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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald

Experts back whales and wind farms to coexist, so why don't locals?

John Arnold Peter Dutton Coal NOAA
Sunday's protest at One Mile beach. Picture by Peter Lorimer

As a visitor, it was good to see that Newcastle people care about whales, but I found it apparent that last weekend's demonstrators concerned about whale safety from wind turbines are misinformed ('Break point', Newcastle Herald 30/10). Many organisations including the Marine Mammal Commission report "there is no scientific evidence whatsoever that wind turbines are causing any whale deaths at all".

In the Bass Strait, which is also on whales' migration paths, there have been gas drilling platforms that peaked at 122 gas wells in 2010 (reduced to 68 this year and 36 in 2024). These have had no occurrences of whale collisions. Replacing gas wells with wind turbines is an environmental improvement and neither causes a collision issue for whales.

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