Judge allows Trump administration to reconsider approval for a Massachusetts offshore wind farm

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A federal court judge is allowing the Trump administration to reconsider a major federal permit that was granted to a Massachusetts offshore wind farm days before the president's inauguration.

Developer SouthCoast Wind said Wednesday it's assessing the decision and next steps, including the pursuit of legal remedies. SouthCoast Wind is a project planned for federal waters about 23 miles (37 kilometers) south of Nantucket, with as many as 141 turbines to power about 840,000 homes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Construction has not yet begun.

The Trump administration is using executive orders, agency actions and the courts to try to stop the development of offshore wind, an industry and technology that President Donald Trump has attacked as “ugly” and unreliable compared to fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.

Massachusetts has led in offshore wind to meet its goals for clean energy and demand for electricity. The state's governor said the region needs this power.

“There is absolutely no need for the Trump administration to reopen permitting processes and deny jobs, investment and energy to the states,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement.

Nantucket sued the Interior Department in March. The town asked a U.S. District Court judge in Washington to set aside the federal government's approvals to construct the wind farm, arguing that it will damage the town's character, community and tourism economy.

The federal defendants filed a motion in September seeking to revoke approval of the project’s "construction and operations plan." It was the last major federal permit the project needs before it can start putting turbines in the water. The Interior Department said the approval may not have fully complied with the law and may have failed to account for all the project's impacts.

Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered Tuesday that the permit be remanded to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, for reconsideration. She wrote that it was “in the interest of judicial economy,” or saving time and resources, since Nantucket supports reconsideration, and the developer wouldn't “suffer significant and immediate hardship.”

Nantucket said the court’s ruling affirms its longstanding position that the federal government must take a hard look at potential flaws in the environmental and cultural analysis underpinning offshore wind permitting decisions.

SouthCoast Wind said it has invested over $600 million in development and permitting, including lease fee payments to the federal government, since acquiring the lease during the first Trump administration. CEO Michael Brown said they continue to believe in the value this project brings to the region, by providing domestic energy and supporting well-paying union jobs.

BOEM approved SouthCoast’s operations plan on Jan. 17, three days before Trump’s second term began.

Trump has been hostile to renewable energy, particularly offshore wind, and prioritizes fossil fuels for electricity. His administration has stopped construction on major offshore wind farms, revoked wind energy permits and paused permitting, canceled plans to use large areas of federal waters for new offshore wind development and stopped $679 million in federal funding for a dozen offshore wind projects. The moves are a complete reversal from the Biden administration.

In another lawsuit, a federal judge ruled in September that a nearly complete offshore wind project halted by the administration could resume, dealing Trump a setback. Revolution Wind is supposed to be Rhode Island’s and Connecticut’s first large offshore wind farm, capable of supplying power to more than 350,000 homes, about 2.5% of the region’s electricity needs.

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AP Writer Michael Casey in Boston contributed to this report.

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