Trump's Batman finds his Robin as RFK Jr probes debunked claim wind turbines harm humans

In health secretary currently at war with US medical establishment over his anti-vaccine stance, Trump, who once claimed wind turbines cause cancer, has found a friend in pushing fact-free claims about things he doesn’t like

Department of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr is notorious for his anti-vaccine positions during the Covid pandemic, and was grilled on them yesterday in a fiery Senate hearing.
Department of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr is notorious for his anti-vaccine positions during the Covid pandemic, and was grilled on them yesterday in a fiery Senate hearing.Photo: The White House

Donald Trump’s Batman has found his Robin in peddling baseless attacks against wind turbines in health secretary Robert Kennedy Jr, who has reportedly launched a federal probe into a debunked claim they are dangerous to humans and whales.

Kennedy, grilled last week in a Senate hearing on his skepticism towards vaccines and the current crisis the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recently said during a marathon White House Cabinet meeting that Team Trump is all-in on killing the US offshore wind sector.

There is now an “inter-departmental coalition team” composed of the secretaries of Energy, Interior, Commerce, Defence and Education, along with his own Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), that Kennedy said are now “working together on this issue.”

A new article in the New York Times, citing two people briefed on the matter speaking on condition of anonymity, provides further details on this hit squad out to destroy an industry that was set to rake in tens of billions of dollars of investment to the US.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and senior White House advisor Stephen Miller, seen as an architect of Trump policy and a leading bogeyman of his administration, are reportedly leading this effort.

Eye-catchingly, at Kennedy’s DHHS, the report states that officials are now studying whether wind turbines are emitting electromagnetic fields (EMF) potentially harmful to humans. Kennedy has claimed previously that EMF from turbines could be a danger to humans and whales, reports the New York Times.

According to a 2022 report by the American Clean Power Association (ACP), there has been “extensive research” over decades on EMF and health by academics, medical agencies and government health agencies and scientists.

“However, despite the wealth of scientific evidence not supporting a causal link between EMF and health issues at the levels of exposure typically encountered by the public, there has been increased concerns raised at public meetings and legal proceedings about exposure to EMF from wind turbines and associated electrical transmission,” it said.

ACP said that, as with concerns over how sounds from wind turbines affect human health (spoiler alert – they don’t), “concerns raised by wind energy opponents are not based on actual measurements of EMF exposure surrounding existing wind energy projects but appear to follow from worries from internet sources and a misunderstanding of the science.”

ACP cited a study conducted at a wind project in Ontario, Canada, which measured magnetic fields exposure to homes near wind turbines, substations and several buried and overhead collector and transmission lines.

“The study found that magnetic field levels in the vicinity of wind turbines are lower than levels that people are exposed to on a daily basis in homes, offices and schools, and much lower than exposure people receive from many common household electrical devices, such as televisions, hair dryers, cell phones, laptop computers, or other portable wireless devices.”

Further research has concurred with this finding, said ACP, including a review by the Ohio Department of Health of 15 years of peer-reviewed scientific literature on the topic.

Trump is no stranger to baseless conspiracy theories about wind power, having bizarrely claimed that wind turbines cause cancer. Trump has latched onto any possible means of attack against the wind sector, however dubious, including that wind turbines drive whales “crazy”.

Needless to say, Trump, who is a climate change sceptic and adopter of the slogan, “drill baby, drill,” is not otherwise known for his work as an environmentalist.

But Trump’s has found a friend in peddling such evidence free claims in health secretary Kennedy, notorious for his anti-vaccine positions during the Covid pandemic and another proponent of the idea that wind turbines kill whales.

Bizarre, difficult to comprehend claims about wind farms are not limited to the duo among leading government officials, however. Interior secretary Doug Burgum recently claimed that the stop work order issued against Orsted’s Revolution Wind project was issued over fears the planned wind farm could facilitate undersea swarm drone attacks from unnamed adversaries.
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Published 9 September 2025, 12:16Updated 9 September 2025, 12:16
USNorth AmericaDonald Trump