Stormy Times Ahead for U.S. Wind Projects After Lawsuits Filed

A flurry of court cases filed by opponents of offshore wind projects may tie up green energy infrastructure for years in costly litigation—or leave them canceled altogether.

There are currently 13 cases pending in federal courts targeting offshore wind projects, according to the American Clean Power Association, an offshore wind trade group. An undetermined number of additional lawsuits are active in state courts, they said.

Renewable energy and the Green Economy have been key policies for the Biden Administration since the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act on climate change offered sweeping support for clean energy projects. In particular legislation has been targeted to boost jobs and increase wages for workers in the clean energy industry.

However not everyone is convinced of the benefits.

Residents living close to the proposed sites of the projects who oppose the developments says they resent the anticipated disruption caused by construction and fear the irreversible changes they say their neighborhoods face because of the clean energy projects now popping up across the U.S.

Robin Shaffer is president of Protect Our Coast NJ, a citizens group that has filed numerous lawsuits in New Jersey against two offshore projects.

Shaffer said his group was at least partly responsible for scuttling two New Jersey wind farms proposed by Orsted that the Danish wind giant scrapped last October, saying they were no longer financially workable.

“An ancillary benefit of our legal strategy is to give pause or doubt in the minds of investors in the big corporations that are undertaking these projects,” he said. “Last year, we saw Orsted leave its commitment to build Ocean Wind off the southern New Jersey coast amid the uncertainty of two lawsuits we filed, as well as another filed by Cape May County.”

Despite stiff opposition, in July New York’s largest offshore wild farm began construction off Long Island with the promise of 800 direct jobs during construction, securing a $700 million investment in Suffolk County. Developers promised the 924-megawatt Sunrise Wind Project would power 600,000 homes.

Supporters argue that offshore wind is needed to combat climate change, which they call the principal threat to the ocean and its inhabitants.

“Offshore wind projects undergo rigorous environmental reviews and permitting processes, in addition to a lengthy public comment period,” said Jason Ryan, a spokesman for the Clean Power Association.

Paulina O’Connor, executive director of the New Jersey Offshore Wind Alliance, said offshore wind is needed to combat climate change.

“On the heels of one of the hottest summers on record, it is disappointing to see another frivolous lawsuit filed by those with opposing views,” she said of the most recent lawsuit.

That action was filed Friday by Save LBI, another New Jersey citizen group. It claims Atlantic Shores, the New Jersey project furthest along its state’s approval path, would violate noise ordinances during pile driving and operation of hundreds of wind turbines. Atlantic Shores declined to comment.

On the West Coast, the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians in Oregon, whose culture reveres the ocean, sued the federal government Tuesday over plans to hold an offshore wind energy auction next month.

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press