Oral arguments were heard Thursday by the First Circuit Court of Appeals in a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior (DOI) and other federal agencies over the controversial Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts.
Vineyard Wind US — a joint venture of Central Maine Power (CMP) parent company Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners — has made headlines in recent days after one of its wind turbines was significantly damaged, causing a blade the size of a football field to break apart into the water.
The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) filed a lawsuit in 2022 against the DOI for allegedly violating environmental law when authorizing the 62-turbine Vineyard Wind project.
“In its haste to implement a massive new program to generate electrical energy by constructing thousands of turbine towers offshore the eastern seaboard on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf and laying hundreds of miles of high-tension electrical cables undersea,” RODA said in a 2022 press release, “the United States has shortcut the statutory and regulatory requirements that were enacted to protect our nation’s environmental and natural resources, its industries, and its people.”
“The fishing industry supports strong action on climate change, but not at the expense of the ocean, its inhabitants, and sustainable domestic seafood,” RODA continued.
“The decisions on this project didn’t balance ocean resource conservation and management, and must not set a precedent for the enormous ‘pipeline of projects’ the government plans to facilitate in the near term,” the group concluded. “So we had no alternative to filing suit.”
Click Here to Read RODA’s Full Press Release from 2022
This lawsuit was previously dismissed by a federal trial court when a judge ruled that they did not have standing to bring the case.
Click Here to Read RODA’s Original Complaint
The New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA) issued a statement Thursday morning in support of RODA’s lawsuit, citing the recently-damaged turbine blade and the resulting fiberglass debris that continues to wash up on the Massachusetts shoreline.
“[RODA] put the government on notice over two years ago that Vineyard Wind’s turbines aren’t safe,” NEFSA said. “The recent blade disaster has scattered debris over a huge swath of historic fishing grounds, creating serious hazards for mariners and marine life.”
“As RODA’s lawsuit explains, there is no evidence Vineyard Wind’s Haliade-X turbines were ever safety tested,” they continued. “Fishermen are gravely concerned that they cannot withstand the volatile marine conditions of the north Atlantic. Now New England fishermen are paying a steep price for this criminal lack of oversight.”
“Unfortunately, a federal trial court dismissed RODA’s lawsuit, concluding that fishermen do not have standing to challenge the Vineyard Wind project,” said NEFSA. “This disaster puts the lie to that conclusion. We hope the First Circuit agrees and allows RODA’s lawsuit to proceed.”
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="29625 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=29625">6 Comments
As a commercial fisherman our family is praying they stop.this foolishness. Time to find out which of our Congressional reps has invested money in this “green ” energy scam. Start with Angus and Chellie
They are just following Joe’s lead. It is Bright Bulb Leadership at it’s best.
“The fishing industry supports strong action on climate change, but not at the expense of the ocean, its inhabitants, and sustainable domestic seafood,” To think that humans can significantly change the climate is ridiculous. Can they affect microclimates? Yes. Dallas-Fort Worth wind shear patterns are a good example. However, the idea that an essential gas that exists at 0.04% of the atmosphere drives global climate is ludicrous. The sun and water vapor (clouds) are the significant drivers of both weather and climate. It would be better for our fishermen and others to invest in ways to thrive within the changing environment rather than think they can change its global course.
Sad thing is our tax dollars are paying for this scam through tax breaks and subsidies.
This is the kind of thing you get when a climate theory is then used to justify gov’t backing and funding, all for the climate and the environment. The end result is a unusable dangerous industrial site and an environment catastrophe.
I’m sure they’ll reach in the magic bag of unspent hundreds of billions of $$$ slush fund to ensure this charade progresses. And if not this one, the next one.
Seeing that many countries are abandoning off shore wind as not efficient and way to costly! But, the low intellect leftists that control New England that doesn’t affect them because they have their marching orders from the greedy national leftists that rely on graft to enrich themselves through what would be illegal by regular citizens! The offshore wind is an even bigger scam then the on land wind, it is causing whales to die by destroying their ability to navigate through the constant harmonic vibration, as proven by the number of whales that have died on the beaches of New Jersey since these aberrations have been installed! We are being used and abused by politicians as they blatantly destroy the ecology for their own personal enrichment!