiracy theories and at an age where you should have learned by now. Do better bub.

          The great Whale Conversionists!

        2. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Bill, if you’re gonna do “links” that actually work… you gotta get better at it. Maybe channel some of the pejorative energy towards doing that better?

          right way = https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/did-exxon-make-it-rain-today

          wrong way =
          out–https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/did-exxon-make-it-rain-today-part-ii-houses-upon-the-sand–Nordhaus

          Let me know if you need some additional help….

          1. William O'Keefe Avatar
            William O’Keefe

            Obviously, you found it but interestingly chose not to comment on it.
            You already give all the help I need—comic relief.

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            not science BIll…. editorial… while you ignore the actual science.

          3. William O'Keefe Avatar
            William O’Keefe

            Either you didn’t read it or don’t understand it. All of it is based on cited science.
            It sounds like you only consider something science or science based if it conforms to your biases.

          4. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            It’s basically an editorial like so many of them that the climate deniers like to cite.

            You can include me in the 98% of the scientists who do not agree with the editorial and who DO understand.

    2. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      “warming seas causing whales to migrate closer to the shore” More evidence that All Powerful Climate Change Causes All Bad Things! Best laugh of the day. The shallow water closest to the shore is the warmer section, but facts always interfere with the Climate Catastrophe Cult. That idea is hilarious.

      Hate to break it to you, but 2016 is when sonar mapping for OSW began off the U.S. East Coast. Soon enough real life experiments will begin. I think it is valid to ask whether sonar activity or pile driving has been underway on CVOW. That just needs a yes or no, not a peer reviewed study.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        You mean they built all these tunnels and bridges along the East Coast and never once considered their impact on whales until Climate became an issue?

        gadzooks!

        1. Stephen Haner Avatar
          Stephen Haner

          The fun in this is showing the hypocrisy of the environmental movement, which has been bought off by this industry. If these were oil rigs, you’d switch your message immediately. We all know it. If the enviros had a dozen dead bears within miles of a pipeline, it would lead the National News and every paper.

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            It’s funny listening to you lecture about hypocrisy here on this issue! 😉

            See , the difference is that enviros are totally consistent across the board on their issues.

            They’re not made up at the last moment and caught up in some other environmental denialism thing like this is.

            People who deny the science behind climate are touting the science with respect to whales? and they’re talking about hypocrisy?

            Lord.

          2. William O'Keefe Avatar
            William O’Keefe

            Larry, it is abundantly clear that you do not understand the science of climate change. Pretending and asserting is not the same as knowing.

          3. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Bill – I CITE the science right now today unlike you guys that cling to editorials and other individuals, many who are basically witers not scientists.

            What I read AND understand is what the vast majority of scientists around the world and in this country NASA and NOAA say and yes, I give short shrift to the deniers whose primary belief is that there is a global conspiracy of scientists lying. I cannot go there as I accept the science whether it be for cancer or genetics or plate tectonics and to include climate.

            I am not alone Bill. THe vast majority of people on the planet also believe the climate is changing per science and that we must respond to those changes.

            The folks who believe the conspiracies are in my mind are deluded and out of touch with realities.

          4. William O'Keefe Avatar
            William O’Keefe

            Larry, you are simply a Larry, you are a blowhard who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
            The” vast majority”must be a reference to believing that climate change is real and that humans are influencing it. I have news for you, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t agree with those two facts. The disagreement is over the accuracy of models and the extent of human influence(attribution).
            Your use of the term denier either reflects ignorance of the terms origin–it was to equate people like me with Holocaust Deniers. If you know that then you are just being insulting.
            Nordhaus is a founder and director of research at the Breakthrough Institute. I’ll ask you again, what is factually or scientifically incorrect in his article? You haven’t told me because you don’t know!

      2. Rosie Avatar
        Rosie

        These aren’t “experiments”, as we’ve been making noise in the ocean for decades now. Large vessels are noisy and their propellers are known to kill sea life. Oil Rigs using mapping tech louder than seafloor sonar mapping due to the obvious need to look deeper. Again, you have no evidence the sound from this specific activity is causing whale deaths when we’ve had greater decibels in the ocean before. This is not some new occurrence.

        And even if we assume Block Island started in January 2016, the uptick in whale deaths were all over the eastern coast. This is ignoring other factors such as the increase in ocean traffic, the increased speed in such traffic, warming waters that are moving whales closer to shorelines (how the water got warm we can simply agree to disagree), and so on.

        If the cause of whales deaths are still unknown, then why so much effort on this one item. Why aren’t we seeing articles on other potential causes? You clearly have no evidence of the wind farms, so if you care about saving the whales so much, why no investigation elsewhere? It’s almost as if you don’t actually care about the whales so much as the wind farm.

        1. Matt Adams Avatar
          Matt Adams

          Piledriving =/= URN for vessels.

          Piledriving > URN, by magnitudes.

        2. Matt Adams Avatar
          Matt Adams

          Piledriving =/= URN for vessels.

          Piledriving > URN, by magnitudes.

  8. WayneS Avatar
    WayneS

    Maybe the whales are committing suicide to protest the wind farms. It might be their only effective method – after all, it’s nigh on to impossible for a whale to set fire to itself in the ocean…

    1. Matt Adams Avatar
      Matt Adams

      Self-beaching is whale self-immolation?

  9. WayneS Avatar
    WayneS

    A pygmy sperm whale is a rare specimen near Virginia Beach. They prefer the deep water beyond the continental shelf.

  10. Drive-by Commentator Avatar
    Drive-by Commentator

    I live where the Potomac joins the Bay. Last week, I found the remains of a dead fish — mostly skeleton — in my back yard. Should I call Dominion? Or was it an osprey who was carrying more than his weight limit and dropped it?

Leave a Reply

Read More