Another Lawsuit to Prevent Offshore-Wind-Farm Whale Kills | Guest: C. Rucker

Jacki interviews Craig Rucker of CFACT about their ongoing suit against the feds for violating the Endangered Species Act. The suit to prevent construction of a Virginia offshore wind farm that would be the biggest in the world, the size of Rhode Island and Connecticut – combined - claiming that the 176 turbines will have a devastating impact on the North Atlantic Right Whale, an endangered species with only about 70 female individuals remaining. 

This project is one of 32 east coast areas leased to wind farms, creating a gauntlet of dangers that this and other whale species have to migrate through twice yearly. The seismic surveys, underwater explosions used to place the turbines, and ongoing noise from the turbines are all believed to interfere with the whales’ communication and navigation signals, causing the “unusual mortality event” the feds have declared for the whale beachings. 

This suit is filed by the Heartland Institute, the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), and the National Legal and Policy Center. Jacki predicts a court win given that the federal courts have uniformly held that the approach taken by the regulators in this case is illegal.