Federal judge dismisses whale case, upholds permits for offshore Vineyard Wind project

Federal judge dismisses whale case, upholds permits for offshore Vineyard Wind project | Utility Dive

A U.S. district judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to overturn the environmental review of the 800 MW Vineyard Wind project and halt it with an injunction over allegations of future harm to the North American right whale.

Judge Indira Talwani of the District of Massachusetts ruled Wednesday that the advocacy group Nantucket Residents Against Turbines failed to demonstrate that the wellbeing of the endangered species wasn’t sufficiently taken into account by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and National Marine Fisheries Service when permitting the project.

The group, which goes by ACKRATs, had argued that the 2021 biological opinion conducted by NMFS, and final environmental impact statement issued by BOEM, were insufficient and violated the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act and Administrative Procedure Act.

Talwani disputed the group’s allegation of harm to the plaintiffs that would arise as a result of the project, saying that the alleged risk of their “emotional distress” over death or serious injury to right whales was dependent on whales being harmed in the future, despite “evidence in the Administrative Record that the Project is unlikely to cause the death of any right whale.”

Avangrid, which is developing the Vineyard Wind project jointly with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, said in a Thursday release that the company is pleased the ruling “acknowledges the rigorous and thorough administrative review that the project underwent over the last many years.”

The two companies purchased the lease area for Vineyard Wind at a January 2015 auction, and BOEM began evaluating areas offshore Massachusetts for wind energy development in 2009.

The project currently faces three other lawsuits, with two of them representing the interests of the fishing industry. In one of the pending lawsuits, the fishing trade group Responsible Offshore Development Alliance accuses BOEM and other agencies of violating statutes including the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

That case is also before Judge Talwani. In a December release, Responsible Offshore Development Alliance said, “Little has been done to resolve the significant scientific, environmental and economic uncertainties of offshore wind development, despite the fishing industry reasonably requesting such action for over a decade.”