April 28, 2024 — A Rhode Island-based environmental group asked a federal court to freeze work on the Revolution Wind project, saying the plans require a new biological opinion on potential effects on endangered sei and fin whales.
Green Oceans filed its original lawsuit in January challenging the southern New England offshore wind project. On April 18 the group’s lawyers were back at U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth’s court in Washington, D.C., with a motion to stay all permits and approvals for the project.
The activists say they made their move because the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Protected Resources reinitiated a required consultation under the Endangered Species Act.
Originally issued by NOAA in July 2023, the ESA process was restarted because of
“insufficient protections for the endangered sei and fin whales and for two species of endangered turtles,” Green Oceans said in a statement. “The Biological Opinion, a required element for the approval and construction of any offshore wind project, is a comprehensive assessment of the anticipated impacts on marine animals during the life of the project, from construction to decommissioning.”