Suit Challenges DEP Approval of Wind Turbines to be Located as Close as Nine Miles Off LBI Coast
Three New Jersey shore groups have filed suit challenging NJDEP’s approval of the Atlantic Shores offshore wind project that will place 1,100 foot turbines as close as nine miles off the LBI coast, said Bruce Afran, attorney for Protect Our Coast, Save LBI and Defend Brigantine Beach, the three groups that announced the legal challenge.
In papers filed in New Jersey’s Appellate Division, Save LBI, Defend Brigantine Beach and Protect Our Coast NJ said that the turbines, fully visible from New Jersey’s beaches, will crush and destroy the seabed, interfere with the migration of the endangered blue whale and right whale, cause loss of native species and economic damage to New Jersey’s prime fishing grounds and tourist regions.
“DEP’s approval flies in the face of the federal regulator’s environmental impact statement that says the Atlantic Shores project will damage marine habitat, compress and harden the seafloor, damage marine communities, compromise migration corridors for endangered species and cause commercial fishing stocks to decline,” said Afran.
Last year the three groups challenged Orsted’s Ocean Wind 1 project to be located off Ocean City and Atlantic City that was later dropped by the Danish company in October.
“We hope the Murphy administration and the wind developers understand that the fight will continue to prevent the destruction of the coastal ecology and damage to one of the nation’s most important beach economies and the core of New Jersey’s $47 billion tourist industry,” Afran added.
Under court rules, DEP has 30 days to file the record with the appellate court and briefs are expected to be filed by October with argument on the appeal in March or April, 2025.
