US Wind ‘remains committed’ to 1,700-megawatt project
US Wind has called the administration’s moves “politically motivated.”
“Evidence of political pressure applied to the federal defendants’ decision makers includes public and … nonpublic communications by elected officials, including the president of the United States, the president’s political appointees, members of Congress, and opponents of offshore wind,” the company said in a counterclaim filed last month.
Nancy Sopko, US Wind vice president of external affairs, said in a statement the company remains undeterred by the government’s action.
“US Wind remains committed to building our 1,700-megawatt offshore wind project, one of the largest new electricity projects in the entire region,” Spoko said. “After many years of analysis, several federal agencies issued final permits to the project. We intend to vigorously defend those permits in federal court, and we are confident that the court will uphold their validity and prevent any adverse action against them.”
BOEM’s motion argues that if Maryland District Court Judge Stephanie Gallagher vacates the construction plan approval, whether or not the Biden administration appropriately issued the permits is irrelevant.
The permits for the project were initially defended by the federal agencies that granted the approvals before Trump was sworn into office in January.
BOEM has asked for a stay in the Delaware case until Judge Gallagher renders a decision in Maryland.
Kris Ohleth, director of the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind, a policy think tank that supports and advises offshore wind developers, said the government is using its anti-wind bias to kill renewable energy projects across the country.
“None of their conclusions have been based on science or actual findings, as opposed to what they’re actually doing, which is using political force, and again, bias against these projects,” she said.
Ohleth said the Trump administration is testing the legal bounds of the federal government in terms of rescinding permits that have gone through a fully vetted permitting process at the state and federal level.
BOEM declined to comment on the pending litigation. But U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright recently commented on renewable energy projects and climate change during an event at the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan think tank.
Wright, a former Denver-based fracking executive, said offshore wind raises electricity prices. He also questioned the permitting process of the projects.
“If you do something fast and quickly, because we’re in a crisis, and it must happen, bad things happen,” he said. “Why are right whales dying, and what’s happened to our fish population?”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration refutes Wright’s claim that wind farms are killing whales. The government agency’s website said there are no known links between large whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activities.
Wright also downplayed the effects of climate change.
“Climate change for impacting the quality of your life is not incredibly important,” he said. “In fact, if it wasn’t in the news and the media, you wouldn’t know it.”
