There has been some movement in the off-shore wind industry development front lately that has given local residents and townships opposed to farms in their area hope, where once there were only setbacks in the face what seemed like a determined government/wind developer onslaught.

In mid-March, an Environmental Appeals judge pulled the Clean Air Act permit issued to a troubled wind farm development off the New Jersey coast back to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Trump EPA had requested the permit remand in order to go over precisely what had happened during the Biden-era permitting process.

UH-OH

Federal officials pulled a permit from Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind on Friday in a move that could spell more delays and setbacks for New Jersey's first offshore wind energy facility.

Environmental Appeals Court Judge Mary Kay Lynch ruled Friday to remand a Clean Air Act permit issued last September to Atlantic Shores back to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

EPA officials filed a motion in February to have the court remand the permit to the agency, in order to review the wind energy project's environmental impacts. The action came in response to President Donald Trump's January memorandum to withdraw all of the outer continental shelf from offshore wind leases for further review.

Atlantic Shores was already in trouble, having lost major partner Shell, who withdrew in January of this year after almost a billion dollar write-off.

...In its quarterly earnings report on Jan. 30, Shell disclosed a $996 million loss associated with the Atlantic Shores project to build the 2,800-megawatt array of 197 turbines off Long Beach Island and Brigantine.

Local anti-wind crusaders have been petitioning the federal government for a review of the permitting procedures since last October, contending that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) had rushed the process in order to get the approval in under the wire of the 5 November presidential election. They were ecstatic at the news.

...Bob Stern of Save LBI, a group that opposes the Atlantic Shores project, was pleased by the news. The group had petitioned the federal government in October to review of the Clean Air Act permit issued to the offshore wind developer.

...This permit remand marks a significant turning point in federal support for offshore wind, he said.

"We are hopeful that other federal agencies, particularly the Interior Department and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will take note of this and reconsider their prior approvals, and (we) have written to both asking for that," Stern said.

Now, the wind foes on Nantucket are taking their cues, and their hope, from the New Jersey success. 

The first group to file has tried repeatedly and suffered significantly for the turbine towers already being erected offshore. That's the Vineyard Wind farm, the site of the infamous blade blowout last summer that covered beaches on Nantucket with fiberglass shards and debris, as well as having tiny, razor sharp pieces and foam chunks washing ashore all over the Massachusetts and Rhode Island coastlines.

The activist group on the island, ACK for Whales, has filed a Clean Air Act challenge based on the NJ remand.

...The permit, which was issued by the EPA on June 21, 2021, outlines the air pollution control requirements for Vineyard Wind, ensuring that it complies with federal and state regulations. However, ACK For Whales has asserted that the agency failed to consider the additional emissions resulting from blade failure events like the one that occurred at Vineyard Wind on July 13, 2024, as well as the cumulative effects of emissions from vessels and pile driving associated with the project.

"When the Vineyard Wind 1 blade failed on July 13, 2024, it became clear that such an event had not been adequately forestalled," the non-profit group stated in its petition. "The resultant vessel traffic to search for and collect debris, the removal of 66 installed blades including international transport of damaged and replacement blades, and re-installment of new blades is not accounted for. In addition, the emissions from likely pollution events such as blade failures is not considered as there is not even a pollution plan in the permitting documents."

Vineyard Wind officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on ACK For Whales' petition.

While its previous legal challenges have all been rejected, ACK For Whales' latest effort to stymie Vineyard Wind comes amid a completely changed political landscape under President Donald Trump's administration. Trump's executive order signed on his inauguration day in January immediately halted any new federal leases for offshore wind projects. It also sets the stage for his administration to terminate or amend existing wind energy leases - including for projects such as Vineyard Wind and SouthCoast Wind off Nantucket - following a review by the Secretary of the Department of the Interior. That review will focus on "the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases, identifying any legal bases for such removal."

The town of Nantucket isn't challenging the Vineyard Wind permit, as the developers have apparently settled with the town sufficiently to keep them in the original 'good neighbor' agreement signed when the project first started.

However, that is not the case with the town and yet another proposed wind farm that would be cheek by jowl with Vineyard Wind. Those towers were approved for heights of 1066 feet (Vineyard Winds turbine towers are 853 ft), but construction hasn't started yet. 

The town of Nantucket is petitioning to have the SouthCoast Wind BOEM approval remanded due to 'rushed and faulty' procedures, among other sins.

...The town of Nantucket is appealing the federal government's approval of the SouthCoast Wind project slated to be built southwest of the island, citing a "rushed and faulty" permitting process as well as the wind farm's impact on Nantucket's National Historic Landmark status. 

"Despite acknowledging the adverse impacts that SouthCoast Wind and neighboring farms will have on Nantucket, BOEM (the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) violated the law by conducting a sham consulting process to achieve a predetermined conclusion, namely approval of SouthCoast Wind, effectively putting into practice a false narrative pushed by offshore wind developers that climate change solutions should come at the expense of a community's history, culture, and economy," the town stated in its complaint. "Rather than complying with federal law, BOEM bypassed or shortchanged numerous required steps, shirked its responsibility to the public, and allowed corporate energy developers to dictate the terms of permitting."

The appeal, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks to have BOEM's decision to permit SouthCoast Wind be vacated and remanded back to the agency for further consideration.

I mean, these things are scheduled to be monsters and there are going to be a buttload of them.

...The 2.4 GW offshore wind farm is slated to be built 20 nautical miles southeast of the island. As approved, SouthCoast Wind will include 141 wind turbines and five offshore substation platforms, with undersea cables extending west of Nantucket and making landfall in Brayton Point and Falmouth. Each of SouthCoast Wind's turbines were permitted to be up to 1,066 feet tall - even higher than Vineyard Wind's turbines, which are 853 feet tall.

Not to mention, if one looks at the map in the piece of the area grid for all the wind farm leases off Nantucket, it looks as if the ocean will be fairly bristling with towers and no open water.

Unbelievable.

They need to take advantage of this golden opportunity and stop them in their tracks while they can.

Germany's first offshore wind farm closes after 15 years because it's too expensive to operate now the subsidies have run out. Some of the UK's first ROC-funded wind farms will run out of subsidies soon. Expect a car crash. pic.twitter.com/owzusi4wYM

— David Turver (@7Kiwi) March 17, 2025

Nothing about this Green grift has ever turned out to be what it was sold as.