It's a safe bet, given the political proclivities of New Jersey, that a strong plurality, if not an outright majority, of the people living along the south Jersey shore are liberals, if not outright "progressives." As such, a lot of them are in favor of low-energy-density "green" power schemes. They either aren't aware of those schemes' intermittent and unreliable nature, or they are willing to ignore that in appeasement of the great bugaboo of climate change.
Unless, that is, said "green" power scheme is visible from their home. Sometimes, good things happen at just the right time, and in one such case, a massive wind-power plant off the south Jersey shore has just received a death blow from the Trump administration.
Watts Up With That's Charles Rotter has the details.
There are few things more satisfying than watching a multi-billion-dollar boondoggle collapse under the weight of its own bureaucratic absurdity and scientific sloppiness. That’s precisely what happened when a critical air permit for the Atlantic Shores South offshore wind farm was voided—just weeks after President Donald Trump publicly hoped the project was “dead and gone.” He got his wish.
And if this story weren’t already sweet enough, it came courtesy of Bloomberg, a publication not exactly known for its admiration of Trump or skepticism of the climate change-industrial complex.
The project—backed by none other than Shell New Energies and EDF Renewables—suffered a major blow when the U.S. Environmental Appeals Board granted a remand of the EPA’s air pollution permit. The agency had issued this permit less than six months earlier, but now, thanks to legal challenges from local citizens and the Trump administration’s new energy policies, it’s back to square one.
That's the "what." Part of the "why," as noted above, is the "Not in my backyard" or NIMBY effect. But the bigger part of it is that people looked at the math behind the proposal and after that, held up their hands and shouted, "Stop!"
And what caused this glorious collapse? Not just executive action, but local resistance—people who live near the proposed turbine site, armed with common sense and a healthy distrust of bad math. The group Save LBI filed a challenge against the EPA’s permit, citing “flawed analysis, including improper air quality modeling.” The Appeals Board agreed.
Bob Stern, head of Save LBI, put it bluntly: “It highlights the lack of full disclosure and questionable science and mathematics that has characterized other applications and approvals.” That’s code for: the numbers don’t add up, the models are junk, and someone finally noticed.
Make no mistake, this isn’t just about one permit. This is a high-voltage message to the entire offshore wind sector. If these projects can be stopped for sloppy modeling and dodgy math, then the entire house of cards might be in trouble.
That, folks, is the climate panic-mongers' entire agenda in a nutshell - flawed analysis, lack of full disclosure, questionable science and mathematics, and, as noted, the models are junk.
Granted, the Trump administration has been decidedly unfriendly towards these "green" energy projects, recognizing them as wasteful boondoggles. And as Charles Rotter points out, it's rather delicious that this project was scuppered by the Environmental Protection Agency over concerns about air pollution. President Trump was on record criticizing this very project.
But the best part, of course, is that the local people, folks who live near the construction site, got involved. It may have started over concern of messing up their ocean views, but it swiftly became more than that. People looked at the math, they looked at the numbers and the analysis from Shell New Energies and EDF Renewables, who were backing the project, and they didn't like what they saw.
They organized, filed a challenge against the permit, and won.
See Also: The Energy Transition That Isn't - Growth of Renewables Just Isn't There
The Problem With Wind Power: Appeasing Climate Scolds May Be Hazardous to Your Health
Could we be seeing a return of some semblance of sanity in the whole "green" energy issue? It started with this one group questioning bad science and bad math. Let's hope this is a trend that grows legs.
Mr. Rotter concludes:
So let’s raise a turbine-sized toast to President Trump, Save LBI, and every skeptical voice who refused to be gaslit by Green New Dealers in lab coats and pinstripe suits. With any luck, this is just the first domino in a long line of wind follies waiting to topple.
The climate-industrial complex is finally facing a breeze it can’t spin.
They won't give up that easily. This is a battle that will go on; the nuts will keep gluing themselves to roadways and smearing paint on priceless artwork. Never underestimate a nut's capacity for nuttiness, and as the more rational people come around to the bad science and junk modeling trotted out by the climate scolds, only the nuts will be left.
