Unwitting whale advocates and rightwing thinktanks create the impression that offshore wind energy projects endanger cetaceans

One night in late March, J Timmons Roberts, a professor of environmental studies at Brown University, stepped in to a high school gymnasium in a small seaside town in Rhode Island. He was there to speak at a town hall aimed at allaying concerns about a local offshore windfarm.

In the front row, he noticed a woman dressed as a whale, holding a sign that read “Save Me!”