Bill Thompson was fighting offshore wind farms in the small state of Rhode Island, where he lives. He is now part of a worldwide movement.

Thompson, the director of Green Oceans and activist for offshore wind, received an email in April from another group that was also against offshore wind, but located more than 16,000 km away. The group is called Responsible Future. (Illawarra Chapter). They wanted advice on how to fight projects off Australia's Southeast coast. In August, he received another request from the French group PIEBIEM, which was fighting projects in Brittany.

He said, "It is always nice to hear that others think the same as you do."

The groups listed above are among the dozen or so local activist organizations in the U.S. and Europe, as well as Australia, who have shared tactics, talking points, and other resources to help them achieve their mission of derailing offshore wind. They hope that this will turn what was once an unorganized scattering local activists into a sophisticated global network.

Many anti-offshore groups believe that governments and wind developers such as Orsted Avangrid Shell are downplaying environmental damage as they promote renewable energy as a solution for climate change.

The groups often look to the anti-offshore activists from the U.S. East Coast, who have been successful in reducing the size of large projects, decreasing public support, and winning conservative politicians such as former President Donald Trump. His administration supported offshore wind but now opposes the technology vehemently.

Offshore wind in the U.S. is still a young industry and an important part of President Joe Biden’s plan to combat climate change. Costs have risen and the supply chain has been slowed down. This has led to a number of lawsuits regarding concerns over the impact that offshore wind will have on tourism, fishing, and marine habitats.

Reporting reveals that the global cooperation of the groups presents a new challenge for the industry, as it allows the industry to tap into the years of hard work already done by other groups. It also often helps spread viral, powerful but false talking points. For example, that turbines are bad for whales, and don't slow down global warming.

Ben Backwell is the CEO of Global Wind Energy Council in Lisbon, an industry trade group.

The opposition groups claim they have just begun.

"We'd like to do more, such as with joint statements and better media coverage, to raise public awareness," said Eric Sartori. PIEBIEM stands for Preserving Southern Brittany's Environmental Identity and its Islands Against Offshore Wind.

This month, a group from the U.S. West Coast announced that it was forming a national organization to combat offshore wind. Responsible Future (Illawarra Chapter) and other groups have talked about forming a coalition. This is especially true as the rest the world tries to catch up to China, Britain, and Germany, which are the leading producers of offshore energy.

INCUBATED ONLINE

Sartori, of PIEBIEM, said he contacted Green Oceans first and then another group on Nantucket when he saw pictures of broken blades of wind turbines washing ashore this summer in Massachusetts via social media platform X.

Sartori said Green Oceans Thompson was helpful, providing him with a quote by a U.S. Government agency that claimed offshore wind had no climate benefit.

The quote "it is expected that offshore wind projects will have no collective impact on climate change" now appears on PIEBIEM’s website next to photos showing fiberglass fragments littering Nantucket’s coast.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said the quote was part of a environmental analysis of a particular project. However, the second half of that sentence is not on PIEBIEM’s website. It says wind projects can "benefitively contribute to a wider combination of actions in order to reduce future climate change impacts."

BOEM regularly states in its environment reviews that wind energy will not be able to change the course or global warming by itself, but it can help if combined with other measures.

Other groups have posted a variety of posts, from doubts about wind turbines' ability to withstand high winds to concerns that they would obstruct views of the ocean. Most viral is the idea that offshore wind development will harm whales.

This claim became popular in the U.S. early in 2023, after groups in New Jersey and New York blamed the industry on a series of whale deaths. It caught the attention conservative media.

Across the globe, opponents of the claim have repeated it including in France and Australia.

The U.S. Government says that the claim is unfounded and that most whale deaths are caused by humans. This includes vessel collisions and fishing gear entanglements.

Expert BACKING

Green Oceans has received the support of Spanish marine scientist Josep Lloret who has expressed concerns over the environmental effects of offshore wind in Mediterranean Sea. They also hosted Robert Bryce, a Texas-based journalist who is skeptical about the renewable energy shift.

They are able to benefit from the work of other groups.

Jenny Cullen is the president of Australia’s Responsible Future, Illawarra Chapter. She said, “The beauty of Green Oceans... they have scientists backing them. We could check the papers that they say are factual to determine if they were peer reviewed.”

It wasn't Charlie from down the street using ChatGPT for a BS.

These tactics have already helped turn an industry, which received little opposition in its early years in Europe decades back into a political hot-button.

A Stockton University poll found that in New Jersey, the state where offshore wind has been a subject of opposition for the longest time, support for this industry dropped to 50% last year, from 80% just four years ago.

Trump has joined this movement and promised to stop offshore wind projects should he win the presidency back in November.

In 2018, the government held an offshore wind auction that set a new record. His administration had promoted offshore winds as part of its "America First" program several years earlier.

Trump's campaign has not responded to requests for comments.

Freshwater Strategy polls show that public opposition to offshore wind power in Australia has grown. It reached 18% last September from just 12% one year ago.

A French Senate committee recommended in July that the country's offshore wind targets be cut, citing the fact that the technology was expensive and not mature. The nuclear powerhouse has already fallen behind its neighbours in terms of renewable energy, and is now falling behind the targets set by European Commission.

Despite their success, those who oppose offshore wind are accused of being backed by fossil fuel interests.

Researchers at Brown University conducted a study in 2023 that mapped the links between U.S. organizations and conservative think tanks. One case involved the Delaware-based Caesar Rodney Institute supporting a lawsuit filed by a Nantucket organization, ACK4Whales, to stop the Vineyard Wind project.

Amy DiSibio is a member of the board at ACK4Whales. She said that her group was not partisan, and had distanced itself with the fossil fuel-friendly think tank. Protect Our Coast NJ in New Jersey said the same.

In an interview, Robin Shaffer said, "It detracts from our message."

(source: Reuters)