Groups and individuals opposing the construction of windfarms off the Atlantic coast have joined together in a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Bergum asking that the permits for such windmill projects be pulled, killing the projects.
Among those signing the letter were the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) and our two co-plaintiffs in a lawsuit to stop the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project — the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) and the Heartland Institute.
President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) on Inauguration Day requiring an end to the granting of offshore wind leases, and mandating a review of existing permits for wind farms. Bergum is designated as the lead federal official in conducting the review.
“The Trump EO pretty much grounded some 22 projects to a standstill,” noted CFACT President Craig Rucker, “but there are around nine or so sites that are still putting the pedal to the metal trying to get their construction work done before they’re looked at with scrutiny. We need to make sure, for the sake of our environment, that doesn’t happen.”
Some wind proponents, such as Maryland Governor Wes Moore, claimed that the EO will have little effect on construction already underway. For its part, Dominion Energy claimed on February 3 that its “fully permitted project is now approximately 50% complete and remains on track for on-time completion at the end of 2026.”
According to NLPC Counsel Paul Kamenar, “Offshore wind developers are clearly whistling past the graveyard when they claim the Trump administration will have no effect on their construction plans. There will be new leadership at the highest levels of the federal government who have publicly stated their dim view of the economics and environmental impact of offshore wind.”
The three groups filed a lawsuit in March 2024 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to halt construction of the CVOW project, consisting of 176 giant wind turbines, each taller than the Washington Monument, with turbine blades longer than a football field.
Brought under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the suit argues the project threatens the North American right whale, of which only about 340 remain. The suit alleges the two federal agencies responsible for evaluating the risk to the right whale — the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) — examined only the localized impact of the project in Virginia waters and failed to consider the cumulative effect of all the East Coast wind farms, as required by the ESA.
In the wake of the President’s EO, the plaintiffs and the government defendants, represented by the Department of Justice, jointly asked the Court for a 45-day pause in the litigation. Dominion Energy, the private defendant, said it would not oppose the motion, which was granted by Judge Loren AliKhan, who is presiding in the case.
Click here to read the Bergum letter.
(AP Photo/Stefan Sauer)
