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A judge on Tuesday granted a federal agency’s request to remand a key permit that it had given in January to SouthCoast Wind, an offshore wind project planned off the Massachusetts coast.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Interior Department agency that manages offshore wind development, in September asked a judge for a remand so that it can reconsider its approval, which greenlit project construction for up to 147 turbines south of Nantucket and Vineyard Wind.
BOEM is effectively re-opening the review, which started in 2021 and lasted years, citing President Donald Trump’s day-one wind memo directing the Interior Department to carry out a “comprehensive review of the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases.”
The agency could ultimately decide to revoke the SouthCoast Wind permit, or require new conditions for the developer to meet to receive approval.
“In compliance with a new presidential directive requiring a second look at all wind energy projects, BOEM intends to reconsider the very permitting decision about which Plaintiff complains,” wrote U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in the five-page order, stating the federal officials “credibly assert” that their reconsideration could result in a “complete reversal.”
The order was issued as part of a lawsuit filed by the Town of Nantucket, the plaintiff, in March. The town asked the government to “set aside” its approval of SouthCoast Wind and restart the environmental review — a process that took more than three years to complete.
In a written statement, the Town of Nantucket said it was grateful for the judge’s 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 wrote.
“Nantucket remains supportive of responsible green energy development,” the statement continued. “However, the greenest action we can take as a nation is to ensure that our environmental and cultural protection laws are faithfully applied — because if those laws are weakened or ignored for renewable projects, they will be broken for non-renewable ones as well, undermining the very progress we seek toward a sustainable future.”
The town has been a vocal critic of another offshore wind project, Vineyard Wind, following the blade break last summer that sent foam and fiberglass onto island beaches.
BOEM Deputy Director Matthew Giacona in an earlier filing said BOEM “may have failed to account for all the impacts” that the project may cause, and that the agency found other documents that “may have ‘understated or obfuscated impacts.’” He did not provide further specifics on the alleged failings.
He said the project-wide review, ordered under the day-one wind memo, “could result in identifying potential issues with SouthCoast’s lease” and that the timeline for that review is “uncertain.”
This decision is yet another blow to the project — which has been delayed at least two years due to the Trump administration. It also illustrates the important role that lawsuits brought by municipalities and activist groups against offshore wind are playing in President Trump’s crackdown on the industry.
The permit that’s now re-opened for review, the Construction and Operations Plan (COP), had approved the project’s design and construction plan. However, SouthCoast Wind was still hamstrung by three outstanding federal permits, and no power purchase agreement with Massachusetts or Rhode Island, before it could put steel in the water.
The Light contacted SouthCoast Wind, BOEM and the Interior Department Tuesday afternoon for comment.
An automatic reply from BOEM cited the ongoing government shutdown, now entering its fifth week. An Interior spokesperson said the department does not comment on litigation.
Elizabeth Klein, who served as BOEM director in 2023 and 2024, in an email Tuesday said BOEM’s remand request “remains entirely without merit.”
“The decision to approve the project was made after an incredibly thorough environmental review, and we know that BOEM has been directed by political leadership to find any excuse to derail all offshore wind projects,” Klein said. She warned these actions pose risks to all infrastructure projects that require federal permitting, stating they “can apparently be completely upended on a political whim.”
The judge’s order comes weeks after the Interior Department in court filings expressed its intent to remand its approval for another Massachusetts project, New England Wind 1.
Both projects plan to sink roots and investment in New Bedford, previously issuing 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.
SouthCoast Wind is also set to lease the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal after Vineyard Wind, which is wrapping up construction now.
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, which owns and operates the staging site, recently had to look to another source of funding for its ongoing terminal expansion project, stating SouthCoast Wind’s $15 million in funding would not be available on the necessary timeline, per a MassCEC board meeting.
According to the Oceantic Network, an organization supporting the offshore wind industry, SouthCoast Wind expects to invest $6 billion in the U.S. through wages for union labor; shipbuilding with a Louisiana port and shipbuilder; steel from Alabama and Kentucky; and investments in port infrastructure, including the New Bedford terminal.
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
The Trump administration has repeatedly blamed offshore wind farms for whale deaths. Now there should be a study.
Whale deaths have followed offshore wind construction since the 2016 Block Island wind farm.
NOAA is tracking several unusual mortality events (UMEs), including those for North Atlantic right whales.
Forget the whales, with wind blades falling worry about humans!