The Trump administration is seeking to revisit a federal permit for the New England Wind offshore project, a move that targets the fourth such development in recent months. The Interior Department has asked a federal judge to allow it to reconsider its own approval of the construction and operations plan for the Massachusetts-based wind farm.
The Justice Department stated in a court filing Tuesday that the permit, originally approved in 2024 during the Biden administration, should be remanded to the Interior Department for reconsideration due to significant adverse impacts. Developer Avangrid has not yet begun construction on the project and declined to comment.
This action is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to curb offshore wind development, an industry President Trump has criticized as "ugly" and unreliable. The administration has previously attempted to halt construction on several East Coast projects and had sought to revoke offshore wind leases, though federal judges blocked some of these efforts.
This move risks jeopardizing a bipartisan deal in the Senate aimed at expediting permitting reviews for energy and infrastructure projects, according to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat. "This is how you blow up a permitting deal," Whitehouse said.
The Interior Department also intends to reconsider permits for the Revolution Wind farm, which is intended for Rhode Island and Connecticut and has completed construction, and the Maryland Offshore Wind Project, which has not yet started. In August, a judge granted a similar request to reconsider the permit for the stalled Atlantic Shores project in New Jersey, after co-owner Shell withdrew from the project.
Last year, a federal judge permitted the administration to reconsider the permit for the SouthCoast Wind project in Massachusetts. The New England Wind project plans include up to 129 turbines capable of generating up to 2,600 megawatts of clean energy, potentially powering over 900,000 homes annually. The federal approval for this project was challenged in court by ACK for Whales, a group of Nantucket residents concerned about the environmental impacts of offshore wind development.
While the Interior Department stated Wednesday that its filing complies with a briefing schedule and does not represent a policy change, its position on offshore wind has remained consistent throughout the administration. Avangrid previously developed Vineyard Wind off the Massachusetts coast, the first project to reach completion during the Trump administration's term, which the administration had also attempted to halt citing national security concerns.