Beset by soaring prices, an increasingly hostile regulatory climate, and growing public opposition in coastal communities, offshore wind faces a new challenge from a powerful public official and erstwhile booster of strict climate policies.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate wind projects’ effects on the health and safety of commercial fishermen, Bloomberg News reports. Specifically, Kennedy in late summer quietly instructed CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to prepare such research. The office of the U.S. Surgeon General is also involved in the assessment.
Originally, the research was to be wrapped up within a couple of months, but its completion has been delayed by the government shutdown. “Work on this report has been halted solely due to the Democrat-led shutdown,” a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) told Reuters.
Human Health Effects
To date, research on the human health effects of offshore wind turbines has been spotty, with a 2011 literature review finding “no peer-reviewed articles demonstrate a direct causal link between people living in proximity to modern wind turbines, the noise they emit and resulting physiological health effects,” according to The Hill.
But a study released in January by the University of Portsmouth in the U.K. warned of potentially harmful levels of metals from turbine protection systems. “The materials used to protect wind turbines from corrosion leach into the surrounding water, which could pose risks to ecosystems, seafood safety, and human health,” the study found. “Offshore wind farms release thousands of [tons] of aluminum, zinc, and iridium each year.”
Professor Gordon Watson of the university’s School of the Environment and Life Sciences supports wind farms because of their role in reducing carbon emissions but adds, “There is limited data on how these metals affect the environment near operational offshore wind farms, so it’s hard to assess the full risks.”
Other Research
Green Oceans, a New England-based nonpartisan community group formed in 2023 “to protect the ocean against industrialization,” released a report in January titled “Offshore Wind and Human Health.”
“Offshore wind turbine blades erode over time, releasing harmful contaminants into the ocean, including microplastics and Bisphenol A,” the report found. “Blades fail more frequently than previously recognized. A collapsed blade can scatter over 50 tons of PVC foam, PET, epoxy resins, forever chemicals (PFAs), styrene, formaldehyde, and phthalates into the ocean. These chemicals are associated with an increased risk of cancer, endocrine disruption, and immune system alteration.”
“Studies have found microplastics in marine mammal tissues and the human cardiovascular systems,” the study adds. “Microplastics correlate with an increased risk of heart disease.”
The concerns raised in these studies provide ample justification for the report Secretary Kennedy has ordered. While offshore wind farms’ effect on marine life, including the endangered right whale along the Mid- and North Atlantic coasts, has garnered much attention, the human element has been largely neglected. Commercial fishermen who earn their living by entering waters where gigantic wind turbines, their platforms, and undersea cables are commonplace are exposed daily to any contaminants emanating from this “clean” source of energy.
Trump’s Aversion and Bill Gates’ Conversion
President Donald Trump has made no secret of his hostility to offshore wind, which to him is a matter of both aesthetics and revulsion over the gobs of taxpayer money that have been lavished on these monstrosities. If the CDC concludes that commercial fishermen are at risk from offshore wind installations, investors will have another reason to think twice before providing capital for these projects — something businessman Trump understands only too well.
Kennedy’s action on offshore wind coincides with the eye-popping statement from longtime climate warrior Bill Gates that climate change “won’t lead to humanity’s demise.” Gates is a shrewd enough operator to know when the winds are shifting. The sun is setting on wind and solar power, and the climate agenda he once championed is no longer in vogue. He’s moving on.
Bonner Russell Cohen, Ph.D., is a senior policy analyst with the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT).
