Updated Nov. 6.
A wind development with nearly 150 turbines planned off the coast of the Island was issued a blow Tuesday when a federal judge agreed that the Trump administration could reconsider a Biden-era approval of the project.
Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., found that the SouthCoast Wind developers will not “suffer immediate and significant hardship” if the government reconsiders its permits.
The decision sets in motion what SouthCoast Wind officials may have seen coming; executives told investors in February that they would likely see a four-year delay on the project under the Trump administration.
The town of Nantucket, which filed a suit against the development in March, is celebrating the decision.
“The court’s ruling affirms the town’s long-standing position that the federal government must take a hard look at potential flaws in the environmental and cultural analysis underpinning offshore wind permitting decisions,” the town said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Biden administration gave SouthCoast Wind final approval — called a construction and operations plan (COP) — just three days before President Joe Biden left office. Formerly called Mayflower Wind, SouthCoast is a 2.4-gigawatt project that the Interior Department stated would generate enough electricity to power 840,000 homes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
SouthCoast is owned by Ocean Winds, a Madrid-based international wind company. The company was founded through a 2019 joint venture between EDP Renewables, a subsidiary of the EDP Group, Portugal’s largest utility company, and ENGIE, a French multinational electric utility company.
“SouthCoast Wind expresses serious concern regarding the decision taken on November 4th, allowing the remand of its legally approved Construction and Operations Plan. While we are disappointed by this outcome, we remain committed to the rigorous standards that have guided the development of this project, including a comprehensive four-year process conducted under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA),” Michael Brown, CEO of SouthCoast Wind, said in a statement.
Since acquiring the lease during the first Trump administration, in Dec. 2018, the company has invested $600 million in development and permitting activities, including lease fee payments to the federal government, the statement went on. “We are currently assessing the implications of the decision and will consider all appropriate next steps, including the pursuit of legal remedies, to ensure the project’s integrity and its long-term contribution to regional and national energy goals.”
According to Nantucket, the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management — which reviews and issues federal permits for offshore wind — has stated that it may have “understated or obfuscated impacts” from the project on Nantucket. With the judge’s ruling, the agency will now reevaluate the project’s compliance under federal law before issuing a new decision to “either approve, disapprove, or approve with conditions” the development.
Nantucket claimed in its March filing that the federal regulators failed to address the adverse impacts of the project to the town. The town argued that federal regulators broke federal law by not considering the cumulative impact of multiple large offshore wind projects 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.”
In September, the Trump administration filed suit, seeking a remand of the approval of SouthCoast Wind’s construction and operations plan.
Editor’s note: Updated to include statement from SouthCoast Wind.
The corruption of the trump administration knows no bounds. He convinces judges to prevent wind turbines from making nearly free electricity for regular folks so that the oil/nuclear billionaires on Nantucket can make 40 to 50 cents a kilowatt for selling nuclear power.
Mary, respectfully — this framing is inaccurate.
The judge’s ruling does not block wind energy, nor does it “prevent nearly free electricity.” It simply requires the federal government to re-evaluate whether the environmental and cultural review was done properly — especially regarding cumulative impacts on Nantucket and neighboring communities. That is basic good governance, not corruption.
There is nothing “nearly free” about offshore wind. SouthCoast Wind has already acknowledged massive cost pressures, withdrawn contracts, and signaled multi-year delays. Ratepayers are repeatedly asked to subsidize these projects while foreign developers — not local residents — receive guaranteed returns. The economic burden is real, and far from inexpensive.
Nantucket raised legitimate concerns:
• Incomplete visual simulations
• Insufficient cultural/historic review
• A failure to study cumulative regional impacts
• BOEM admitting it may have understated or obfuscated impacts
Pointing these out is not a gift to “oil/nuclear billionaires.” It is an attempt to ensure that enormous industrial infrastructure — sited in prime marine habitat — undergoes proper scrutiny before construction permanently alters the ocean.
Supporting renewable energy and demanding rigorous review are not contradictions. They are responsible environmental stewardship.
“Nearly free” ? Is that like ” almost too good to be true ” ?
Comments are closed.