Trump Administration to Target SouthCoast Wind in War on Wind Power
It was revealed in a court filing on Friday, August 29, that the Trump administration, through the Department of the Interior, plans to reconsider permits issued last year to the SouthCoast offshore wind project. It comes as the administration has sought to make good on Donald Trump’s opposition to “windmills” by issuing stop work orders, freezing new permits, reconsidering existing permits, and withdrawing tax credits and funding grants.
The Department of Justice filed a motion in a suit brought by the Town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, appealing the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s December 2024 approval of South Coast Wind as the nation’s 11th commercial-scale offshore wind energy project. The suit alleges flaws in the permitting process, saying that BOEN violated federal environmental law by approving the project without requiring the developer to properly mitigate harm from the efforts.
Nantucket says it gave the project’s developers multiple opportunities to address the island’s concerns prior to filing suit on March 27. It alleges the approval “creates a dangerous precedent” that allows fossil fuel developers the opportunity to also fast-track projects and avoid safeguards. They contend the suit is to reinforce environmental and preservation laws.
The Department of Justice told the court on Friday that the suit “makes little sense” because it plans to formally move for reconsideration of the permit by September 18. It is the same tactic DOJ and the Trump administration reported it is taking for Maryland’s first offshore wind project, which was also approved in 2024. They plan to file the reconsideration effort against the permits for US Wind’s Maryland wind farm project by September 12.
SouthCoast Wind is being developed by Ocean Wind North America, a joint venture between EDP Renewables and Engie. The project, which was then known as Mayflower Wind, won its lease in a December 2018 auction. The approved plan calls for the construction of up to 141 wind turbine generators and up to five offshore substation platforms with the potential to generate up to 2,400 MW. It would be located about 26 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and 20 nm south of Nantucket, Massachusetts.
The Town’s opposition is part of its broader efforts against the wind industry. They contend that if all the proposed projects were developed, there would be an estimated 743 wind turbines located off Nantucket’s coastline. A total of nine wind farm sites have been designated for the area.
The company filed a motion with the court opposing the government’s call for an extension while it pursues the effort to reconsider the permits. The motion says the effort is part of the government’s larger efforts to eliminate all offshore wind projects regardless of their impact.
The federal government has unleashed efforts on all fronts, including the president’s executive order to review the industry and freeze permitting. They briefly stopped work on the Empire Wind project in New York before it started offshore work, and now have stopped Resolution Wind in Massachusetts, which is 80 percent installed. Grants for port projects to support the industry have now been withdrawn, and the administration said it was launching a review of the offshore wind industry on the grounds of national security concerns.
The governors of five states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island) issued a joint statement on September 1, calling on the administration to uphold the permits that have already been issued for offshore wind projects. The states had previously filed suit against the administration over the president’s executive order to review the industry.