The Trump administration stoked fresh uncertainty about the future of an offshore wind farm near Massachusetts on Thursday, as it asked a federal court to send a key project permit back to the Interior Department for further review.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management “is reviewing its approvals associated with the project and has determined, based on its review to date, that it wishes to reconsider” its approval of SouthCoast Wind’s construction and operations plan, the government said in its filing with a Washington D.C.-based federal court.
The administration stopped short of asking the court to vacate or invalidate the underlying SouthCoast permit. Instead, it is asking the court to stay the ongoing legal challenge of the project’s approval while the permit is reviewed.
The government said its request is consistent with a broad offshore wind review ordered by Trump hours after his January inauguration and just three days after SouthCoast’s construction plan won approval under former President Joe Biden.
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The project was reviewed under a Biden-era policy the Trump administration said Thursday constrained regulators’ scrutiny. In particular, the Trump administration asserted, the approval came despite a decades-old federal law that requires energy projects on coastal federal waters balance a dozen different needs, including protecting the environment and national security as well as preventing interference with use of the high seas.
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Based on its ongoing review, the bureau has determined SouthCoast’s construction and operations plan approval “may not have fully complied” with that federal law, the government said in its filing. Analysis of the project also may have fallen short, it argued, by understating or obfuscating its potential environmental impacts.
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The move comes roughly three weeks after the Trump administration told the court it would be seeking a voluntary remand, under which a key project permit would be sent back for fresh scrutiny.
Ocean Winds North America LLC, the company that owns SouthCoast Wind and is developing the project, noted its authorization in January followed “a rigorous four-year review” and vowed to “vigorously defend” its permits in federal court.
The government’s initial approval “reflected an extensive public process that incorporated feedback from federal and state government agencies, commercial ocean users, Tribal Nations and many other stakeholders.” the company said in an emailed statement. “Stable permitting for American infrastructure projects should be of top concern for anyone who wants to see continued investment in the United States.”
Ocean Winds is a joint venture between EDP Renewables and Engie. The project has the potential to produce more than 2.4 gigawatts of power and is over 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Martha’s Vineyard and 20 miles south of Nantucket. The facility has the potential to power as many as 840,000 homes and businesses, according to an estimate released at the time of its approval by the Interior Department.
President Donald Trump has aggressively targeted wind power in a wide campaign against renewable energy. The administration recently halted work on a nearly completed wind farm off the Rhode Island coast co-owned by Orsted A/S and Global Infrastructure Partners. It also is asking courts to remand other approvals for wind projects off the coasts of Massachusetts and Maryland.
With assistance from Ari Natter.