PHOTOS: Biden’s ‘ambitious climate goals’ go down in literal flames by popular American beach
A major part of a first-of-its-kind green energy project, which the Biden administration bragged about, is now lying in ruins and polluting some of America’s beautiful ocean and seashore in Nantucket, Massachusetts.
Exclusive images obtained by Fox News Digital show the shattered remains of what is left of an ocean wind turbine constructed by Vineyard Wind in a green energy project touted by the Biden administration.
The turbine was recently struck by lightning and destroyed just months after one of its blades dangerously fell into the Atlantic Ocean, dropping non-biodegradable fiberglass shards into the water, some of which washed ashore, forcing six Nantucket beaches to close.
The Cape Cod Times reported that the broken turbine was hit by lightning on Feb. 27 and "caught fire, and detached."
Today – just a few years after the Biden administration announced the project in 2021 – the turbine sits in ruins with its interior materials being exposed just about 14 nautical miles from Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
In May 2021, the Biden-era Department of Interior announced the approval of the construction and operation of the Vineyard Wind project, which it said would be the first large-scale, offshore wind project in the United States. The administration touted the project as contributing to their green energy goals.
Former President Joe Biden’s Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland called the project an "important step toward advancing the Administration's goals to create good-paying union jobs while combating climate change and powering our nation."
She said it was "one of many actions we are determined to take to open the doors of economic opportunity to more Americans."
Biden's Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, "This project is an example of the investments we need to achieve the Biden-Harris administration’s ambitious climate goals, and I’m proud to be part of the team leading the charge on offshore wind."
However, after the project went down in literal flames, local residents had much more choice words to say about the Biden administration’s "ambitious climate goals."
"Everybody wants a healthy planet, but when the ones advocating for a green planet are the ones damaging it, it makes you pause," Barstool Sports President Dave Portnoy, a Nantucket homeowner, told Fox News Digital after the blade detached and fell into the ocean.
Portnoy lamented those who paid good money only to be unable to visit the closed beaches.
"Families save up for years to take a vacation to Nantucket only to have it ruined by negligence," he said.
Mary Chalke, another local resident, posted on X on Mar. 23 that she was continuing to find blade fiberglass debris washing ashore on a Nantucket beach on the south side of the island.
The Vineyard Gazette reported that the broken blade had a manufacturing defect that was not caught during inspections and that there were 66 other blades in the project that could potentially have the same problem. The outlet reported that Vineyard Wind has been ordered to remove all the potentially defective blades.
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The outlet said that as of January, only one turbine of the 62 planned was running.
A source familiar with the project said its catastrophic failure is a "shining example of how these failed green energy projects pose a hazard to the environment."
"It wasn’t by chance that this wind turbine was struck by lightning just months after it fell apart into the ocean," the source said.
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump paused new or renewed approvals, rights-of-way, permits, leases or loans for offshore wind projects pending a review of federal wind leasing and permitting practices. He also issued a memorandum temporarily withdrawing the Outer Continental Shelf from offshore wind leasing.