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A longtime offshore wind critic is now employed by the federal agency regulating offshore wind.
Meghan Lapp, who has served as a fisheries liaison for Rhode Island commercial fishing company Seafreeze Ltd., now works for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, The Light confirmed Monday.
Lapp has been a longtime critic of BOEM over its review and approval of offshore wind projects, often citing concerns about impacts to the commercial fishing industry and whales.
She was involved in lawsuits against the federal government over its approval of wind projects, including Vineyard Wind. As a fishing industry representative, she often expressed opposition through detailed comment letters (complete with figures and footnotes) during BOEM’s yearslong reviews of projects, several of which are now in the water.
It is unclear what her position is within BOEM, or when she started. A spokesperson with the Interior Department late last week declined to confirm whether Lapp was employed by BOEM or answer questions, stating the agency has no comment related to personnel. A spokesperson for BOEM, a bureau within Interior, has not responded to inquiries.
Ahead of submitting a public records request on Lapp, The Light confirmed her employment with BOEM through its Freedom of Information Act office. The office had no information to share on her position or title within the agency.
Lapp has a master’s degree in legal science from Queen’s University Belfast. She sits on an advisory council for the New England Legal Foundation, a nonprofit law firm that addresses “policy and constitutional concerns related to free enterprise,” according to its website.
She also used to work in New Bedford, making nets and gear for commercial fishing vessels. With Seafreeze, she represented the company’s interests regarding offshore wind and fisheries management with government bodies at the local, state and federal level.
Lapp has appeared on Fox News several times to talk about offshore wind, stating last fall that offshore wind farms “will destroy the planet” and “degrade national security.”
National security is the latest argument the Trump administration has used to try to stop offshore wind construction, citing it when it suspended the construction of five projects off the East Coast in December. In January and February, federal judges issued injunctions allowing all five projects to resume.
“I would have a lot of concerns about [Lapp’s] ability to play any sort of objective role at BOEM and the conflicts of interest given her participation and Seafreeze’s participation in past lawsuits and maybe ongoing lawsuits,” a former BOEM official told The Light.
The Light attempted to reach Lapp on Friday by phone, and on Monday by text and email, but has not heard back.
This isn’t the first offshore wind critic the Trump administration has hired. Annie Hawkins, the former head of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, a fishing industry group that has criticized offshore wind development, became legal counsel at NOAA Fisheries last year.
The fisheries agency works with BOEM in reviewing offshore wind projects, and holds the authority to approve or deny permits that developers need to begin or continue construction.
The permitting of offshore wind projects has been essentially frozen since last January, when President Donald Trump assumed office for his second term. BOEM, under new leadership, has sought to suspend the projects it once approved, and as a result, some developers are pulling out of U.S. waters entirely.
In a 2022 article on the Texas Public Policy Foundation website, Lapp said that offshore wind “poses the biggest threat to commercial fishing in the history of the United States.”
“BOEM approved the project regardless of impact to U.S. lives, businesses, and U.S. food production. They ignored what they knew was true,” she said. “There is nothing standing in the way of government overreach but you — the American citizen. You cannot leave it to the ‘professionals’ or take the attitude that ‘they’ will do something to address the problem. You are ‘they.’ If you stand back and do nothing, there is nothing holding it back.”
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
