Saving Seafood

ACK For Whales Files New Challenge Of Vineyard Wind Permit

March 26, 2025 — The Nantucket-based group ACK For Whales has launched a new challenge to Vineyard Wind, filing a petition with the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revoke the offshore wind developer’s Clean Air Act permit for the project.

The permit, which was issued by the EPA on June 21, 2021, outlines the air pollution control requirements for Vineyard Wind, ensuring that it complies with federal and state regulations. However, ACK For Whales has asserted that the agency failed to consider the additional emissions resulting from blade failure events like the one that occurred at Vineyard Wind on July 13, 2024, as well as the cumulative effects of emissions from vessels and pile driving associated with the project.

“When the Vineyard Wind 1 blade failed on July 13, 2024, it became clear that such an event had not been adequately forestalled,” the non-profit group stated in its petition. “The resultant vessel traffic to search for and collect debris, the removal of 66 installed blades including international transport of damaged and replacement blades, and re-installment of new blades is not accounted for. In addition, the emissions from likely pollution events such as blade failures is not considered as there is not even a pollution plan in the permitting documents.”

Vineyard Wind officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on ACK For Whales’ petition.

While its previous legal challenges have all been rejected, ACK For Whales’ latest effort to stymie Vineyard Wind comes amid a completely changed political landscape under President Donald Trump’s administration. Trump’s executive order signed on his inauguration day in January immediately halted any new federal leases for offshore wind projects. It also sets the stage for his administration to terminate or amend existing wind energy leases – including for projects such as Vineyard Wind and SouthCoast Wind off Nantucket – following a review by the Secretary of the Department of the Interior. That review will focus on “the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases, identifying any legal bases for such removal.”

Read the full article at the Nantucket Current

Trump’s EPA Withdraws Permit from Proposed NJ Offshore Wind Farm

March 18, 2025 — Federal officials were successful in withdrawing for what is believed to be the first time an environmental permit granted by the Biden administration for an offshore wind farm. New Jersey’s proposed Atlantic Shores offshore wind farm project had been singled out by Donald Trump in his opposition to the industry and this latest development adds another hurdle to an already troubled project and potentially the industry.

Atlantic Shores which was proposed as a joint venture between Shell and EDF Renewables received its federal permitting including approval of its Construction and Operations Plan by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in October 2024. The plan calls for a two-phase project with a total capacity of 2.8 GW. The first phase, which would be in the southern part of the state near Atlantic City has consistently been reported to be in position to become New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm.

Donald Trump singled out the project during the 2024 presidential campaign and in February 2025 said he hoped the New Jersey project would be “dead and gone.” Among the presidential executive orders were steps to review the industry and its impact on the environment.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

EPA Halts Atlantic Shores Wind Farm Construction as Trump Administration Reviews Projects

March 18, 2025 — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has suspended permits for the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project off New Jersey’s coast following a January 2025 Presidential directive that ordered an immediate halt to offshore wind development.

The Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) granted EPA Region 2’s request to remand permits for the project, which had previously received approval to construct up to 200 wind turbines capable of generating 2,800 megawatts of power – enough electricity to power one million homes.

The suspension comes amid broader industry challenges, including Shell’s recent withdrawal from the project with a $996 million impairment and the cancellation of New Jersey’s fourth offshore wind solicitation.

Read the full article at gCaptian 

MAINE: MLA honors board, rallies for the future at annual meeting

March 18, 2025 — The Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) annual meeting took place at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum and was anything but routine this year.

As industry leaders gathered to discuss the latest challenges and victories in the state’s lobster industry, they also took a moment to recognize the end of an era—Kristan Porter, the longtime MLA board president and Cutler fisherman, announced his retirement from the role, along with board vice president Craig Stewart from Long Island, and Laurin Brooks who fishes out from Kennebunk. 

Lawsuits, Offshore Wind, Industry Resilience

Among the key updates shared, the MLA’s acting COO, Patrice McCarron, reaffirmed their stance against offshore wind development, highlighting progress in its legal battle with Monterey Bay Aquarium, and urged lobstermen to stay engaged in policy discussions, especially regarding the controversial gauge increase.

“You may have also heard the good news: the Monterey Bay Aquarium lawsuit will get the green light to go forward,” McCarron said. “We haven’t won the case, but we do now have the green light so that we would be expecting discovery and possibly going to trial in the near future.”

The lawsuit, a defamation case launched by the MLA and the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association (MCFA), challenges the Aquarium’s controversial decision to red-list Maine lobster over concerns about North Atlantic right whale entanglements. The case moving forward signals a significant step in the industry’s ongoing fight for fair representation.

The MLA also addressed other regulatory battles, including a pushback on federal electronic tracking mandates. “We certainly know where people are; we no longer have to guess, but they should not be running 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” McCarron stated. “You guys should not be tracked when using your vessels for personal reasons.”

The Maine lobster fishery continues to grapple with bait shortages and federal policy shifts, but as the meeting made clear, the industry is far from standing still.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

NEW JERSEY: Feds pull environmental permit from New Jersey offshore wind project

March 17, 2025 — Federal officials pulled a permit from Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind on Friday in a move that could spell more delays and setbacks for New Jersey’s first offshore wind energy facility.

Environmental Appeals Court Judge Mary Kay Lynch ruled Friday to remand a Clean Air Act permit issued last September to Atlantic Shores back to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

EPA officials filed a motion in February to have the court remand the permit to the agency, in order to review the wind energy project’s environmental impacts. The action came in response to President Donald Trump’s January memorandum to withdraw all of the outer continental shelf from offshore wind leases for further review.

Read the full article at Asbury Park Press

Fishing groups raise Vineyard Wind case to Supreme Court

March 14, 2025 — In another move aimed at offshore wind, the fishing industry is attempting to take its fight against Vineyard Wind to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, a national coalition of fishing industry associations and companies, and the conservative think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation filed separate petitions last week requesting the Supreme Court to review decisions by a lower court.

Both organizations unsuccessfully petitioned to shutdown Vineyard Wind — the first large-scale offshore wind project approved in the United States and located 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard — in the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston last year.

The petitioners say the project was rushed through by the Biden Administration in an effort to establish an American offshore wind industry without considering the consequences.

Read the full article at MV Times

Fishing industry asks Supreme Court to hear case against Vineyard Wind

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.”

Read the full article at the The New Bedford Light

RODA asks Supreme Court to hear Vineyard Wind case

March 11, 2025 — Commercial fishing industry advocates appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their challenge of federal permits that authorized the ongoing Vineyard Wind 1 project off southern New England.

The first approved commercial-scale wind energy project in federal waters, the Vineyard Wind federal “approval sets the precedent for all future U.S. offshore wind development,” said the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, a coalition of fishing groups and communities.

The case was brought March 10 on behalf of fishermen by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative legal advocacy group. It asks the high court to reverse a federal appeals court decision that upheld federal permits for the 804-megawatt Vineyard Wind project.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

RODA petitions US Supreme Court to review its case against Vineyard Wind

March 11, 2025 — The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) has appealed its case against the Vineyard Wind offshore wind project to the Supreme Court of the United States.

RODA, a lobbying group representing commercial fishermen, first filed a lawsuit against in 2022 in objection to federal approvals of the wind energy project. The 800-megawatt project, located in an area off the coast of the U.S. state of Massachusetts, is planned to take up as much as 75,000 acres.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MASSACHUSETTS: Lightning strikes damaged Vineyard Wind turbine

March 5, 2025 — A Vineyard Wind turbine located south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, already compromised by a blade failure last summer, was struck by lightning last Thursday, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The incident raises further questions about the structural resilience of offshore wind infrastructure and its implications for maritime industries, including commercial fishing.

The turbine, identified as AW38, had already sustained significant damage when a blade snapped during routine testing on July 13, 2024. Vineyard Wind confirmed that the lightning strike further impacted the splinted nub of the broken blade.

“Based on visual inspection of the damaged blade, preliminary evidence indicates that a lightning strike may have impacted the blade, though we continue to assess in coordination with GE Vernova,” Vineyard Wind said in a statement Sunday night, as The New Bedford Light reported.

Read the full article at National Fisherman