About 250 people gathered Jan. 18 to peacefully march down the Morro Bay waterfront in protest of offshore wind projects off the Central Coast and nationwide. Photo by Neil Farrell
About 250 people gathered in Morro Bay on Saturday, Jan. 18 for a “National Day of Action” standing against offshore wind energy; joining counterparts with similar concerns across the nation.
Called “End It!” the protests were held here and in Virginia, New Jersey and New York, with each local group fighting proposed offshore wind projects.
Anti-OSW groups started to congeal last summer into one national organization, the Nation Offshore-wind Opposition Alliance. Now there are some 18 groups nationwide fighting what they call the industrialization of the ocean.
Though they all formed in opposition to offshore wind, now that President Donald Trump has taken office, they have a powerful ally in the White House.
On Jan. 20, just two days after the protests, the President issued an Executive Order withdrawing all federal permits for wind energy projects on the Outer Continental Shelf, the submerged land areas of the sea floor from shore to 200-miles out.
It was a major victory for the anti-OSW activists who vowed to make sure the new President sticks to his new policy.
“The reasons for organizing a nationwide OSW opposition action are numerous and varied,” REACT Alliance president Mandy Davis said, “but the main impetus for protesting at this juncture is to remind our incoming administration that there are millions of coastal citizens that are negatively impacted by the offshore wind industry and that we are looking to our new President and his cabinet to do as they have promised…to END IT!”
The protest in Morro Bay gathered at Morro Rock with a stiff and chilly wind blowing in off the ocean, a subtle reminder of the potential that wind energy provides (just not in the ocean), that didn’t dampen the spirits of the group.
After a short presentation, Davis led the group on a march up the Embarcadero to Marina Square and back to the Rock, signs waving in protest.
Some of the more creative signs said things like, “S-wind-LE, Not Clean, Not Green, Not Cheap;” “Offshore Wind will Industrialize Our Ports;” and, the tongue-in-cheek message — “Big Wind Blows.”
The peaceful march included folks of all ages and political persuasions, who are in solidarity in opposing OSW. Throw in President Trump, and the coalition of people who have joined hands against OSW continues to bring people together.
And Trump’s Executive Order, while halting new offshore leasing for wind energy, only orders a review of the process that was followed by the federal agency, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management or BOEM, in approving lease sales and permits for other wind energy projects.
If readers would like to know more about the anti-offshore wind group, see: www.reactalliance.org.