September 26, 2024 — The Nantucket anti-offshore wind organization ACK for Whales is pushing a lawsuit targeting the Vineyard Wind project to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Monday, the group officially requested the Supreme Court review its appeal of a decision reached by the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals.
It is yet to be seen whether the Supreme Court will actually review the case.
August 27, 2021 — A federal lawsuit is aiming to stop the construction of thousands of wind turbines off the Massachusetts coast.
The “ACK Residents Against Turbines” who filed the lawsuit said the proposed Vineyard Wind project poses a threat to the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale.
“The whales belong to all of us and with fewer than 400, of which there are fewer than 100 breeding females left, each one is worth protecting. The people of Nantucket have a long history with these whales and we have done so much recently to protect this species,” said group co-founder Mary Chalke in a statement. “It would be a tragedy to see all of them lost in order to build an industrial offshore development.”
The project is set to be the first utility-scale wind power development in federal waters.
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which are named in the suit, declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. Vineyard Wind, a joint project of a Danish company and a U.S. subsidiary of the Spanish energy giant, Iberdrola, also declined to comment.
But the American Clean Power Association, a group that represents renewable energy companies, stressed the project has undergone a lengthy environmental review, permitting and public comment process.