The 2-nautical-mile spacing of offshore wind turbines should be mandatory. Maritime safety, commercial fishing operations, and search-and-rescue limitations require larger setbacks. Wind developers typically favor a tighter 1-nautical-mile grid to maximize financing for submarine cables. 

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The past U.S. administrations set an unachievable goal of deploying 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030. Politicians overlooked facts that massive, rotating wind turbine blades would cause electromagnetic reflectivity and interference with marine vessel radar. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the U.S. Coast Guard, following the Green agenda, approved uniform layout frameworks such as the 1 NM grid layout. 

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On January 1, 2019, during a storm, the F/V Mistress sank near the Block Island wind turbines. The Coast Guard spent 37 minutes searching for the boat and declared it lost. The Coast Guard MH-60 helicopter encountered radar interference and gave up.

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Recently, a group of divers from Green Oceans made a targeted dive and found the F/V Mistress 50 feet from Block Island turbine #1. 

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The sinking is now politically embarrassing for two reasons: 

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First, the F/V Mistress was lost in a storm with less than ten feet of visibility.  The boat was equipped with standard marine radar electronics that may not have worked within the wind farm. The boat could have hit turbine #1, causing destabilization and causing it to roll over or pitch forward into a catastrophic flip. 

Second, the MH-60 crew had to abandon or restrict parts of the search due to radar clutter and the spacing of the turbines.

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 Documents are available; BOEM and the Coast Guard knew the boat had been at turbine #1 since 2019.  

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A request was made several months ago that federal authorities reopen the marine casualty investigation into the sinking of the commercial fishing vessel F/V Mistress.

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