Three groups are suing New Jersey to block an offshore wind farm
Three anti-wind power groups are suing New Jersey to overturn a key environmental approval for a wind energy farm planned off the coast of Long Beach Island
LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Three anti-wind power groups are suing New Jersey to overturn a key environmental approval for a wind energy farm planned off the coast of Long Beach Island.
Save Long Beach Island, Defend Brigantine Beach and Protect Our Coast NJ filed suit in appellate court on April 26 challenging a determination by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection that the Atlantic Shores wind farm project meets the requirements of a federal coastal protection law.
Atlantic Shores is one of three proposed wind farms off New Jersey's coast that have preliminary approval.
Bruce Afran, an attorney for the groups, said the state's “approval flies in the face of the federal regulator’s environmental impact statement that says the Atlantic Shores project will damage marine habitat, compress and harden the seafloor, damage marine communities, compromise migration corridors for endangered species, and cause commercial fishing stocks to decline.”
The same three groups challenged a wind farm proposed by the Danish wind energy company Orsted, which scrapped the project in October.
The lawsuit was the latest obstacle facing New Jersey's quest to become the East Coast leader in offshore wind. These three groups are among the most vocal and litigious opponents of offshore wind projects.
The New Jersey attorney general's office declined comment on the pending litigation, and Atlantic Shores did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
But Joshua Henne, a political strategist advising several groups fighting climate change, accused the anti-wind groups of
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