Offshore wind developer Ocean Winds has accused the former Trump administration of engaging in “bad faith” litigation aimed at halting the SouthCoast Wind project, as a legal battle over the project’s federal construction permit continues in U.S. court.
The dispute stems from a lawsuit filed by the Massachusetts island municipality of Nantucket, challenging the federal government’s approval of the project’s Construction and Operations Plan (COP). The SouthCoast Wind development, located off the coast of Massachusetts, could have a generation capacity of up to 2,400 megawatts (MW).
Lawyers representing the federal government recently asked the court to remand and indefinitely pause the case, citing the need to re-evaluate the COP. Ocean Winds, however, has opposed the motion, alleging that the request lacks legal merit and is politically motivated.
“Federal Defendants have no genuine legal basis to reconsider the COP; they seek only to use remand to withdraw the COP approval and eliminate the Project,” Ocean Winds said in a filing. “This overt litigation tactic is made in bad faith without any legal authority or regard for the impact on SouthCoast Wind or the public at large.”
The company noted that the Biden administration approved the COP just days before Donald Trump took office in 2017. Ocean Winds argues that the federal motion to revisit the plan is based on the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), which the developer says is unrelated to the original lawsuit. Nantucket’s complaint had cited the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).
“Neither the substance of the COP nor OCSLA are at issue in this case, nor mentioned even once in the Complaint,” the company stated.
Ocean Winds urged the court to reject the government’s request, warning that a remand could open the door to politically influenced cancellation of the project.
“If this Court remands this case back to the Federal Defendants for indefinite review, the effect, as has been made obvious by the statements and actions from the executive branch, will be illegal termination of this Project for political reasons,” the filing added.
The case remains under judicial consideration, as the broader offshore wind sector faces both political and regulatory challenges amid ongoing efforts to scale up renewable energy capacity in the United States.
