Combatting alleged climate change was a top priority for the former Biden-Harris administration, but some of its efforts to ostensibly improve and protect the environment have actually made things even worse.

One example is the Biden-approved Vineyard Wind offshore windmill farm near Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Island in Massachusetts, where a recent lightning strike on an already damaged turbine blade has damaged the local environment and threatened the project's future, according to Fox News.

The incident has sparked outrage from local residents and critics of the "ambitious" project that was purported to help save the world from climate change, but instead has polluted the ocean and ruined nearby beaches.

Biden admin touted achievement of first major offshore wind farm

Fox News reported that in 2021, the Biden-Harris administration granted its approval for what would be a first-of-its-kind offshore windmill farm in federal waters off the coast of Massachusetts.

Beyond merely approving the Vineyard Wind project, the administration heavily touted it to the public as a major achievement, which former Interior Sec. Deb Haaland called at the time an "important step toward advancing the Administration's goals to create good-paying union jobs while combating climate change and powering our nation."

Likewise, former Commerce Sec. Gina Raimondo said of the massive offshore wind farm, "This project is an example of the investments we need to achieve the Biden-Harris administration’s ambitious climate goals, and I’m proud to be part of the team leading the charge on offshore wind."

An ambitious project has utterly failed

Unfortunately for those lofty ambitions, the Vineyard Wind project has essentially been shut down before it even became fully operational after a turbine blade that mysteriously broke last year has now been struck by lightning, causing even more damage to the equipment and the environment that surrounds it.

According to the Cape Cod Times, a lightning strike on Feb. 27 hit a broken turbine blade -- which "caught fire, and detached," though "no debris" was found below it -- that had partially shattered last July and prompted the closure of several local beaches after dangerous fiberglass shards began washing ashore.

Vineyard Wind said in a statement that it was working to address the situation and that it had already scheduled the removal and replacement of the broken blade for May.

Notably, according to the Vineyard Gazette, the repeated problems with this one turbine blade have exposed a manufacturing defect with the football field-long fiberglass turbine blades that prompted a shutdown of the entire windmill farm and an order for all 66 installed blades to be removed and inspected.

The Gazette further noted that just one of the offshore wind farm's 22 turbines was up and running to generate electricity as of January of this year.

When supposed efforts to save the environment instead damage it

Critics have been quick to call out the Vineyard Wind project's multi-billion-dollar failures, including Barstool Sports President Dave Portnoy, a Nantucket resident, who told Fox News, "Everybody wants a healthy planet, but when the ones advocating for a green planet are the ones damaging it, it makes you pause," and added of the closed beaches, "Families save up for years to take a vacation to Nantucket only to have it ruined by negligence."

An unnamed source familiar with the project told the outlet that its shortcomings provide a "shining example of how these failed green energy projects pose a hazard to the environment," and further surmised, "It wasn’t by chance that this wind turbine was struck by lightning just months after it fell apart into the ocean."

President Donald Trump, by way of a Day One executive order, imposed a government-wide pause on all offshore wind projects that were so heavily favored by the prior administration, and it seems unlikely that his administration will cooperate or grant additional approvals, if necessary, to get the beleagured Vineyard Wind project back up and running again.