ACK For Whales, Wampanoag Tribe / Aquinnah, Coalition of Charter Fishing Groups from Four States and Seven Environmental Champions Sue Federal Government Over Wind Projects

NANTUCKET, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The independent and non-partisan environmental grassroots group ACK For Whales, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head / Aquinnah, Green Oceans, a coalition of charter fishing groups and seven individuals have filed suit in federal court asking the Court to find that the Departments of Interior and Commerce and their sub-agencies violated the law when they approved the Record of Decision (ROD) for the offshore wind New England 1 and 2 projects.

The plaintiffs argue that in approving the ROD for the two projects, the Departments of Interior and Commerce, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and Bureau of Ocean Management (BOEM) violated the Marine Mammal Protection, Endangered Species, Outer Continental Shelf Lands, National Historic Preservation and Administrative Procedures Acts.

The environmental groups and tribe are joined as plaintiffs by the Rhode Island Party and Charter Boat Association, Cape Cod Charter Boat Association, Connecticut Charter Boat Association, and Montauk Boatmen and Captain’s Association, as well as Capt. Buddy Vanderhoop, Nantucket lobsterman Danny Pronk, Nantucket pilot and fish-spotter Douglas Lindley, Nantucketers Steven and Sharyl Kohler, ACK for Whales President Vallorie Oliver and Board Members Amy DiSibio and Veronica Bonnet.

“In offshore wind project after offshore wind project, from Revolution Wind, Vineyard Wind and New England Wind to the others, the government was so desperate to rush these projects that it cut corners and violated the law,” Oliver said. “The government didn’t care if it trampled on the Wampanoag sacred beliefs and rites, hurt the charter boat, fishing and lobster industries or wiped out the Right whales. The only thing that mattered was to get these environmentally destructive turbines built, costs to the rest of us be damned.”

New England Wind 1 is a 791-megawatt project slated to begin construction later this year and deliver power to Massachusetts by 2029. New England Wind 2, a 1,000-megawatt project, does not yet have a state lined up to receive its power. The projects are two of the 11 wind farms that received all of their federal permits before President Trump took office.

“We joined this lawsuit because individual Tribal Members and our Tribe are being harmed by these giant wind farms making an industrial park out of our waters,” said tribal Chairwoman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais. “Unlike the other plaintiffs, the harms go back as far as time immemorial and as deep as to who we are as Aquinnah Wampanoag People; our culture, traditions and spirituality, connecting us to the lands, waters, sky and all living things. Since the government has ignored us individually, we hope that our collective voices will be heard.”

“This project was permitted illegally and unfairly,” Mr. Pronk said. “We, the fishermen and lobstermen, are losing our grounds to foreign-owned, wind-power plant developers who are decimating sustainable fisheries that employ tens of thousands of U.S. citizens and feed millions of Americans.”

“The analytic and legal deficiencies of New England Wind are a microcosm of what we have seen in other offshore wind projects – the agencies simply fail to account for critical data which has ramifications for marine mammals on numerous fronts,” said Thomas Stavola Jr. Esq., ACK for Whales’ counsel.

The suit, filed in Washington, D.C. federal court on May 22, seeks declarative relief finding that the government violated these laws, and an injunction to stop these projects from moving forward.

In March, ACK for WHALES asked the United States Environmental Protection Agency to revoke the New England 1 and 2 permits because the approval process ignored air pollution caused by the projects.

About ACK for Whales

ACK for Whales is a group of Nantucket community members who are concerned about the negative impacts of offshore wind development off the south shores of our beloved Island. The Massachusetts / Rhode Island wind area is bigger than the state of Rhode Island and will ultimately be occupied by more than 2,400 turbines, each taller than the John Hancock building in Boston, connected by thousands of miles of high voltage cables. There are many unanswered questions, and the permitting of these massive utility projects has happened largely out of the public eye. We provide a community group of neighbors and friends, who all love the same place.