May 8, 2024 — A local grassroots organization opposed to the current offshore wind farm planned off the coast of Long Beach Island is among three groups to sue the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection over its approval of the Atlantic Shores project.
Save LBI is joined by Protect Our Coast New Jersey and Defend Brigantine Beach, said Bruce Afran, who is the attorney of record in the legal proceeding.
“DEP’s approval flies in the face of federal regulators’ environmental impact statement that says the Atlantic Shores project will damage marine habitat, compress and harden the seafloor, damage marine communities, compromise migration corridors for endangered species and cause commercial fishing stocks to decline,” he said.
Saying the current scope of the Atlantic Shores project would be fully visible from beaches; crush and destroy the seabed; interfere with the mitigation of the endangered blue whale and right whale; result in the loss of native species and cause economic damage to the state’s prime fishing grounds and tourist regions, the groups filed suit in appellate court on April 26.
The blue whale is the largest animal on the planet, according to NOAA Fisheries. Blue whales, which are found in every ocean except the Arctic, are listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act and are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.