A Rhode Island Wind Farm Changed Their View.
And Their Lives, for the Better.
“The turbines started delivering electricity in 2016, the year Donald J. Trump was first elected president. Since his re-election, offshore wind has come under siege in the United States.The Trump administration has attacked several projects under construction, including one that’s almost completed off the coast of Rhode Island, saying wind farms have no place in American waters.
But the Block Islanders have a different story to tell. Wind power has changed their lives in welcome and sometimes surprising ways.”
The New York Times
Reporter: Catrin Einhorn
Photo Editor: Elijah Walker
Passengers on the ferry heading towards Block Island from Point Judith, Rhode Island
Visitors look out at the Block Island Wind Farm roughly three miles offshore.
Keith Stover, head of the island’s Town Council, who is a supporter of the turbines.
The Block Island Windfarm.
Kim Gaffett, a former head of the Town Council, and a bird she banded for conservation research.
Kim Gaffett looks at a wren under the magnifying glass, at the Block Island Bird Banding Station. Gaffett is a supporter of the wind farm, despite claims by Donald Trump that offshore wind projects hurt birds and whales.
The northern tip of North Light Beach where seals often congregate.
Barbara MacMullan, chairwoman of the board at the Block Island Utility District, the state’s first electricity cooperative.
Solar panels by the Southeast Lighthouse on Block Island. Residents say support for wind is part of an ethos of conservation on the island.
Jeff Wright, president of the Block Island Utility District, poses for a portrait in the generator control room.
Top: Diesel tanks at the Block Island Power Company. Generators are kept as a backup power supply in case of emergency.
Bottom: New Shoreham, the only town on Block Island. Before the wind farm, power surges and dips would damage household appliances.
The Block Island Wind Farm visible from the Mohegan Bluffs. More than 40 percent of the land on Block Island is protected from development.