Who We Are
Our Mission
We are an alliance of grassroots environmental and community organizations, scientists, and conservationists working to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale and other marine life from the industrialization of our ocean habitat through large-scale offshore wind energy development.
Save Right Whales Coalition is committed to educating the public and political leaders on the harms of offshore wind on ocean life and for those who live, work, and visit our coastal communities.
Save Right Whales Coalition Member Organizations
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Civilization Works
Civilization Works is the former Environmental Progress (EP), which was founded in 2016 with the mission of achieving nature and prosperity for all. Our strategy was to tell the truth about nuclear energy and the right of poor nations to cheap energy, and build a movement to defend both. This work resulted in Apocalypse Never, (HarperCollins 2020), dozens of articles for and in Forbes, New York Times, Quillette, and other publications, and a movement of pro-nuclear organizations around the world.
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Deep Sea Defenders
We are a grassroots organization dedicated to protecting the integrity of the deep sea environment, the organisms who live there, and the people who depend upon the health of the ocean for their traditional livelihoods. We support the call for a global ban on deep sea mining. A sustainable future cannot be created by sacrificing or industrializing our planet’s last remaining wildernesses.
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Defend Brigantine Beach
Founded in 2022, our mission is to protect our precious marine and coastal ecosystem from the potentially devastating effects of industrial offshore wind.
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Fenwick Island Environmental Committee
The Fenwick Island Environmental Committee reviews and acts on matters related to the environment and natural resources of the Town of Fenwick Island. Our town is located at the most southern point of Delaware between the Atlantic Ocean and Assawoman Bay.
Contact person: Colleen Wilson
clw728@comcast.net
410-570-3629
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Green Oceans
We believe in climate change and understand the urgency to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. The ocean and the life it supports awes us. We want to protect every aspect of this life, from the smallest organisms to the largest whale. Our mission is to protect this beautiful and misunderstood ecosystem from industrialization, which will drive whales to extinction, decrease oxygen production, compromise carbon dioxide absorption, threaten fish stocks, decrease biodiversity, and diminish ocean currents.
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Keep Our Oceans Ocean
Keep our Oceans Ocean was founded in 2023 to raise awareness and fight to stop the industrialization of our oceans. We agree there is a need for green energy, but strongly disagree with industrialization in our oceans. Our ocean is an incredible natural resource and we believe that it needs to be kept a sacred place now and forever. A portion of the proceeds from our t-shirt sales are donated to other organizations focused on marine conservation.
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Kent Conservation and Preservation Alliance
Kent Conservation and Preservation Alliance (KCPA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Kent County, Maryland. Its mission is to protect the environmental resources, the county’s unparalleled cultural and historical heritage and to preserve the county’s way of life for all its citizens. To carry out this mission, KCPA informs the public of proposals that are potential threats, communicates with state and local elected officials, government agencies, other organizations, and acts as both watchdog and advocate. History has shown that there is strong allegiance to protection of values in Kent County, Kent Conservation formed and stood for years as the stalwart protector of Kent County against threats, KCPA continues on their foundational work.
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Nantucket Residents for Whales
Nantucket Residents for Whales is a grass roots group, formed in 2019 to pursue the answers about impacts of industrial offshore wind on marine species. We are asking for science backed answers regarding cumulative impacts to the fragile marine environment surrounding our Island.
We are a 501 (c) 3, tax exempt organization incorporated in 2020. Our efforts include public outreach and education. ACK for Whales is wholly committed to defending the North Atlantic Right Whale, as well our island’s marine environment.
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Protect Our Coast NJ
Started in 2019, Protect Our Coast NJ is a non-partisan, all volunteer (no paid staff) citizen activist group based in New Jersey. We are residents, homeowners, business owners, fishermen and visitors of the New Jersey coastal communities with one common goal: to stop the development of offshore wind energy off the coast of New Jersey. Our group has highlighted and shared the known risks and dangers, informed the public of the experimental aspects as well as unknowns intentionally omitted from the ads by wind developers, politicians and those with vested interests. We have taken action in our towns by meeting and sharing our concerns with our politicians, the Board of Public Utilities, offshore wind companies as well as family, friends and neighbors.
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Save the Horseshoe Crab
Our organization was created in 2019 to spread awareness of the ongoing manmade threats to the American Horseshoe Crab. As their numbers have continued to decline due to overharvesting, the Carl Shuster Jr. Horseshoe Crab Reserve was created to protect the world’s largest population. Located off the mouth of the Delaware Bay, it encompasses a 30 nautical mile radius and is a marine protected area to prevent capture/harm to the crabs that are found within its boundaries. Our government leased an area in the center of the Reserve to Ørsted, a Danish offshore wind company. The proposed Skipjack Wind Farm will also be situated dangerously close to the international shipping lanes into the Delaware Bay. Industrialization of this protected sanctuary may cause irreparable harm to the horseshoe crab population and all other marine life that habitat this area. Many species of whales and dolphins migrate through this area. Horseshoe crabs have survived for over 480 million years and without protection may be added to the long list of Endangered species.
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WindAction
The WindAction Group was formed in 2006 in response to the growing demand for information on the potential impacts of large-scale wind energy facilities on wildlife and the natural environment. In time, our research expanded into other forms of large-scale renewable energy, including solar and offshore wind. WindAction regularly engages on renewable energy policy and land use issues at the federal, regional, and local levels.
Individual Members
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Jeffrey Cameron
Jeffrey is a recreational fisherman and outdoorsman who has a strong interest in the environment. He has witnessed firsthand the degrading of the environment by special interests in his home waters of Long Island Sound. Here the lobster population was decimated by public health officials dumping larvicide into the watershed. Jeffrey realized that all sea life was precious to its own ecosystem and the connecting ones. He has spent most of his life on the water and studied Environmental Science in college. All his studies and experiences built a strong belief that all wildlife and the oceans themselves are integral parts of that ecosystem, the world itself, and worth protecting.
The exploitation and killing of the right whales for corporate greed and governmental overreach has led Jeffrey to get involved in saving the North Atlantic Right Whale. He is proud to play a part in saving this species from extinction.
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Mary Chalke
I’ve always been a nature lover. Living on Nantucket , the beloved critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whales have been part of my life, as it is for all those who live on the island. So when I attended a public hearing in February 2019 for a proposed industrial offshore wind energy project, slated for the waters off our south shore, I became alarmed. It would be the first in the nation, largest in the world, offshore wind array, and would be joined by seven more, for a total of 1,400 turbines.
The spokesman from the federal permitting agency assured us the construction and operation of the turbines would not jeopardize the species, despite industrializing one of the whales’ last refuges. The enthusiasm and energy from the attending conservation groups in the room was impressive, but there was little to no real time scientific data or studies. As if that weren’t bad enough, the feds planned on granting permission for the developers to injure the whales during construction without penalty.
I formed Cape and Islands Wildlife Conservation Alliance, to engage our region’s residents, property owners, business owners and visitors. I am committed to protecting Nantucket’s fragile ecosystem, and the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whales, so they will be part of my grandchildrens’ lives too.
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Paul Craney
Paul graduated from Gordon College and is a first-generation American, his mother immigrated to the United States from Mexico City. Paul is the spokesperson and serves on the board of Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. Prior to his role at Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, he worked in politics in New Jersey and Washington, D.C. He is an avid surfcaster fisherman and currently lives in North Andover, Massachusetts.
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Mike Dean
Mike is an ocean advocate and independent researcher, focusing on raising awareness and educating the public on political, legal and media fronts. Concerns over threats to marine life and our coastal ecosystems align him with the Save Right Whales Coalition. His research background and experience in asset-backed and project finance lends perspective to offshore wind industry developments and related impacts.
Mike views the environmental harms and economic costs of offshore wind industrialization as limitless, and the benefits impossible to justify or quantify.
A Jersey Shore lifer, Mike was born and raised in South Jersey, and spent annual family vacations on Cape May County beaches before lifeguarding as a young man in North Wildwood. Mike has since spent many summers in Ocean County beach towns – Point Pleasant, Bay Head, Mantoloking, Lavallette. He now calls coastal Monmouth County home, where he lives with his kids.
In summertime, Mike can be found off Long Branch participating in early morning open ocean swims among the dolphins and whales, body surfing, or playing beach volleyball.
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Katie Finnegan
Katie has spent much of her life immersed in community service and she believes strongly in giving back to her community. She spent most of her career as a medical social worker after receiving her MSW from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a LCSW-level licensure in NJ.
A parent of two young adult children, she currently assists her husband in their home-based medical-legal consulting business. Katie also volunteers with Brigantine NJ-based non-profit, South Jersey Cancer Fund.
After summering at the Jersey shore much of her life, she and her family purchased their first vacation home on the island of Brigantine, NJ in 2003. What attracted her most to Brigantine was its natural beauty and the sense of quiet calm on the 6.9-mile long island. In 2020 she became a full-time year-round resident in 2020.
Upon learning of the offshore wind projects planned for Brigantine’s beaches in late 2022, Katie immediately connected with a small citizen group in town, and in a few short weeks, Defend Brigantine Beach, Inc. was born. The group’s mission focuses on outreach and education about the costly and negative ecological, economic implications of offshore wind turbines.
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Constance Gee
Constance resides in Westport, MA where she has worked on behalf of animals and barrier beach protection for years.
Constance is a founding member of Green Oceans (2021) and honored to be part of Save Right Whales Coalition. In May 2024, Constance helped found Protect Our Westport Waters (POWW) in response to the planned onshoring of high-voltage transmission cables at a local beach and running through the entire length of Westport. She is also a board member of the National Offshore-Wind Opposition Alliance (NOOA).
Constance holds a Ph.D. in art education with an emphasis in public policy from Pennsylvania State University.
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Dianna Harris
Dianna is a life long resident of Maryland. She spent her youth sailing and crabbing on the Chesapeake and her adult life raising her boys on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. When her children left for college, she moved permanently to the place she loves the most, Ocean City, Maryland. After 40 years of summering “at the beach” it was time to call Ocean City home.
As offshore fishing has always been a passion for Dianna and her boys, the permanent move gave opportunity for Hocus Pocus fishing charters to be launched. Full-time residency and countless hours on the ocean brought the threat offshore wind industrialization to the forefront and was the impetus for her to launch Protect our Coast Delmarva. With the support and guidance of incredible environmentalists and ocean warriors from groups such as Protect our Coast NJ, Save the East Coast, ACK for Whales, and Save Right Whales founder Lisa Linowes, Dianna became instrumental in raising Delmarva’s awareness to the dangers OSW poses to its environment, communities, livelihood and way of life.
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Suzanne Hornick
In the fall of 2018, Suzanne Hornick first heard about the plan to industrialize our coastline. Previously, she worked with the city of Ocean City, NJ to address the extreme flooding the island was enduring regularly. The group she founded, Ocean City NJ Flooding, comprised of more than 5600 members, was very successful in getting the island’s infrastructure updated and in good working order, vastly improving the flooding island-wide.
After attending a few meetings with Orsted where the information kept changing, Suzanne decided to research the issue of offshore wind in depth in order to decide whether to support the plan.
Suzanne founded one of the first and largest NJ community groups opposing offshore wind. This effort evolved into Protect Our Coast NJ which was formally established in 2019 and incorporated in May, 2023. Suzanne has since left the group but she continues to provide her passion, expertise and assistance to several groups including Save The Right Whales Coalition.
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Si Kinsella
Si Kinsella supports efforts to reduce carbon emission and advocates for vigorous review oriented around the science of proposed development projects. Whether proposed actions are designed to: reduce carbon emissions in the atmospheric environment; remediate sites containing chemical contaminants in soil and groundwater; or impact the marine environment that poses a risk to natural fisheries (including North Atlantic Right Whale habitats), such proposals should be pre-conditioned on thorough scientific analysis.
Currently, Si is spearheading lawsuits against South Fork Wind and the New York State Public Service Commission for failing to comply with statutory mandated environmental review and procurement violation of New York State Finance and Municipal Law.
Simon is based on the South Fork of eastern Long Island. He works with leading marine scientists and lawyers to ensure safe, responsible development. Born and educated in Australia, Si spent over a decade in London before moving to the US in 2007. He has a background in finance, accountancy, law, and corporate strategy. Si currently lives between Manhattan and Long Island. For further information, please email Si@oswSouthFork.info or visit www.oswSouthFork.info and www.Wainscott.Life.
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Leslie Mangold
Leslie Mangold has had two careers in her lifetime - broadcast television and teaching television production. Recently retired, she is now devoting her time to helping to save and protect whales, the ocean and other marine life. Leslie is working at the grassroots level, and most recently helped to organize a Save the Whales rally (in Pt. Pleasant NJ) which was held on World Whale Day,. As she says, the Ocean belongs to all of us, and we need to take care of it.
She fears that the planned and proposed offshore wind turbines will cause extensive damage and harm to the ocean, marine ecosystem, marine mammal population and ultimately our lives.
Growing up at the Jersey Shore fostered a deep love and respect for the ocean and all the marine mammals in it. Like so many others, she is happy to see how clean and clear the ocean has become and thrilled to see whales and dolphins making their journey along the shoreline, which clearly demonstrates that the marine mammal protection act works. We must continue our fight against offshore wind, for our ocean, our marine life, and our lives.
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Eric Mihaly
Eric is an offshore enthusiast, charter boat captain and culinary expert who has lived on the coast since 1995. He launched Keep Our Oceans Ocean after seeing whales and dolphins unexpectedly washing up on the beaches of his home town, Ocean City, MD. This first hand account fueled him to never stop fighting for our oceans and its marine life. Since then, similar stories of sea life washing up on the shores of the east coast are uncovered daily. Upon further investigation, he discovered work had begun on offshore wind farms located off the east coast and may be contributing to these senseless deaths.
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Amy Seaman
I am a long time resident of Maryland and currently live in Annapolis. Growing up on the bay, over the years I have witnessed the waxing and waning of fish species and blue crabs from over harvesting and ineffective management of our natural resources. I studied Marine Biology undergraduate but ultimately pursued a career in academic Diagnostic Imaging.
I spend most of my leisure time boating and fishing on the Chesapeake Bay exploring the numerous tributaries and coves. My love for the ocean bought me to Bethany Beach, DE where I became intrigued with the American Horseshoe Crab. Since that time I have studied and read many books/research papers pertaining to horseshoe crabs and the current threats to their survival.
Since retiring, I devote much of my time helping to protect our precious marine life for future generations to enjoy and experience. The latest threat, offshore wind turbines are to be erected where the effect on the marine habitat will be the greatest. We have a responsibility to conduct extensive research before moving forward with this massive offshore wind development.
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Michael Shellenberger
Michael Shellenberger is the founder and president of Civilization Works (formerly Environmental Progress). He is a leading investigative journalist who has broken major stories on crime and drug policy; homelessness; Amazon deforestation; rising climate resilience; growing eco-anxiety; the U.S. government’s role in the fracking revolution; and climate change and California’s fires. And he testifies and advises governments around the world including in the United States, Brazil, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, and the Netherlands.
Michael has been a climate and environmental activist for over 30 years. He has helped save nuclear reactors around the world, from Illinois and New York to South Korea and Taiwan, thereby preventing an increase in air pollution equivalent to adding over 24 million cars to the road.
He is the author of the best-selling book, Apocalypse Never, and the recently published book, San Fransicko.
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Eric Turner
Eric Turner has over thirty years of experience working with small businesses in systems analysis and business and data analytics. He has degrees in Data Analytics specializing in Data Integration, Analytics and Reporting. Turner has vacationed on Martha’s Vineyard’s since 1990 and for the past several years worked to preserve the island’s natural beauty and maintain the natural habitat for marine life that depends on the waters of New England to survive.
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Keith Uzzell
Keith is a commercial fisherman who has worked in a multitude of positions ranging from deckhand to engineer to mate in the scalloping industry for the past fifteen years. When he isn’t out on the sea, he is an advocate for his three children with special needs and medical complexities. In between learning how to balance life on land and sea, the skills he learned with his children help him in his activism to protect the ocean and its inhabitants from the industrialization of offshore wind. It is with this newfound passion that he is learning how to educate his peers on the New Bedford, MA waterfront about the environmental damage and significant economic impacts that offshore wind development will have on commercial fishing along the Eastern Seaboard. Keith is proud to be working with SRWC to help protect marine life and, also, to bring awareness to his colleagues—those who work hard to provide for their families and who love and respect the ocean.