An offshore wind development planned off the Vineyard’s coast has been hit with a legal challenge from the Town of Nantucket, where municipal officials are saying federal regulators failed to address the adverse impacts of the project to the town.
Targeting SouthCoast Wind, the town filed an appeal against the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the federal agency that approves offshore wind projects, on Thursday to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The town argues that federal regulators broke federal laws by not considering the cumulative impact of multiple large offshore wind projects, including SouthCoast Wind, on Nantucket, which is designated as a national historic landmark. They also allege federal regulators and developers did not properly plan mitigation efforts, including “adequate visual simulations.”
“BOEM’s conduct sets a dangerous precedent by weakening the federal government’s review of all energy-related projects, including fossil fuel projects that contribute most to global warming,” William Cooke, an attorney from Cultural Heritage Partners representing Nantucket, said in a press release. “We need to defend federal laws that protect our cultural and environmental resources now more than ever.”
The appeal requests the court to order BOEM to set aside its approval of the project and require SouthCoast Wind to submit a new environmental impact statement alongside further consultation with local and federal officials. The town also asked for “temporary restraining orders or preliminary or permanent injunction as appropriate” and to retain jurisdiction to ensure BOEM complies with court decrees.
“Despite our repeated attempts to help BOEM and the developer find balance between the nation’s renewable energy goals and the protection of what makes us unique, they have refused to work with us and to follow the law,” Brooke Mohr, Nantucket select board chair, said in the release. “We are taking action to hold them accountable. Our community should not bear the consequences of their poor planning.”
Tracey Moriarty, a BOEM spokesperson, declined to comment.
Calls for better protections from the impacts of offshore wind projects have also been made before on Martha’s Vineyard.
SouthCoast Wind is an offshore wind project planned to be built 26 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior, was expected to generate enough electricity to power 840,000 homes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island once completed. However, company officials behind SouthCoast Wind announced a four-year construction delay, blaming the Trump administration’s anti-wind platform and the overall devaluation of wind projects in the United States.
The town’s challenge follows Nantucket-based anti-wind group ACK for Whales’ requests to the Environmental Protection Agency to reassess the Clean Air Act permits of Vineyard Wind, New England Wind 1, and New England Wind 2.
A representative of Ocean Winds, parent company of SouthCoast Wind, was not immediately available for comment.
