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The Trump administration ratcheted up its targeting of the offshore wind industry on Wednesday, stating its intent to revoke a key approval for the fully permitted New England Wind 1 project, which plans to use New Bedford for long-term operations.
In the document, filed as part of a lawsuit brought by ACK for Whales against the Avangrid project, the federal government said it is “intending to move no later than October 10 to remand and, separately, to vacate” the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s approval of the construction and operations plan, a permit granted to the project in mid-2024.
Without the permit, the project cannot be built. Separately, the project has been in the process of securing a power purchase agreement with the state, another necessity for project buildout. The agreement has been delayed several times due to the Trump administration’s freeze on offshore wind permitting and the uncertainty it has created.
New England Wind 1 plans to construct the project out of Salem (a terminal yet to be built that last week lost $34 million in federal funding), but house its long-term operations and maintenance hub in New Bedford. Contingent on the project moving forward, the Danish company, Liftra, also plans to establish a crane manufacturing facility in the city.
New England Wind 1’s lease area is located south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. The project’s first phase plans to install up to 800 megawatts of energy.
Avangrid through a spokesperson declined comment.
New England Wind 1 and another Massachusetts project, SouthCoast Wind, previously issued letters of intent to use the under-construction New Bedford Foss Marine Terminal for operations and maintenance work, which is meant to last as long as the turbines operate — or about three decades.
The Light contacted officials at the Foss terminal for comment.
In a filing last month, an official with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, which operates the staging terminal, said Trump’s Jan. 20 wind memo (which has served as a prelude to these latest actions) “threatens to turn the hundreds of millions of dollars Massachusetts has invested in the offshore wind industry into sunk costs.”
Mayor Jon Mitchell in an interview said that with this action against New England Wind 1, the Trump administration eliminated at least 100 future jobs in the city. He added that estimate doesn’t include indirect jobs created, and other economic benefits to city businesses, including restaurants and retailers.
“There’s no doubt at the outset of the Trump administration that the offshore wind industry would be curtailed. The question is, where would it draw the line?” Mitchell said. “You’re actually seeing things moving toward a point where one has to wonder whether actual operating projects are going to be shut down… projects generating right now, including Vineyard Wind. We’re obviously concerned about that.”
Administration remanding permits
Since January, the administration has issued more than 20 actions against offshore wind through orders, tariffs and various agencies. Under one of these orders, the government has been moving to revoke prior project approvals.
Earlier last month, the federal government stated its intent to revoke a permit for a Maryland wind project. And last week, it expressed its intent to remand the construction and operations approval for SouthCoast Wind. (However, that project is not fully permitted, and still needs three key permits to move forward with construction.)
Mitchell said this action would also hurt the city economically.
“You’re talking about a massive wind project that would be marshaling from New Bedford and creating a whole lot of economic activity here. How do we know that? Look at Vineyard Wind,” he said. “Our hotels have been full almost the entire time … downtown office space has been occupied.”
In a response filing, SouthCoast Wind counsel wrote the planned attempt to revoke the permit is “indicative of a pattern of unreasonable delays designed to further the political agenda of the current Administration” and shows the “unabashed desire of the President to eliminate all offshore wind projects from existence regardless of their impacts.”
These federal actions, taken under a July secretarial order from the Interior Department, reflect the increasingly important role that lawsuits against offshore wind projects, brought by activist groups and municipalities, are playing in the Trump administration’s efforts to halt offshore wind development.
The order, among other things, directs federal attorneys to, within 45 days, “conduct a review of any pending litigation … challenging an approval of a wind or solar project and identify cases where remand of any such approvals to the Department would be appropriate.”
The federal government’s motions to remand the permits appear to require a judge’s approval, per the court filings.
ACK for Whales, also known as Nantucket Residents Against Turbines, is joined by Rhode Island-based group Green Oceans and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head/Aquinnah. They filed the suit against New England Wind 1 in May.
In their complaint, they argue that the federal government violated several federal laws, including the Marine Mammal Protection Act, Endangered Species Act, Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and National Historic Preservation Act.
Their attorney, Thomas Stavola Jr., in a statement called the filing a “critical inflection point.”
“The government’s decision to set aside these approvals is both an acknowledgment of those violations and a vindication of Plaintiffs’ rights, as they stood to suffer environmental, aesthetic, and economic harm from this project,” Stavola wrote.
This latest action against offshore wind comes a day before state and federal officials are set to appear in court in Boston to argue over the legality of Trump’s day-one wind memo freezing all offshore wind permitting.
It also comes days after Northeast governors, including Gov. Maura Healey, in a joint statement asked the Trump administration to uphold all offshore wind permits already granted and allow these projects to be constructed.
Healey in a statement Wednesday said the region needs South Coast Wind and New England Wind 1 to power homes and create thousands of jobs.
“Having already undergone years of expert review, these projects are primed to lower costs and improve reliability,” Healey said. “There is absolutely no need for the Trump Administration to reopen permitting processes and deny jobs, investment and energy to the states.”
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
100% Off Shore Wind should be shut down, the energy return is minimal, and it cost to much to produce. There more better energy investments available that would help lower our utility bills. But most importantly we should be protecting our fishing industry and environment. Not killing sea life and destroying our oceans, rivers, bays, inlets, coves, and water ways.
It definitely should be shut down. We need to go back to using coal, an underutilized resource, and Whale Oil. We killed off a vital part of the South Coast economy by stopping whaling and going to unproven technologies like Petroleum. We need to make it a national effort and shut down ALL wind turbines that kill birds and insects, Never mind the solar panel problem.
Wind was always a risky bet for New Bedford. Too political. Should have doubled down with either fishing or tourism. Why not a small cruise port? Doesn’t matter if you’re liberal or conservative one thing we can all agree on is that vacations are nice, scallops are tasty (especially ours), and being out on the water is (usually) a fun time.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
It’d be good to hear more told about the oasis occurring at the base of the turbins that create a rich garden increasing abundance of fish and all.
And filter feeders like mussels gobbling up the plankton that whales feed on. for the most part, important sandy bottoms are being turned into reefs. Not good for many species.
Biden Administrations “all of government approach” to install offshore wind at all cost and regardless of important environmental laws is backfiring. Will Ms. Lennon take the time to learn which laws and how they were broken?
Also it is disingenuous to suggest the power purchase agreement delays, that have been ongoing for several years are attributed to Trump. How much did Avangrid pay to withdraw from previous power purchase agreements for Commonwealth wind to re-negotiate for a higher price under a re-named project. As reported in THIS PAPER, Avangrid withdrew from previous agreements and paid a $48 million fine to get more money from ratepayers in the future. That might have been a good moment for the Port of New Bedford to look for a new growth plan. https://newbedfordlight.org/avangrid-agrees-to-pay-48m-to-terminate-offshore-wind-deal/
Gov Healey continues making false statements about the low cost and improved reliability of wind power; it is neither. By far, the cheapest & most reliable electricity generation comes from natural gas, hydro and existing nuclear. These wind projects, if completed, would be incredibly costly for rate payers and tax payers. The amount of subsidies these wind projects receive is mind boggling. And these towering monstrosities are detrimental, or even deadly, to birds, fish and marine mammals. Has the Governor or these greedy European wind developers thought about the devastation that could occur in a severe winter storm that cripples or destroys the turbines and causes power outages for days here in New England? Who will pay to clean up the mess when these turbines need to be decommissioned or demolished? We will! The rate payers and the tax payers. Healey and Avingrid will be long gone.