Opponents of offshore wind scored another major victory on Wednesday in their efforts to safeguard the Eastern Seaboard.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum wrote to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on Wednesday directing the agency to pause New York State’s Empire Wind project and, going a step further, pursue a review of all pending offshore wind permits.
“Approval for the project was rushed through by the prior administration without sufficient analysis or consultation among the relevant agencies as relates to the potential effects from the project,” wrote Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, adding that regulators would need to “address these serious deficiencies.”
The Empire Wind lease area covers nearly 80,000 acres and lies approximately 17 miles east of Long Branch, New Jersey (Monmouth County). Legislators including Rep. Chris Smith (R, NJ-04) – who represents portions of Monmouth County in Congress – have actively lobbied the Trump Administration to suspend offshore wind development.
“This is an alarming development and should not be allowed before the comprehensive review of offshore wind ordered by President Trump’s January 20th executive order is completed,” Smith wrote to Burgum on March 26th, relaying news of the Empire Wind project’s then-anticipated advancement. “The executive order states that the assessment is needed to review the many shortcomings of the Federal wind leasing process including, “potential inadequacies in various environmental reviews required by the National Environmental Policy Act.”
“I have worked closely with these federal agencies to expose the problems with this project, and now they are taking action,” said Congressman Jeff Van Drew (R, NJ-02) in his own statement issued following news of Burgum’s directive. “This order is a direct result of the project being rushed through the approval process without proper analysis or coordination with the appropriate agencies, particularly regarding its potential impacts. I have said from the beginning that these projects were being pushed through too fast and without proper oversight, and now the evidence is undeniable. I was proud to help craft President Trump’s day-one executive order to pause these projects and fully examine their impacts, and now we are ensuring that authority is respected. This order is a significant step in not only stopping this project but also others just like it that were recklessly approved by the previous administration.”
The regulatory process which Burgum is criticizing may soon land in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and one of the briefs was penned by former New Jersey Judge Mike Donohue.
“There can be no doubt whatsoever that the Biden Administration handed its review of offshore wind projects to climate activists within the Administration who created a shadow regulatory process that intentionally ignored the multiple statutory and regulatory requirements related to economic impact,” Donohue wrote. “In so doing, the Biden Administration not only moved the extraordinarily endangered right whale one step closer to extinction, it also placed in economic peril countless businesses and families that depend on commercial fishing and coastal tourism for their livelihood.”
