Bill > SR120

This Resolution urges the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior responsible for managing offshore energy development, to immediately halt sonar testing and wind turbine mapping activities off the New Jersey coast. This call for a pause, known as a moratorium, is prompted by a recent and significant increase in unexplained deaths of marine mammals, specifically whales and dolphins, in the same areas where offshore wind energy projects are being developed. The resolution highlights concerns that the increased use of sonar, a technology that uses sound waves to map the ocean floor, may be interfering with marine mammals' ability to navigate and communicate, and that this activity, alongside wind turbine mapping, could be linked to the alarming number of marine animal deaths.