Trump Administration Files for Remand of New England Wind Permits

The Trump administration has asked a federal judge to allow the remand of the New England Wind offshore wind farm located southeast of Nantucket.

The Department of the Interior argued that it should be allowed to reconsider the permits, as “absent a specific statutory limitation, agencies have inherent authority to reconsider past decisions and to revise or replace them.”

President Donald Trump has long fought to curtail offshore wind development. The Trump administration has reconsidered a slew of offshore wind permits, citing a broad array of concerns, including alleged threats to national security. The Trump administration first announced its intention to reconsider New England Wind's permits last December.

“Approval for the New England Wind Project ‘may have failed to account for all the impacts that New England Wind Projects 1 and 2 may cause,’” the United States Department of Justice wrote in a filing at the time. “[The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)] is seeking a remand as it completes its reconsideration of its New England Wind COP approval. BOEM intends to issue a new [construction and operation plan] decision at the completion of its review.”

The request was decried by conservation groups, who have seen Trump’s agenda as a coordinated assault on renewable energy in favor of oil and gas, despite the environmental consequences and the accelerating threat of climate change.

“What's most important for New England residents is that projects like New England Wind and Revolution Wind move forward to deliver clean, affordable power and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels as we struggle with continuously increasing energy costs,” Kate Sinding Daly, the Conservation Law Foundation’s senior vice president for law policy, told the Current. “It's shameful that the government is again trying to sabotage wind energy.”

In 2024, during Joe Biden’s presidential term, the federal government issued permits to Avangrid—also one of the companies behind Vineyard Wind—to develop an offshore wind farm in a designated lease area on the continental shelf. ACK For Whales, a Nantucket-based anti-wind advocacy group, sued to block the project, saying that the permits were issued in violation of environmental protection, endangered species, and historic preservation rules.

After Donald Trump was elected President, the federal government reversed course and sought to reconsider the permits of its own accord. The Trump administration then asked the courts to stay the case and remand it while the government voluntarily reconsidered the permits. Pro-wind interest groups intervened to oppose the Trump administration’s request, leading to the government's latest filing.

“The federal government’s decision to seek remand of the New England Wind Construction and Operations Plan vindicates [ACK For Whales’] argument that the New England Wind project was approved under a flawed interpretation of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act,” ACK For Whales attorney Thomas Stavola told the Current. “The government, in its latest filing, acknowledges that such approval was legally defective. Plaintiffs are pleased that the government has aligned with them on this critical issue.”

Stavola is correct that the Trump administration broadly agrees with ACK For Whales about offshore wind, though the Department of the Interior has asked the court to dismiss the environmental claims made by ACK For Whales and not rule on their historic preservation concerns.

Trump has made offshore wind development extremely difficult during his second term, revoking permits, stopping construction, and stripping funding from related infrastructure projects. His administration has spent much of the last two years battling offshore wind developers and environmental groups in court with mixed results.