Tucker Carlson Is Spreading a Fossil Fuel Industry-Funded Lie About Offshore Wind
Tucker Carlson Is Spreading a Fossil Fuel Industry-Funded Lie About Offshore Wind
Earlier this month, the Fox News host claimed that offshore wind farms are killing whales. Ocean scientists say there's no evidence for this claim.
Earlier this month, Tucker Carlson spread the latest fossil fuel industry-funded lie about clean energy to his audience of more than 3 million people. In a segment that aired on January 13th, Carlson claimed, without evidence, that offshore wind projects are to blame for the recent death of nine whales off the coast of New York and New Jersey.
Carlson’s guest, Meghan Lapp, said that offshore wind developers are “essentially carpet bombing the ocean floor with intense sound” while conducting surveys.
In response, Carlson said, “Whales use sound to navigate. So why wouldn’t that be affecting or killing them? You're applying the principles of science.” He added that offshore wind is the “DDT of our times,” referring to the toxic pesticide that was banned in 1972.
But according to ocean scientists, there’s no evidence that acoustic systems used for offshore wind farm surveys harm whales.
Many of the people making this claim have received funding from the fossil fuel industry or nonprofits funded by fossil fuel billionaires.
Ocean scientists say offshore wind projects aren’t killing whales
The recent death of nine whales off the coast of New York and New Jersey is a part of a larger trend ocean scientists have been tracking since 2016. Since then, 180 humpback whales and 94 North Atlantic right whales have been found dead off the coast of the United States.
Many of these deaths came before construction of offshore wind farms began in America. And ocean scientists say there’s no link between recent acoustic surveys and whale deaths.
“We do not have evidence that would support the connection between the survey work and these recent stranding events or any stranding events in the last several years,” Benjamin Laws, an official at NOAA, said in a press conference last week.
Laws added that the acoustic systems used by offshore wind companies to conduct their surveys are used around the world.
“There are no historical stranding events that have been associated with the use of systems like these,” Laws said.
Whales are adapting to a changing ocean
In Carlson’s segment, Lapp said, “The only thing that has changed in the ocean [since 2016] is the fact there have been offshore wind surveys. Now, magically there are a bunch of humpback whales dying.”
But Paul Sieswerda, who leads a whale advocacy nonprofit in New York, told me this isn’t true. He said that in the last decade, the ocean near New York and New Jersey has changed dramatically.
Sieswerda said one reason for this is the fact that the Hudson River is much cleaner than it used to be. With less pollution and more nutrients flowing into the ocean, there are now more small fish, like menhaden, in the area. Whales have come to feed on these fish, bringing them into one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.
According to NOAA, collisions with large ships and entanglements with fishing lines are the leading causes of whale deaths.
Sieswerda said those who claim offshore wind is to blame for recent whale deaths are overlooking these obvious threats. “People are looking in the closet for the murder when there's someone standing in the drawing room with a smoking gun,” he said.
Climate change may also be causing whales to change their migratory patterns, bringing them into busier waters. Over the past 15 years, the ocean where most offshore wind farms are being built has warmed seven times faster than the rest of the ocean.
“We're seeing populations of many marine species adapting by moving into new areas where conditions are more favorable,” Lauren Gaches, a spokesperson for NOAA, said at the press conference. “This can lead to increased interactions with humans as some whales move closer to near-shore habitats.”
Fox News is giving a platform to the fossil fuel industry
If Carlson had interviewed an ocean scientist for his segment, they may have communicated these facts to his audience. But instead he elevated the baseless claims of a fossil fuel industry ally.
For the last year, Meghan Lapp, a frequent guest on Fox News, has led a campaign to block offshore wind development in America on behalf of her company, Seafreeze. The campaign has been bankrolled by the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a think tank funded by the fossil fuel industry.
TPPF’s largest donor is Charles Koch, who has donated at least $7.6 million to the nonprofit. TPPF has also received money from ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Luminant, and other smaller fossil fuel companies.
Lapp isn’t the only fossil fuel industry ally that Fox News is elevating in their offshore wind coverage.
In multiple stories about offshore wind, Fox News has interviewed David Stevenson who started the American Coalition for Ocean Protection (ACOP). Stevenson claims that he and a group of “concerned residents” oppose offshore wind because of its threat to endangered species like the North Atlantic right whale. Last year he told Fox News that offshore wind is “the most environmentally damaging way” to generate electricity.
Left unmentioned in these stories is the fact that Stevenson started ACOP on behalf of his employer, the Caesar Rodney Institute. As I reported earlier this month, one of Caesar Rodney Institute’s biggest donors is the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, a trade group that counts executives at ExxonMobil, Chevron and Marathon Oil as members of their board.
Environmental groups support offshore wind
Legitimate environmental groups believe it’s possible to build offshore wind turbines and protect wildlife, like whales, at the same time.
In June 2022, National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Conservation Law Foundation signed a deal to support an offshore wind project off the coast of New York.
Priscilla Brooks, one of the signatories of that agreement, told me “Development of renewable energy resources is vitally important to the health of the planet, and it's vitally important to addressing climate change.”
The Nature Conservancy, the largest environmental nonprofit in the world, also supports offshore wind development. Last year the nonprofit wrote, “In the midst of twin climate and biodiversity crises, responsible offshore wind deployment is 21st-century conservation.”
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