The wind sweeps your face, the water soothes your skin, the air feels clean and tastes salty. The shoreline of Connecticut has shaped my favorite memories. For many of us, the best days are spent at the beach, with friends and a plethora of sunblock. But the reality of the climate crisis is beginning to disturb these beautiful summer memories. Stepping foot into the ocean for the first time each summer no longer elicits a shriek. The water is cold, but it does not make your feet tingle like it did in the early 2000s. Staying at the beach during stronger and more intense storms is no longer plausible. Our nostalgic feelings stem from the shore, but are slowly being taken away by the climate crisis.
We in the northeast should strive to protect the places we cherish. This summer, I worked for a small climate crisis nonprofit aimed at connecting with elected officials, both state and local, to gain traction for clean energy projects that could better their community and bolster the economy.
Given our shoreline, Connecticut should be a natural candidate for embracing the opportunity for offshore wind energy. But, it lags behind its neighboring states in securing clean energy. The benefits of wind power include reducing carbon emissions, increasing energy security, and stimulating economic growth. In many shore locations the wind industry is an opportunity for new careers. Not only this, but clean energy provides boosts in public health and sustainability, targeting the consistently declining air quality that the northeast has experienced in the last years. No longer should the state of Connecticut be solely reliant on fossil fuels and the oil industry; rather, the state needs to make new efforts towards reliable, efficient and, most of all, clean energy.
In early October, Connecticut published its strategic roadmap for offshore wind energy. On paper, this roadmap looks and sounds like the perfect solution. However, Connecticut does not exactly have the best reputation when it comes to following through on sustainability efforts. Consider the Park City Wind Project on the coast of Connecticut. For a year, Avangrid attempted to negotiate a higher price for the Wind Project with the state of Connecticut. After this year of conversation about the price of the project, Avangrid decided to cancel their contract, taking a $16 million penalty. Avangrid has made it clear that they hope to rebid on the project with a higher price; however, this pause in the progress is a major setback for clean energy for the state.
With this wind farm stalled in the water, it is hard to envision a different future for new projects. Connecticut has established the presence of being all in on offshore wind, yet there are clear roadblocks to this roadmap, making it impossible to trust the future of offshore wind in Connecticut, without full attention from government, business owners, and Connecticut citizens.
One of those roadblocks is the plethora of disinformation about offshore wind. In a time of extreme political polarization, issues such as climate crisis solutions are widely debated and in some cases controversial. While concerns such as the negative impact on visual aesthetics and harms to wildlife are easily disproved, they have continued to stall projects in New Jersey and Connecticut. It has been established that the responsible development of offshore wind does not negatively impact wildlife or marine life. Offshore wind farms are located around 40 kilometers from the coast, making the visual impact minimal due to the sheer distance from shore. Not only this, but these farms are placed, purposefully, in locations that are underdeveloped. They create new opportunities for infrastructure while also avoiding negatively impacting existing landmarks.
The point to offshore wind farms is not to impact our beaches negatively, but to keep them alive.
The nostalgia that we feel at the beach is something that no one wants to lose. Connecticut’s proximity to major population centers on the East Coast makes it a prime location for offshore wind projects. With strong leadership, a commitment to environmental stewardship, and a focus on economic growth, Connecticut can harness the power of offshore wind and ensure that it does not fall behind in the transition to clean energy.
Ryann Hillenbrand is a junior at Trinity College, majoring in Public Policy and Law with a focus in Health Policy.