Saving Seafood

Justice Department says Trump can undo monument designations

June 18, 2025 — The president has broad legal authority to fully revoke national monument designations, the Justice Department says in a memorandum that could become the basis to withdraw millions of acres from protected status.

The department’s Office of Legal Counsel disavowed a 1938 DOJ determination that presidents can’t revoke a monument designation by a predecessor under the 1906 law known as the Antiquities Act. The May 27 memo, made public last week, noted that Congress gave presidents the power to declare monuments, but that lawmakers never explicitly said he couldn’t decrease the size of one.

President Donald Trump could use the opinion to go farther than he did in his first term, when he reduced the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah, and allowed commercial fishing in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the coast of New England.

The Biden administration later restored the two Utah monuments to their original size and restored the original protections for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts monument.

The Justice Department said that if the president has the power to remove protections for a portion of a monument, then he could do so for the entirety of the monument.

Read the full article at Roll Call

AGs: Trump wind memo delays SouthCoast Wind by two years

June 12, 2025 — SouthCoast Wind is now delayed by at least two years as a result of President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 memo freezing wind project permitting and leasing, according to attorneys general suing the Trump administration. This pushes power delivery to Massachusetts and Rhode Island to 2032 at the earliest.

Michael Brown, CEO of SouthCoast Wind, portends significant challenges for the up to 141-turbine project if the presidential memorandum persists, and warned it’s unlikely the developer will reach a power purchase agreement with the Commonwealth by the June 30 deadline, according to briefs filed this week in federal court as part of the multistate lawsuit.

“The continuation of the Wind Directive is an impediment to SouthCoast Wind” executing its agreement with the state, wrote Elizabeth Mahony, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, in a Tuesday filing.

Brown in a separate filing wrote that without resolution, “it may be impossible for the parties to execute the [power purchase agreements],” and the company will be “forced to abandon” negotiations with Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Mahony said the wind memo, if left in place, will be “an insurmountable challenge to project viability.”

Avangrid’s New England Wind is the other project negotiating contracts in this round of offshore wind solicitations. The parties had a March deadline, but it was extended, in part due to Trump’s memo.

Unlike SouthCoast Wind, New England Wind has all requisite federal permits in place to begin construction. Avangrid on Wednesday declined to comment on the status of negotiations with Massachusetts. A spokesperson for SouthCoast Wind did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

SouthCoast Wind received final federal approval on the last business day of the Biden administration. But it still needs three permits — one from the Environmental Protection Agency, one from NOAA Fisheries, and one from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (which the Corps has already approved, but not issued) — before it can begin construction.

Brown, in his filing, said the federal agencies, which were set to issue their final permit decisions in March, have repeatedly delayed action, citing the wind memorandum.

He said the EPA has been “unresponsive” to the company’s “multiple outreach efforts to check on the status of the final permit and provide assistance,” and that this “substantial, continuous delay” causes “significant harm” to the project.

Due to these delays, SouthCoast Wind has paid tens of millions of dollars in contract termination fees, Brown said.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

Wind opponents sue Trump administration to block New York wind project

June 4, 2025 — Fishing companies and offshore wind opponents filed a lawsuit on Tuesday challenging the Trump administration’s decision to reverse course and allow construction to resume on Empire Wind, a $5 billion wind farm project off New York’s coast.

Protect Our Coast New Jersey, Clean Ocean Action, ACK for Whales and 12 fishing industry participants in a lawsuit, filed in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, sought to reinstate a stop work order Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued in April halting construction of Equinor’s wind project.

Burgum issued that order after Republican President Donald Trump on his first day back in office on January 20 directed his administration to halt offshore wind lease sales and stop the issuance of permits, leases and loans for both onshore and offshore wind projects.

He did so while also moving to ramp up the federal government’s support for the fossil fuel industry and maximize output in the United States. Trump as a candidate last year promised to end the offshore wind industry.

Read the full article at Reuters

USDA to buy USD 20 million worth of Atlantic groundfish

May 28, 2025 —  The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has unveiled plans to buy USD 20 million (EUR 17.7 million) worth of Atlantic groundfish as part of a bulk purchase of fresh food to distribute to food banks and nutrition assistance programs.

“These purchases deliver healthy, nutritious, American commodities to individuals and families in need. At a time when President Trump and his cabinet are Making America Healthy Again, USDA is proud to play a role in supporting those in need by providing access to the safest and highest-quality fresh fruits, vegetables, and seafood in the world,” U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a statement.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Environmentalists’ lawsuit challenges Trump’s order to allow commercial fishing in Pacific monument

May 27, 2025 — Environmentalists are challenging in court President Donald Trump’s executive order that they say strips core protections from the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument and opens the area to harmful commercial fishing.

On the same day of last month’s proclamation allowing commercial fishing in the monument, Trump issued an order to boost the U.S. commercial fishing industry by peeling back regulations and opening up harvesting in previously protected areas.

The monument was created by President George W. Bush in 2009 and consists of about 500,000 square miles (1.3 million square kilometers) in the central Pacific Ocean. President Barack Obama expanded the monument in 2014.

A week after the April 17 proclamation, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service sent a letter to fishing permit holders giving them a green light to fish commercially within the monument’s boundaries, even though a long-standing fishing ban remains on the books, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Honolulu.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

Greens sue to block Pacific marine monument fishing

May 23, 2025 — Environmentalists are seeking to block the implementation of President Donald Trump’s executive order opening most of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing, arguing the order violates the Antiquities Act of 1906.

The law allows presidents to designate federal land or waters as national monuments, but “does not grant them the authority to strip vital protections from established monuments,” Earthjustice said in a news release accompanying its complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii.

Trump issued the executive order April 17. It argued that fishing prohibitions have kept commercial fleets from too much of the United States’ waters in the Pacific Islands. “This has driven American fishermen to fish further offshore in international waters to compete against poorly regulated and highly subsidized foreign fleets,” the order stated.

Read the full article at E&E News

Trump officials allow massive New York offshore wind project to restart

May 21, 2025 — The Trump administration lifted the stop-work order on a major wind farm off the coast of New York on Monday, according to a statement by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), following direct appeals she made to the president.

“After countless conversations with [wind project developer] Equinor and White House officials, bringing labor and business to the table to emphasize the importance of this project, I’m pleased that President Trump and Secretary Burgum have agreed to lift the stop work order and allow this project to move forward,” she said.

The reversal comes after intense efforts to lobby the Trump administration by Hochul and the Norwegian energy company building the Empire Wind project. Equinor Renewable Americas President Molly Morris had said last week that the company would be forced to cancel the project within days if there was no sign from the administration of a possible resolution.

Hochul had three roughly one-hour calls with President Donald Trump, the most recent on Sunday, asking for the stop-work order to be rescinded, according to a person familiar with the matter. In the calls, she emphasized the need for projects that bring more energy to New York, while highlighting the number of jobs Empire Wind would create.

Read the full article at The Washington Post

Offshore wind revival linked to Trump-backed gas pipelines

May 21, 2025 — Gov. Kathy Hochul may have poked a hole in New York’s long standing pipeline blockade.

The governor celebrated the revival of one critically endangered energy resource last night as President Donald Trump allowed the Empire Wind 1 offshore wind project to restart construction, POLITICO Pro reported. It faced uncertainty after the White House ordered the company to stop work on the fully permitted project last month.

Hochul also alluded obliquely to working with the federal government and private companies on “new energy projects that meet the legal requirements under New York law.” The governor told Newsday’s The Point that she indicated to Trump she was willing to approve pipelines if they met state and federal requirements.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum hours later praised Hochul in a post on X for her openness to new gas infrastructure.

“I am encouraged by Governor Hochul’s comments about her willingness to move forward on critical pipeline capacity,” he wrote. “Americans who live in New York and New England would see significant economic benefits and lower utility costs from increased access to reliable, affordable, clean American natural gas.”

There was no explicit offshore wind for pipeline tradeoff, according to Hochul’s office. “No deal was reached on any gas pipeline,” said Hochul spokesperson Paul DeMichele.

Still, the remarks raised alarm for some environmental advocates who want Hochul to keep the door closed to new gas pipelines, which they argue undermine the state’s climate law.

“If she goes down the path of exploring or, God forbid, approving pipelines, she should know that New Yorkers will make her life miserable until she’s compelled to do the right thing,” said Laura Shindell, New York director at Food and Water Watch.

While New York’s anti-fracking movement hasn’t been as active in recent years, advocates spent years hounding former Gov. Andrew Cuomo at nearly every public event to block hydraulic fracturing and pipelines.

Trump has repeatedly raised the idea of building a pipeline through New York, including reviving the Constitution Pipeline. Williams Co. dropped plans for that project in 2020, years after New York first denied a permit because of water quality concerns.

There are no pending new interstate pipeline applications in New York state. Hochul last year approved a project to increase the amount of natural gas flowing along an existing pipeline. State regulators said there was a reliability need for the additional supply.

Business leaders support more access to natural gas.

“We need more natural gas, and it should be available to businesses that want to expand,” said Matt Cohen, executive director of the Long Island Association.

Some environmental advocates — basking in the glow of a rare offshore wind victory — shrugged off the pipeline issue, given the likelihood of staunch public opposition, the years-long process and legal requirements in New York.

“We knew when Trump was elected that he was ‘drill baby drill,” said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment. “We know he thinks he’s the greatest dealmaker since sliced bread. If or when there’s something proposed, it will be reviewed — and gas pipelines take years to permit.”

Environmental advocates, union leaders and other supporters hailed the restart of the Empire Wind project as a major victory for the governor and New York’s economy.

It took an all-hands effort including Long Island Republicans, business groups, labor unions and even New York City Mayor Eric Adams to salvage the project. Hochul was on the phone with Trump three times over the weekend, pushing for it to restart.

Adams today sought to take some credit for the victory as well, citing a May 9 meeting with the president in D.C.

Adams, a registered Democrat, is running for reelection as an independent after losing support from voters wary of his hands-off attitude toward Trump.

Read the full article at Politico

MASSACHUSETTS: Commercial fishermen welcomed Trump’s promise to roll back ‘overregulation.’ Months into his term, what do they think of him?

May 20, 2025 — Here, in America’s oldest port of its kind, where the squawk of gulls offers a constant soundtrack to life on the docks, the iconic, centuries-old commercial fishing industry used to be much, much better. There were, fishermen recalled, more boats making more money, fewer rules, and more opportunity.

In their telling, federal authorities overstepped in a misguided effort to protect fish stocks, with rules that have strangled their beloved way of life. So President Trump’s promise to roll back “overregulation” had been broadly welcomed by those in commercial fishing, even as industry veterans, burned by generations of politicians, approach any cause for optimism with caution.

Now, four months since Trump took office, some fishermen and businesses that rely on them question whether the Republican’s rhetoric will translate into tangible benefits.

Read the full article at The Boston Globe