A federal appeals court rejected an attempt by fishermen to halt a major offshore wind project off Massachusetts this week, affirming a lower court’s decision to uphold the development’s environmental permit.
The decision by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hands a victory to Vineyard Wind just as President-elect Donald Trump, an outspoken wind critic, prepares to take office next month. It marks the third victory at the appellate court for the 800-megawatt project and comes after a blade detached from a turbine and crashed into the ocean over the summer.
Fishermen had argued that the District Court of Massachusetts had erred when it ruled that fishing groups lacked standing to sue the project on environmental grounds. But the First Circuit affirmed that fishermen did not have standing to sue under environmental laws such as the Endangered Species Act.
In one instance, the appellate court found fishing groups did have the right to sue under the National Environmental Policy Act, but it dealt them a blow in finding that regulators at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had appropriately weighed the project’s impacts and followed necessary administrative procedures.
