President Donald Trump’s administration is reconsidering federal approval of Avangrid’s deliberate New England Wind undertaking off the coast of Massachusetts, in line with a court docket submitting on Wednesday.
The authorized maneuver is the newest transfer by U.S. authorities to stymie growth of offshore wind power, which Trump has known as ugly, costly, and unreliable. Final week, the administration additionally stated it was reconsidering approval of SouthCoast Wind, one other deliberate Massachusetts undertaking.
Attorneys for the Division of Justice stated they might transfer by October 10 to vacate the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Power Administration’s approval of the New England Wind building and operations plan.
The submitting got here in a lawsuit introduced earlier this yr in U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Columbia by native teams and people against offshore wind growth. The go well with alleges the federal government violated federal environmental legal guidelines by approving the undertaking.
Avangrid, which is owned by Spanish energy firm Iberdrola, declined to remark.
New England Wind was authorised by former President Joe Biden’s administration in 2024. The undertaking, as soon as constructed, was anticipated to have the ability to produce sufficient electrical energy to energy 900,000 houses.
Representatives for ACK for Whales, the lead plaintiff within the lawsuit, couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
—Nichola Groom and Laila Kearney, Reuters
