Nantucket group appeals to Supreme Court to end offshore wind projects and protect endangered whales

A group of Nantucket, Massachusetts, residents are appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court successful their situation to the industrialization of parts of the Atlantic Ocean, wherever they accidental offshore upwind farms – developed with the blessing of the national authorities – are putting an endangered whale taxon astatine risk. 

The group, Nantucket Residents Against Turbines, argues successful its petition to the precocious tribunal that "the national authorities has mislaid show of its statutory obligations to conserve endangered taxon that volition beryllium straight affected by the operation of thousands of upwind turbines successful the Atlantic Ocean." 

They reason that the national agencies that authorized the leasing of the h2o country to upwind turbine companies excluded definite information successful their investigation to the payment of offshore upwind development.

"Despite the agencies’ explicit statutory work to see each ‘best accusation available,’ regarding the impacts its actions mightiness person connected an endangered oregon threatened taxon and those habitats, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), did not see the cumulative impacts of different planned projects erstwhile they authorized and issued permits to conception the Vineyard Wind 1 Project."

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The University of Maine's archetypal prototype of an offshore upwind turbine is seen successful this Sept. 20, 2013 record photograph adjacent Castine, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, files)

The petition to the precocious tribunal is the latest swell successful a surge of absorption to offshore upwind improvement that was fast-tracked astatine the behest of the Biden-Harris administration, which has incentivized a extremity of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore vigor by 2030. 

Pursuant to that goal, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which President Biden signed into instrumentality successful 2022, gave millions successful taxation breaks to greenish vigor accumulation deals.

Vineyard Wind, a associated task betwixt overseas entities Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, is the nation’s largest offshore upwind vigor task disconnected the New England seashore - 15 miles disconnected Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. The task was 1 of the archetypal beneficiaries of the IRA.

Vineyard Wind boasted of a $1.2 cardinal "first-of-its-kind taxation equity package" for commercialized standard offshore upwind with 3 U.S.-based banks, calling it "the largest azygous plus taxation equity financing and the archetypal for a commercialized standard offshore upwind project." 

"The Vineyard Wind 1 Project is the archetypal of the government’s ‘coordinated steps’ to conception astir 30 upwind turbine projects on the Atlantic seaboard that, erstwhile built out, volition person thousands of turbines covering millions of acres of national submerged lands," the petition states. 

"Vineyard Wind LLC has constructed, oregon partially constructed, 47 of the 62 approved upwind turbines, with each turbine spaced 1 nautical mile apart. Once afloat constructed, each turbine stands 853 feet supra the h2o and is astir 3 times the size of the Statue of Liberty."

The petition notes that 47 turbines truthful acold person "already begun to adversely interaction the Nantucket community, the water environment, and marine species’ habitat."

"Although not considered successful immoderate biology interaction analyses, problems with the turbines person besides already begun. In July 2024, a ample information of a 350-foot fiberglass and PVC leaf broke disconnected 1 of Vineyard Wind’s turbines into the water, and pieces of the leaf washed ashore and littered the beaches of Nantucket," it notes. 

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 A North Atlantic close whale breaches successful waters disconnected of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. (Photo by Stan Grossfeld/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

The petition argues that astir the clip of the Vineyard Wind 1 Biological Opinion, BOEM had issued implicit 25 offshore upwind leases (on which 1 oregon much projects volition beryllium built). However, successful the Biological Opinion, NMFS openly stated that it did not see the cumulative impacts of those projects.

The North Atlantic close whale, which has been connected the brink of extinction for much than 100 years, volition "bear the brunt of the national government’s shortcutting of the biology reappraisal process," the petition argues. 

"Despite the evident effects that constructing upwind turbines each on the North Atlantic Right Whale’s migratory way and present year-round situation volition have, the agencies evaluated lone the impacts caused by the Project itself and ignored evident impacts from each the different projects planned successful the Atlantic Ocean," it states. 

The petition argues that the Supreme Court should perceive this lawsuit to determine a circuit divided betwixt the Ninth and First Circuit decisions connected the matter, which struggle with 1 another. 

"Petitioners inquire this Court to assistance reappraisal of the important contented presented successful this petition to resoluteness the divided among the circuits and supply guidance to little courts that volition soon beryllium facing the identical contented connected however to conserve endangered taxon portion seeking to execute renewable vigor objectives," it states.  

Between the sportfishing manufacture arguing that offshore upwind accumulation unduly prohibits their business, to unprecedented whale deaths and the Nantucket leaf disaster, disapproval has mounted successful caller months. 

However, contempt nationalist favour dwindling, authorities officials are inactive pushing for grounds areas of the Atlantic Ocean to beryllium industrialized. 

Earlier this month, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy announced the azygous largest procurement of offshore upwind successful the state’s past by pursuing acquisition agreements with SouthCoast Wind, New England Wind and Vineyard Wind II. 

Rebecca Tepper, the caput of the state’s bureau of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said the authorities said, "offshore upwind is our future, and it is captious that we physique that aboriginal today."

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A motion against upwind turbines extracurricular a location adjacent Cisco Beach successful Nantucket, Massachusetts, connected Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. ( Photographer: Scott Eisen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"By going large present with projects, we are going to pb the federation successful the planetary contention for developers, vessels, materials and expertise," she said. 

As to wherefore upwind vigor accumulation is undeterred by biology warnings and concerns, Annie Hawkins, enforcement manager of Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, says that offshore upwind companies and authorities agencies are moving hand-in-hand.

"For a long, agelong clip now, we've had the process wagging the canine successful presumption of the upwind developers, vigor companies and utilities, arsenic good arsenic concern banks and everyone other pushing guardant offshore upwind from a backstage assemblage position and from an economical involvement investment. It’s acold outpaced the biology look and thought astir offshore wind," Hawkins said.

"It’s nary astonishment to maine that due to the fact that this full happening has been acceptable up from the relationships to the staffing of the offshore upwind companies. There's a existent revolving doorway with national and authorities agencies and offshore upwind companies. The full happening has been acceptable up for a very, precise accelerated takeover of the oceans. So they're conscionable going to support pushing nary substance what happens," Hawkins said. 

A caller study by the Cato Institute recovered that portion the offshore upwind manufacture earns immoderate of the biggest taxation breaks, its "high costs, which necessitate substantial—and increasing—taxpayer and ratepayer subsidies, volition rise energy rates and trim energy consumption."

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The study besides warned of the economical deficits from the offshore wind. 

"It is intolerable for a strategy of greenish vigor taxation credits and different subsidies to summation economical growth," the study concluded. "

"Forcing consumers and taxpayers to subsidize offshore upwind jobs astatine a outgo of respective millions of dollars per job each year—far much than the workers volition beryllium paid—cannot summation wide economical maturation and employment," it stated. 

Fox News Digital reached retired to BOEM and NOAA but did not get a effect by work deadline.