Separating Fact from Fiction: The Truth About Whale Strandings and Offshore Wind

April 2, 2023

OWE and Whale Strandings: Setting the record straight!

In this episode of the American Shoreline Podcast, co-hosts Peter Ravella and Tyler Buckingham dive into the controversial topic of recent whale strandings on the east coast of the US and the alleged connection between these events and the development of offshore wind. Their guest, Dr. Jill Lewandowski, Director of the BOEM Environmental Assessment and the Center for Marine Acoustics, sheds light on how science is used to guide BOEM's decision-making process, particularly in relation to marine mammals and marine acoustics. Dr. Lewandowski emphasizes that there is no scientific evidence linking the whale strandings to offshore wind development.

Show Transcription
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Peter Ravella & Tyler Buckingham

Peter and Tyler joined forces in 2015 and from the first meeting began discussing a project that would become Coastal News Today and the American Shoreline Podcast Network. At the time, Peter and Tyler were coastal consultants for Pete’s firm, PAR Consulting, LLC. In that role, they worked with coastal communities in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina, engaged in grant writing, coastal project development, shoreline erosion and land use planning, permitting, and financial planning for communities undertaking big beach restoration projects. Between and among their consulting tasks, they kept talking and kept building the idea of CNT & ASPN. In almost every arena they worked, public engagement played a central role. They spent thousands of hours talking with coastal stakeholders, like business owners, hotel operators, condo managers, watermen, property owners, enviros, surfers, and fishermen. They dived deep into the value, meaning, and responsibility for the American shoreline, segment-by-segment. Common threads emerged, themes were revealed, differences uncovered. There was a big conversation going on along the American shoreline! But, no place to have it. That's where CNT and ASPN were born.