Judge Rules Trump Can Reconsider SouthCoast Wind Permit

A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration may reconsider the permit issued to SouthCoast Wind in the waning days of Joe Biden's presidency.

The offshore wind farm, slated for the waters southwest of Nantucket, was already being challenged by the town of Nantucket in federal court through an appeal filed in March. Then last month, the Department of Justice asked to pause Nantucket’s appeal while the federal government reconsiders the permit that was issued by President Joe Biden’s administration in December 2024.

On Tuesday, Washington D.C. judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that the Trump administration can legally reconsider that permit, sending the offshore wind development back to the Department of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for another review. Chutkan wrote that the project's developers, EDP Renewables and ENGIE, would not "suffer immediate and significant hardship" from the reconsideration by the Trump administration.

"In the interest of judicial economy, and because the court is not convinced that
Defendant-Intervenor is likely to suffer immediate and significant hardship, the court exercises its discretion to remand and stay this case pending the agency’s reconsideration of the permit," Chutkan wrote. "In compliance with a new presidential directive requiring a second look at all wind energy projects, BOEM intends to reconsider the very permitting decision about which Plaintiff complains. The agency now asserts that its Environmental Impact Statement may have 'understated or
obfuscated impacts that could have subsequently been improperly weighed,' resulting in possible noncompliance with OCSLA (Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act)."

The 2.4 GW offshore wind farm is slated to be built 20 nautical miles southeast of the island. As approved, SouthCoast Wind will include 141 wind turbines and five offshore substation platforms, with undersea cables extending west of Nantucket and making landfall in Brayton Point and Falmouth. Each of SouthCoast Wind's turbines were permitted to be up to 1,066 feet tall - even higher than Vineyard Wind's turbines, which are 853 feet tall.

In its appeal of the project, the town of Nantucket argued that a "rushed and faulty" permitting process, as well as the wind farm's impact on the island's National Historic Landmark status, were grounds for SouthCoast Wind's permit to be vacated and remanded back to BOEM for further consideration.

"The Town of Nantucket is grateful for today's decision by the U.S. District Court granting the Department of Justice's (DOJ) motion to remand and stay our lawsuit regarding the SouthCoast Wind project," the town stated in a press release shared by its law firm for offshore wind matters, Cultural Heritage Partners. "The Court has agreed with the request from the DOJ and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), encouraged by Nantucket, to send the project's approval back to BOEM for reconsideration. BOEM has stated that its original Environmental Impact Statement may have 'understated or obfuscated impacts' from the project on Nantucket, and it will now reevaluate the project's compliance under both the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). This court order pauses our lawsuit and forces the agency to issue a new decision to 'either approve, disapprove, or approve with conditions,' ensuring our community's significant environmental and historical concerns receive the thorough review they deserve. The Court’s ruling affirms the Town’s long-standing position that the federal government must take a hard look at potential flaws in the environmental and cultural analysis underpinning offshore wind permitting decisions. Nantucket remains supportive of responsible green energy development. However, the greenest action we can take as a nation is to ensure that our environmental and cultural protection laws are faithfully applied—because if those laws are weakened or ignored for renewable projects, they will be broken for non-renewable ones as well, undermining the very progress we seek toward a sustainable future."