Letter to the editor
Dear Defend Our Beaches New Jersey supporters and friends,
President Trump’s recent executive order (EO) calling for the temporary withdrawal of new ocean areas for offshore wind leasing and a halt on new project approvals, pending a review of leasing and permitting practices, is a step in the right direction, as per President Trump’s promise to stop offshore wind.
However, as the Atlantic Shores South New Jersey project already has a lease area and federal approvals, and the Atlantic Shores North New Jersey project has a lease area but no project approvals, the EO as written does not apply to these two projects –which remain our primary concern here in N.J.
While the EO does not outright cancel existing leases or rescind existing project approvals, it does establish the legal mechanisms to do so. The order mandates a “review of existing leasing and permitting practices and requires a report to the President identifying any legal, environmental, or other bases for rescinding or amending prior approvals. It also directs the Attorney General to intervene in pending litigation and seek schedule changes and relief consistent with the executive order.”
We believe that this review will make our lawsuit against the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Coastal Zone Management Act, which challenges the destruction of our oceans and marine life, critically important. In addition, our lawsuit challenging the N.J. Board of Public Utilities (BPU) Solicitation #3 awards to Attentive Energy and Leading Light Wind will demonstrate the exorbitant costs that will be placed on all N.J. ratepayers.
For the first time, the NJBPU is being held accountable for these actions, particularly those decisions to approve offshore wind rates that don’t comply with the law and citizens’ rights to due process. We are also prepared to file a second lawsuit against the BPU should they award Solicitation #4 and try to award Atlantic Shores an even larger contract than was previously negotiated.
In addition, the Save LBI organization recently filed broad federal litigation against the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Marine Fisheries Service, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, U.S. Department of Interior and the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind project for violations of several federal environmental statutes, challenging Atlantic Shores’ federal approvals, based on violations of environmental statutes such as the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act and the Clean Air Act.” This is a major lawsuit with far-reaching implications.
All these lawsuits, both state and federal, are likely to serve as test cases for how the new Interior Secretary and Attorney General implement the results of their leasing and permitting review. The legal arguments and detailed supporting technical analysis in the lawsuits should also provide strong justification for the Secretary of the Interior to cancel existing Federal Leases and, subsequently, state contracts and rescind project approvals, ending these projects.
It is important to note that our fight is NOT over. Our District 2 Congressman, Jeff Van Drew, was instrumental in writing the executive order with the President based on information from many organizations opposing these devastating projects. Please continue to contact your local, county, state and federal representatives, so they do not forget that we are still strongly opposed to the offshore wind projects.
We continue to need your support both personally and financially to officially end these projects– in a manner that they cannot be re-started in the future. We are close to the finish line, but we haven’t crossed it yet. This an “All Hands-on Deck Call” to you for financial donations to our organization and for spreading the word that we all still have work to do.
To donate, please go to our Website DefendOurBeachesNJ.org. and click “DONATE.”
Thank you all for your dedication so far. Let’s finish this!
