March 12, 2025 –A national fishing industry group and conservative think tank have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take up their lawsuits challenging the approval of the Vineyard Wind project, which has been under construction since 2023.
The lobbying group, Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), sued the lead government regulator of offshore wind in early 2022, alleging the agency violated several acts, including those to protect existing ocean users and endangered species.
At the crux of RODA’s appeal to the Supreme Court is the language of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, and particularly, how the federal government interpreted it.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), which represents fishermen and a fishing company in Rhode Island in another lawsuit, is similarly arguing the federal government did not correctly interpret statutes in its approval of the Vineyard Wind project.
RODA has long argued that offshore wind farms will interfere with fishermen’s ability to catch fish, reduce vessel safety at sea, and potentially harm the viability of commercial fisheries.
But RODA lost its case twice: first, in 2023 in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, where a judge sided with the project and regulators; and second, in 2024 in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, where the judge upheld the lower court’s decision.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation also had its case dismissed by the lower courts.
RODA says the Interior Department during the first Trump administration correctly interpreted statutory language, requiring that the Interior Secretary “shall ensure” approved activities, including offshore wind projects, are consistent with a requirement to prevent interference with “reasonable uses” on the outer continental shelf, including the use of a “seabed for a fishery.”