Nantucket group appeals to Supreme Court to end offshore wind projects and protect endangered whales

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Fox News

A group of Nantucket, Massachusetts, residents are appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court in their challenge to the industrialization of parts of the Atlantic Ocean, where they say offshore wind farms – developed with the blessing of the federal government – are putting an endangered whale species at risk. 

The group, Nantucket Residents Against Turbines, argues in its petition to the high court that "the federal government has lost sight of its statutory obligations to conserve endangered species that will be directly affected by the construction of thousands of wind turbines in the Atlantic Ocean." 

They argue that the federal agencies that authorized the leasing of the water area to wind turbine companies excluded certain data in their analysis to the benefit of offshore wind development.

"Despite the agencies’ explicit statutory duty to consider all ‘best information available,’ regarding the impacts its actions might have on an endangered or threatened species and those habitats, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), did not consider the cumulative impacts of other planned projects when they authorized and issued permits to construct the Vineyard Wind 1 Project."

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Biden-Harris Admin Pauses Oregon Offshore Wind Program One Month After Championing It as a Green Energy Success Story

The Biden-Harris administration cited the "undeniable enthusiasm for a clean energy transition" while announcing an offshore wind lease sale in federal waters off the coast of Oregon last month. But just weeks later, federal officials were forced to indefinitely postpone the sale due to a lack of industry interest.

 

According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, five energy companies qualified for the Oregon lease sale, but just one company showed interest in participating. That announcement came Friday, less than a month after the Department of the Interior issued a final sale notice for the auction on Aug. 29 and two weeks before the auction was set to take place in mid-October.

The unexpected delay deals yet another blow to the administration's lofty green energy goals, particularly those pertaining to offshore wind development, which have seen a number of economic and supply chain setbacks since late 2023. It represents an embarrassing outcome after top officials proudly proclaimed last month that the lease sale was proof of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris's agenda in action.

The White House also featured the sale in a press release earlier this month declaring that "President Biden and Vice President Harris’s leadership has catalyzed the nation’s offshore wind industry."