Trump moving to cancel yet another huge offshore wind project
Filing states that Trump Administration will seek to void approvals for $11.5bn offshore wind project led by Renexia-owned developer
The Trump Administration is planning to withdraw federal approval for an offshore wind farm off the coast of Maryland, according to court documents.
In a court document filed on Friday by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), attorneys asked to pause a lawsuit challenging the approval for the project granted to US Wind, a subsidiary of Italy’s Renexia.
That approval granted last year was for a 1.7GW wind farm featuring up to 114 wind turbines spanning around 320 square kilometres off the Maryland coast. Renexia said the $11.5bn project could power 700,000 households.
The Trump Administration is planning in a separate lawsuit brought in a Maryland federal court to vacate approval of the facility’s construction and operations plan, said the filing.
"If [the Department of the] Interior’s motion is granted, the agency action that Plaintiff challenges will be vacated, and thus his claims will be entirely moot,” said the filing.
The Environmental Protection Agency last month claimed to have found irregularities in Maryland’s greenlight for the US Wind project that could lead to “invalidation” of its final permit.
The project will face off with opponents in Maryland Federal District court 6 September, and the DoJ had already indicated that voiding its permits is a distinct possibility.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has waged an all-out war against the US wind industry, moving to block any new projects and attacking approvals for those that already exist.
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