Saving Seafood

In latest anti-wind action, Trump administration moves to revoke SouthCoast Wind permit

September 22, 2025 — In another attack on offshore wind, the Trump administration is looking to reconsider a key permit for SouthCoast Wind, a planned 141-turbine project off the Massachusetts coast.

The move comes a week after it revoked the same permit for a proposed wind farm near Maryland, and represents the latest escalation in the administration’s attempt to kneecap the offshore wind industry. Already, the multi-agency effort has resulted in frozen federal permits, restrictions on where wind farms can be built, and new reviews of existing regulations to make sure they they “align with America’s energy priorities under President Donald J. Trump.”

On Thursday, the government filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. to take back its approval of the SouthCoast Wind project’s “construction and operations plan,” or COP. The COP is the last major federal permit an offshore wind project needs before it can start putting turbines in the water.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had approved SouthCoast’s COP on Jan. 17, 2025, three days before President Trump’s second term began.

“Based on its review to date, BOEM has determined that the COP approval may not have fully complied with the law regulating the use of federal waters over the outer continental shelf,” the government wrote. “That is reason enough to grant a remand.”

In a statement, SouthCoast Wind said the company “intends to vigorously defend our permits in federal court.”

Read the full article at Rhode Island PBS

MASSACHSUETTS: No more feeling blue- lobster comes to live at UMass Dartmouth

September 16, 2025 — Only about one in two million lobsters are born blue and only 10 to 20 blue lobsters are found a year, including one recently acquired by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology.

Lobsters can have an excess of a protein that causes some blue spots, but almost all lobsters have some red, according to UMass Dartmouth sea-water lab manager Forrest Kennedy. The all blue mutation is caused by the blue protein binding to the red protein.

The lobster was caught by a fisherman on the “Michael and Erin” in Beverly in early to mid June, who called the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries with the condition that the lobster not be eaten. As UMass Dartmouth shares a building with Marine Fisheries, the university is now housing the lobster.

“We can offer him a good home here,” Kennedy.

The lobster is male based on his large claw size and fins. He is estimated to be about seven to nine years old, and weighs 1.25 pounds. Lobsters are estimated to live up to 100 years, so UMass could have him for a long time.

Read the full article at The Week Today

How New England is handling Trump’s offshore wind assault

September 10, 2025 — President Donald Trump’s war on offshore wind power is clobbering New England, and officials there are warning of future grid reliability problems. In this new energy reality, though, many states in the region say they will try their best to muddle through.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has stunned states and industry alike with a whirlwind of actions, highlighted by halting a nearly complete project off Rhode Island’s coast — Revolution Wind — and seeking to revoke a permit for a Massachusetts project. Other crucial projects in the region have been caught up in a temporary pause on leases.

In a recent Cabinet meeting, Trump reiterated his hatred of wind. “We’re not allowing any windmills to go up,” he said. “They’re ruining our country.”

Read the full article at E&E News

Ørsted and Iberdrola Are Trying to Save U.S. Offshore Wind Investments

September 9, 2025 — Two major offshore wind developers,  Ørsted and Iberdrola, have efforts underway to save their offshore wind projects in the United States. The companies are reportedly trying to win over the Trump administration, which opposes offshore wind energy, by emphasizing the larger investments in the United States.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Bloomberg reports, confirmed that the administration is “actively engaged in discussions” with Ørsted over the future of the Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut. According to the reports, Wright, during a presentation at the Council of Foreign Relations, confirmed that there is “a very active dialogue,” saying the issues of the wind farm were being “worked and discussed.”

Last month, the Trump administration issued a stop work order for the project, which Ørsted said is 80 percent installed. The company highlighted its large investment, saying that all of the foundations for the 704 MW wind farm are installed and that 45 out of the 65 wind turbines have also been installed. The export cabling and the onshore power substation are nearly complete.

Ørsted filed a lawsuit challenging the legal authority to suspend the project, calling it a necessary step. The company, however, also said it was continuing to seek a resolution with the administration.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

Scallopers press for reopening Northern Edge

September 8, 2025 — The New Bedford scallop fleet and supporters continue to push for a reopening of the Northern Edge scallop access area, a year after the New England Fishery Management Council decided to continue the 30-year closure.

The Northern Edge of Georges Bank is seen by the council as a critical area for juvenile cod, lobster and herring, and the closure has been touted as habitat protection for those species and the scallop biomass.

In April 2025 the Fisheries Survival Fund, representing East Coast scallop fishermen, filed a petition urging U.S Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to reopen the Northern Edge. Their pitch echoed arguments the Fisheries Survival Fund made, unsuccessfully, to the New England council in June 2024.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Nantucket wind lawsuit on hold as feds take 2nd look at SouthCoast permit

September 8, 2025 — In a move that could reshape the future of SouthCoast Wind — and signal deeper uncertainty for offshore wind — the U.S. Department of the Interior is reviewing its approval of the planned offshore wind farm off Nantucket. At the same time, federal attorneys want to pause the town of Nantucket’s related lawsuit while regulators revisit the permit — a shift Nantucket supports.

On Aug. 29, the U.S. Department of Justice asked the U.S. District Court for a temporary hold on Nantucket’s appeal filed over the permit. In a Sept. 2 statement, town leaders said they hope the pause leads to broader changes in how offshore wind projects are approved.

Read the full article at Cape Cod Times

Federal judge skeptical of Massachusetts’ offshore wind lawsuit against Trump

September 8, 2025 — Massachusetts, and the wind projects that have invested millions to build off its coast, will have to wait a bit longer to see if a federal judge will provide any relief from President Donald Trump’s wind memorandum that has frozen offshore wind permitting for the last eight months.

Judge William G. Young, during a hearing on Thursday, again expressed some skepticism about the multistate lawsuit. In opening remarks, and during questioning to both parties, Young said that Trump has made his position against offshore wind very clear. So, if he were to rule in favor of the states (and against the memo), he asked what change it would make for the projects that have been stuck in permitting limbo.

“[Trump’s] view of the presidency is, those people who are subordinate to me are going to follow my instructions. That’s the presidency as we know it today,” Young said. “Given the president’s view, where does that get you? … He’ll tell [agencies] to deny [permits] and they will, because they have to follow orders.”

Massachusetts Deputy Attorney General Turner Smith in response said that although that may be true, the states will address it case by case and permit by permit, if necessary.

“They may decide to issue or deny a permit,” Smith said. “Our hope is that the agencies would take to heart that they are required to follow applicable law in processing and issuing these permits.”

U.S. Department of Justice attorney Michael Robertson, on behalf of the federal government, argued the states have not sufficiently proven violations of cited laws, and that if the judge were to rule in their favor, it should be on a permit by permit and project by project level.

Revolution Wind featured briefly in the hearing arguments. Late last month, the federal government issued a stop-work order on the under-construction project, citing Trump’s wind memo.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

US plans to revoke approval of another Massachusetts offshore wind farm

September 4, 2025 — President Donald Trump’s administration plans to revoke federal approval of Avangrid’s planned New England Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts, according to a court filing on Wednesday.

The legal maneuver is the latest move by U.S. authorities to stymie development of offshore wind energy, which Trump has called ugly, expensive, and unreliable. Last week, the administration also said it was reconsidering approval of SouthCoast Wind, another planned Massachusetts project.

In recent weeks, Trump has deployed a range of tactics to stop offshore wind expansion, which was a cornerstone of former President Joe Biden’s efforts to combat climate change but has struggled with soaring costs and supply chain snags. Most notably, Trump’s Interior Department late last month issued a stop-work order on the Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island, which is 80% complete.

In Wednesday’s court filing, attorneys for the Department of Justice said they would move by October 10 to vacate the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s approval of the New England Wind construction and operations plan.

Read the full article at Reuters

Trump administration to reconsider SouthCoast Wind permit, legal filing says

September 3, 2025 —  The Trump administration will reconsider the permit for SouthCoast Wind, a Massachusetts offshore wind farm approved by the government of former U.S. President Joe Biden last year, according to a federal court filing seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

In a motion filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Friday, attorneys for the Department of Justice said the Interior Department intended to reconsider the approval of SouthCoast Wind’s construction and operations plan.

The legal maneuver is the latest move by President Donald Trump’s administration to stymie development of offshore wind energy, which he says is ugly, expensive and unreliable.

Read the full article at Reuters

MASSACHUSETTS: Trump administration may be killing SouthCoast Wind. What does this mean for Somerset?

September 3, 2025 — The future looks dim for SouthCoast Wind, an offshore wind project that was due to make landfall at Brayton Point in Somerset.

According to court filings from the District of Columbia District Court, the federal Department of the Interior “intends to reconsider” approval of the SouthCoast Wind project.

Under the Biden administration, the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved a massive lease area about 30 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard to SouthCoast Wind. The company has intended to connect that power in Somerset, building a substation at the Brayton Point Commerce Center.

Read the full article at the Cape Cod Times