Federal Government To Reconsider Approval Of SouthCoast Wind

In its latest salvo against the offshore wind industry, President Donald Trump’s administration is reconsidering the federal permit issued to SouthCoast Wind, which was slated for installation south of Nantucket but had already been delayed and potentially cancelled as a result of previous federal efforts to limit offshore wind.

The 2.4GW offshore wind farm, which would include 131 turbines and five offshore substation platforms, was already being challenged by the town of Nantucket in federal court through an appeal filed in March. But now the Department of Justice has asked to pause Nantucket’s appeal while the federal government reconsiders the permit that was issued in the final days of President Joe Biden’s administration in December 2024.

“The U.S. Department of the Interior intends to move for a voluntary remand of the agency action at issue in this litigation and to stay the case pending the remand,” the Department of Justice wrote in the motion to defer. “Continuing to litigate this case before any decision is made on the motion for remand and stay would potentially waste considerable time and resources.”

The town’s appeal alleges that BOEM violated federal environmental and cultural protection laws in approving the project without requiring the developer to mitigate its harms properly. On Tuesday, it announced its support of the federal government’s new motion to reconsider SouthCoast Wind’s permit.

“Nantucket supports renewable energy and recognizes that proper permitting and policy making for wind energy development rests in the hands of the federal government,” Select Board member Brooke Mohr said. “But the permitting for SouthCoast Wind failed to account for the significant harm the project will cause Nantucket, a federally designated National Historic Landmark. We welcome this opportunity for federal agencies to reevaluate their decision and correct course.”

Rebecca Ullman, a spokesperson for SouthCoast Wind's parent company Ocean Winds, declined to comment and directed the Current to the company's statement made in a court filing which reads, in part: "This delay and the forthcoming request for remand are simply pretext for the unabashed desire of the President to eliminate all offshore wind projects from existence regardless of their impacts."

The Trump administration has been on the offensive against offshore wind in recent months, stopping work on the Revolution Wind development initially permitted for a lease area near Martha’s Vineyard and cancelling $679 million in funds for offshore wind projects. The cancelled funds include $34 million for a project intended to develop a vacant industrial facility in Salem into an offshore wind terminal, which would have been the staging area for New England Wind, another offshore wind project planned for installation south of Nantucket.

Critics of the government’s push against offshore wind see Trump as favoring oil and gas over renewable energy projects despite the environmental costs of climate change, which could be especially pronounced on islands like Nantucket. They also point to the economic ramifications of blocking major construction projects that have already been permitted and, in some cases, have already hired hundreds of workers.

“President Trump said he was a job creator – he has turned into the biggest job destroyer of any President this country has seen,” Rodrigo Badaro, President of the North Shore Building Trades Council, said in a statement. “It’s clear ‘Make America Great Again’ doesn’t include construction workers.”

For ACK For Whales, the Nantucket-based group that has been fighting against Vineyard Wind and other offshore wind projects for the past five years, the legal filing in the case was not only cause for celebration, but also a chance to reiterate its call for the town to withdraw from the Good Neighbor Agreement with Vineyard Wind.

"For more than five years, ACK for Whales has warned that these offshore wind projects are a threat to the environment and to our cultural and historical legacy, in violation of federal environmental and historical preservation laws," said ACK For Whales board member Amy DiSibio in a statement. "The Town finally filed a suit in March against only the South Coast Wind project - a project not included in the Good Neighbor Agreement, challenging the project and citing many of the issues we have raised over and over and over. So called experts told us that litigation wouldn’t produce good outcomes. Ironically, the Department of Interior’s decision to 'reconsider' with the possibility of revoking South Coast’s permitting shows those claims were false. Offshore wind project after offshore wind project is being struck down as a result of litigation brought by grassroots citizens groups and municipalities that stand up for their homes and communities to defeat the indefensible desecrations of our ocean and places like Nantucket. If this doesn’t make the case for Nantucket to abandon the Good Neighbor Agreement and do what’s right to stop the hundreds of turbines headed our way, we don’t know what does."

With climate change as one of the most significant problems facing Nantucket, some critics have attempted to turn attention to the negative impacts of the alternatives to offshore wind. But the town contends that opposition to offshore wind projects near Nantucket and support for renewable energy are not mutually exclusive.

“This case illustrates the law of unintended consequences,” Greg Werkheiser, an attorney for Cultural Heritage Partners, which advises the town on issues related to offshore wind, said. “If agencies shortcut environmental safeguards to fast-track green energy projects, they create a dangerous precedent that allows fossil fuel developers to do the same. The result is more—not less—environmental harm. Our position is simple: we must move swiftly toward clean energy while still honoring the rule of law and protecting vulnerable communities.”

Nantucket’s appeal of SouthCoast wind’s permits, which may no longer be relevant, sought to remand the project back to federal permitting agencies, capitalizing on Trump’s longstanding opposition to wind power. During the Biden administration, the town took an entirely different approach and did not seek to block projects targeting the ocean south of Nantucket. But since one of Vineyard Wind’s turbine blades collapsed into the water in July 2025 and Trump returned to the White House in January, the town has changed tacks.