Will US DoJ fight case against Shell-backed offshore wind project Trump wants 'dead and gone'?
Litigation against Shell-EDF's 1.5GW Atlantic Shores array to New Jersey targeted repeatedly by new president
A lawsuit filed against the US federal government over its approval of Shell-EDF’s giant Atlantic Shores offshore wind array off New Jersey is hoping for a lackluster defence by a Department of Justice (DoJ) now operating under Donald Trump, its backers said.
The suit was filed 10 January by Thomas Stavola on behalf of civic group Save LBI [Long Beach Island] in the Federal District Court for the District of New Jersey.
It claims that the federal government led by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) was derelict in its duties under multiple statutes to preserve the survival of critically endangered species, most notably the North Atlantic right whale.
Trump's target
Atlantic Shores declined to comment, stating that they are in their “quiet period” in the runup to joint venture partner Shell’s quarterly results presentation 30 January.
Marine mammal acoustics
The latest lawsuit against the project takes on the fundamental science of marine acoustics related to offshore wind construction.
Marine mammals rely on sonar to navigate, and the bombardment of construction noise can impact their hearing, leading to disorientation and collision with seagoing vessels, the leading cause of death.
To mitigate against this, the offshore wind sector relies on observers stationed on construction vessels to watch for signs of whales, sea turtles and other wildlife. These observers are required to stop operations of the vessel if wildlife veer too close.
For very loud construction activities, most notably the driving of giant monopile foundations, bubble curtains are deployed that can minimise the dissipation of noise through the marine environment.
These measures rely on acoustic data and models to demonstrate how far and at what volume sound travels through the environment to determine safe operating conditions.
“These assumptions are very critical to the real analysis of how far the noise goes and how many animals get affected,” he said. “We're contending in this lawsuit that those calculations are not right, and we've tried to put our own numbers in there.”
The expert witness brought in to counter the data is Stern himself, who Stavole says has a dual doctorate from New York University in Applied Mathematics and Aeronautical Engineering.
“He is an expert in the physics and mathematics of noise propagation which is of course very relevant here,” Stavole said.
Widespread risk
All of the US offshore wind projects rely on similar acoustic models, potentially exposing them all to having their environmental permits pulled if the suit's arguments are accepted.
It is our hope “that the Secretary of Interior will incorporate our legal arguments regarding various violations of environmental statutes and regulations as justification to rescind Records of Decision [ROD] on the East Coast,” said Stavole.
The administration of former President Joe Biden issued RODs – which greenlight projects' environmental reviews, clearing the way for construction – for nearly 19GW of capacity that the US industry had thought was safe from Trump's ire.
Many of these projects likewise face litigation.
The suit could also impact New Jersey's grand plans for 11GW of sector capacity by 2040. The state has three projects under contract, including Atlantic Shores, but two of them are in new leases in the New York Bight and will likely not advance under Trump.
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