A critical permit for an offshore wind farm planned near the New Jersey Shore has been invalidated by an administrative appeals board, seven weeks after President Donald Trump declared he hoped the project was “dead and gone.”
The decision to remand an Environmental Protection Agency air pollution permit for the Atlantic Shores South venture is the boldest strike yet against a wind farm since Trump took office in January and halted permitting the projects. It is also an unusual decision — coming nearly six months after the EPA issued that final air permit to the wind farm, a joint venture of Shell New Energies US LLC and EDF Renewables North America.
The action came at the hands of the US government’s Environmental Appeals Board, after a legal challenge mounted by area residents who oppose the project and say they are concerned about possible destructive effects.
In late February, the EPA asked the appeals board for a voluntary remand, sending the permit back to the agency for reconsideration. That remand was granted Friday, over the developer’s objections.
The developer, Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind LLC, as the joint venture is known, said it was “disappointed by the EPA’s decision to pull back its fully executed permit as regulatory certainty is critical to deploying major energy projects.”
“Atlantic Shores stands ready to deliver on the promise of American energy dominance and has devoted extensive time and resources to follow a complex, multi-year permitting process, resulting in final project approvals that conform with the law,” it added in a statement.
Environmental Appeals Judge Mary Kay Lynch said the decision was appropriate given Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order directing an immediate review of wind leasing and permitting on federal land. Trump’s directive also charged the Interior Department with reviewing the “necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases” and “identifying any legal bases for such removal.”
Trump has repeatedly singled out the offshore wind industry for criticism, and his first-day moves against the nascent sector have spooked developers of even existing projects. Ongoing litigation challenging wind farm approvals could present an additional opening for Trump’s Interior Department to revisit earlier approvals.
Atlantic Shores was initially set to include as many as 200 wind turbines and would provide as much as 2.8 gigawatts of power. It is planned to be developed about 8.7 miles off the New Jersey coast.
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