LONG BEACH ISLAND, N.J. — A citizens’ group opposing offshore wind development off New Jersey’s coast has gained federal recognition in its campaign against the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project, as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to reevaluate key environmental permits.
Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI), an organization of residents and businesses in and around Long Beach Island, has contested the project’s Clean Air Act permit before the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board. The agency has cited Save LBI’s critique in its official filings and communications, and has acknowledged the group’s contributions in correspondence from its Region 2 office.
The group has specifically challenged the validity of air quality modeling submitted as part of the permitting process for Atlantic Shores, a 1.5-gigawatt offshore wind proposal backed by Shell and EDF Renewables. The EPA has since remanded portions of the project’s permitting documents for further review.
Save LBI contends that the modeling and procedural compliance for the air permit were insufficient under federal environmental law. The EPA’s move to reevaluate these permits adds to regulatory uncertainty surrounding the offshore wind project, which has also been impacted by the developers’ recent petition to exit the initiative altogether.
The project, slated to be built east of Atlantic City, was expected to generate enough energy to power about 700,000 homes. It is now under mounting legal and administrative scrutiny.
Group files federal brief supporting Trump directive
On May 22, Save LBI filed an amicus curiae brief in federal court supporting the Trump administration’s Wind-Energy Directive. The policy, issued January 20, places a temporary pause on federal offshore wind approvals while interagency reviews assess the environmental and national security implications.
Save LBI’s brief, submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, argues that the Directive is a lawful exercise of presidential authority and that plaintiffs in the 18-state lawsuit opposing the policy have no grounds for legal challenge. “Offshore wind energy provides expensive, unreliable energy, only modest temporary construction jobs, is not safe for marine mammals nor effective in mitigating climate change,” said Dr. Bob Stern, president of Save LBI.
The brief also argues that no “final agency action” has been taken under the Directive that would trigger judicial review. Attorney Thomas Stavola Jr. said the filing demonstrates that “the President’s interagency review is entirely lawful and does not run afoul of any environmental statute.”
The federal court has not yet issued a decision in the lawsuit. Meanwhile, Atlantic Shores’ request to terminate its project’s Offshore Renewable Energy Certificate order remains pending before the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.
