We need offshore wind, and we need to do it right. Offshore wind will help eliminate dangerous greenhouse gas emissions, promising healthier air as well as thousands of well-paying clean energy jobs. But as we fight climate change, we can and must avoid, minimize, and mitigate threats that offshore wind development also poses to vulnerable ocean life. Protections for our valuable marine wildlife are important at every stage of offshore wind development – from site assessment and characterization through construction and operations to decommissioning.

To support the responsible development of offshore wind, NRDC collaborated with other environmental  groups to develop a set of necessary protections for critically endangered North Atlantic right whales based on best available science. Many of these measures offer important benefits to other marine mammal species and sea turtles.