The three groups suing to stop the Virginia offshore wind project under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) now have company. A New Jersey group called Save Long Beach Island (SBLI) has notified two federal agencies that it intends to sue them to stop a massive wind project off the New Jersey coast. From the SBLI media release:
In the latest chapter of its ongoing fight against the destructive impact of the Atlantic Shores South wind-turbine project, Save Long Beach Island, as required, has notified two federal agencies of its intent to sue under the Endangered Species Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA).
The notices give the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 60 days to resolve issues raised in the filings before pursuing litigation. BOEM oversees offshore wind development in the United States and NOAA manages the use of our marine resources.
Save LBI contends that constructing and operating hundreds of wind turbines directly in a prime migration path of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale could push these mammals into extinction. The population of the right whale is down to approximately 338, with fewer than 70 reproductively active females, according to NOAA estimates.
The Virginia wind farm, known as the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, consists of 176 giant wind turbines – each taller than the Washington Monument, with turbine blades longer than a football field – under construction now in the open ocean 25 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach.
The New Jersey project is likewise massive. From SBLI’s release:
The federally approved Atlantic Shores South project and planned Atlantic Shores North project that would follow it, would industrialize the NJ coastline between Atlantic City and Barnegat Light with the installation of the 357 wind turbines, each three times the height of the Statue of Liberty. The greater NJ/NY offshore wind plan embraced by the federal government could ultimately include more than 2,000 wind turbines.
NLPC, along with the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) and the Heartland Institute, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on March 18 against Dominion Energy and the two federal agencies.
The lawsuit alleges that the agencies — the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) — illegally approved Dominion Energy’s offshore wind project by ignoring glaring and obvious procedural errors that subjects the endangered North Atlantic right whale to grave harm. We argue that the two agencies failed to study the impact of offshore wind in its totality as required by the ESA by only considering the impact in Virginia waters.
Scientists believe that less than 340 North American right whales remain. These giant mammals can be as long as 52 feet and weigh 77 tons. Only days after NLPC filed suit, a calving female was found dead off the Virginia coast. The whale’s calf is assumed to have perished without its mother.
Click here for the SBLI release.
Click here for the Virginia Complaint.
