Trump targets another giant US offshore wind array for termination
President's war on the sector continues with latest move against 1.7GW Maryland array
The Trump administration has submitted a legal request to remand federal permits for US Wind’s 2.2GW of approved capacity off Maryland, court documents reveal.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) “requests that the Court remand, with vacatur, its approval of the Construction and Operations Plan ('COP') for the Maryland Offshore Wind Project,” the Department of Justice (DoJ) wrote in a briefing in Maryland district federal court.
BOEM is the key regulator of coastal energy development under the Department of the Interior (DoI), while DoJ defends the government in litigation.
The motion was part of a lawsuit filed by a consortium of coastal interests in Maryland spearheaded by tourism centre Ocean City.
BOEM is revisiting the permits of all 19GW of offshore wind capacity approved under former President Joe Biden.
President Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day memorandum froze sector leasing and permitting while putting approved projects under extraordinary review with a goal of modification or termination.
“BOEM’s desire to reconsider its prior approval is reason alone to grant a remand,” DoJ said in the filing.
“And because BOEM has identified an error in the weighing of certain statutory factors that led to the prior approval, vacatur of that prior approval is also appropriate,” the Justice Department added.
BOEM approved US Wind’s COP for 2.2GW of total capacity last year, but the array is not slated to begin construction until 2026.
The project, majority owned by Italy’s Renexia, has 1.7GW contracted to Maryland in its lease area some 10 miles (16 km) off the coastlines of that state and Delaware.
Trump’s war on wind power has stalled all but four projects in advanced construction, with a fifth, Orsted’s Revolution Wind already 80% completed, likewise issued with a stop-work order.
“Because Plaintiffs’ claims will be mooted with vacatur of the COP approval, the Court should also dismiss this case,” DoJ said, which it echoed in earlier motions to the Delaware bench.
“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,” she added.
Oceantic Network CEO Liz Burdock said the administration's latest action “against fully permitted offshore wind projects up and down the East Coast represent one of the largest, economically devastating assaults on US workers, businesses, and energy in decades.
“Revoking a permit on an approved project after years of thorough agency review will raise electricity prices for families, jeopardise private investment, delay economic growth, and weaken our power grid,” she added.
Oceantic Network estimates over $25bn in offshore wind-related port, supply chain and vessel investment is at risk due to the administration's assault on the industry.
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