Category Archives: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

The Offshore Wind Plot Thickens: Federal Government Announces Intent to Reconsider Prior Approval of Empire Wind 2 Project

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 2, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — In a significant development for coastal communities and marine conservation advocates, the U.S. Department of Justice has informed the federal court in Washington, D.C. that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) intends to reconsider its prior approval of the Empire Wind 2 offshore wind project. The announcement came in a filing made on September 30, 2025 in response to ongoing litigation brought by Save Long Beach Island, Inc. (Save LBI) and co-plaintiffs, including Save the East Coast, Protect Our Coast Long Island NY (POC-LINY), and other individuals and businesses, challenging previous federal approvals for the Empire Wind project.

Federal Government Announces Intent to Reconsider Prior Approval of New York's Empire Wind 2 Project
Image caption: Save Long Beach Island, Inc. (Save LBI) and co-plaintiffs, including Save the East Coast, Protect Our Coast Long Island NY (POC-LINY).

In its submission, the government stated that BOEM “intends to undertake a reconsideration of its COP [Construction and Operations Plan] approval for Empire Wind 2,” acknowledging that the review could affect the scope of the case and any decision on the pending motions before the Court.

Empire Wind, slated to be located as close as 19 miles off the coast of New Jersey, with 57 wind turbines for Empire Wind 1 (816 MW) and up to 90 wind turbines for Empire Wind 2 (1,260 MW), has faced mounting scrutiny for potential violations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Meanwhile, New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith has also asked U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to pause Empire Wind based on national security concerns stemming from the potential for the wind turbines to interfere with air defense radars. Absent Executive action, the courts will decide the Empire Wind issue.

“This is a major admission by the federal government that its prior approval of Empire Wind 2 cannot stand as is,” said Bob Stern, Ph.D. scientist and president of Save Long Beach Island, Inc. “It strengthens the argument for a pause to the Empire Wind 1 project. The process and methods for presenting impacts were the same for both projects. If Project 2 has legal and scientific flaws, so has Project 1.”

The litigation continues with respect to Empire Wind, as Empire Wind 1 is under construction.

“The government’s reconsideration of Empire Wind 2 is a welcome step, and it functionally weakens the credibility of their defense of Empire Wind 1,” added Thomas Stavola Jr. Esq., attorney for the plaintiffs. “The projects cannot be separated – both approvals are built on the same tenuous legal foundation, and both must be revisited to comply with the law.”

Save LBI and co-plaintiffs Save the East Coast, Protect Our Coast LINY, and other individuals and businesses will continue to press their case in federal court, while urging BOEM to revise the rules for offshore wind approvals to fully address current environmental impact and legal shortcomings.

For more on Save LBI and key co-plaintiffs in the Empire Wind lawsuit, please visit:

Save LBI: https://www.savelbi.org/

Save the East Coast: https://save-the-east-coast.org/

Protect Our Coast – Long Island NY: https://pocliny.org/

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NEWS SOURCE: Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)


This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)), who is solely responsible for its accuracy, by Send2Press Newswire. Image, if any, was provided by the news source and not this website or the wire service. Information is believed accurate, as provided by the news source, but is not guaranteed.

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Save LBI Encouraged by Collapse of Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Projects, Presses on with Litigation to Ensure Permanent Victory

LONG BEACH ISLAND, N.J., Feb. 11, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI), the non-partisan watchdog group formed in 2021 to protect the ocean and New Jersey Shore communities from the destructive impacts of offshore wind, announced today that, while it is gratified by the collapse of the controversial Atlantic Shores South projects, the organization will remain vigilant and continue the fight to ensure that these projects and the Atlantic Shores North project are canceled and never return.

Visual simulation of Atlantic Shores South project - Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Image caption: Visual simulation of Atlantic Shores South project from Holgate, New Jersey. Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

The controversial Atlantic Shores South plan to erect 200 wind turbines as close as 8.7 miles off the coast of southern Long Beach Island (LBI), Brigantine, and Atlantic City, began unraveling on January 30 when Shell New Energies, which owns 50 percent of Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, announced that it would write off a billion-dollar loss and step away from the projects. The announcement came just 17 days after Save LBI filed a comprehensive federal lawsuit against the projects alleging noncompliance with five laws. Four days later, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) refused to award significant additional rate subsidies that Atlantic Shores had requested to fund the projects.

“This is a major victory for shore values, communities, and common sense,” said Bob Stern, president and co-founder of Save LBI in a letter thanking supporters. “But there is also unfinished business here to ensure that these projects, or similar ones, never reappear, and that the flawed Federal and State processes and impact-assessment methods that carried such a costly and damaging project this far are fundamentally changed.”

Stern identified several areas in which Save LBI will continue its fight to permanently end Atlantic Shores South and Atlantic Shores North, including the passage of federal legislation to remove investment tax credits and other incentives for offshore wind under the Inflation Reduction Act and the cancellation of the two wind lease areas. “We have written to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary [Douglas] Burgum suggesting that, and will be filing a formal petition asking for cancellation,” Stern said. “Our recent federal lawsuit provides ample justification for such cancellation.”

Save LBI will also seek to overturn prior project approvals through its ongoing litigation — which if granted, would set a precedent for other cases — and continue its longstanding campaign to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale by filing a petition with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish a safe migration corridor along the East Coast. That petition, which asks NOAA to designate the corridor as critical habitat, will demonstrate that the Atlantic Shores projects and other offshore wind projects in these sensitive areas would seriously impede or block whale migration.“ We will ask that all wind projects be excluded from that critical habitat corridor,” Stern said.

Finally, Stern welcomed the new Administration’s review of the leasing and permitting practices for all offshore wind projects and urged everyone involved with Atlantic Shores South to “reflect on how a project with virtually no benefit, high cost, and significant environmental damage proceeded so far. Our work on this over the last few years showed that the entire process of site selection and project review was fundamentally flawed.

“We will continue our efforts to inform the public, the media, and our elected representatives as to the true costs and impacts of these projects, suggest improvements for the leasing, environmental review, and financing practices used, and offer constructive energy supply options to keep the lights on,” Stern concluded.

About Save LBI:

Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI) is an organization of citizens and businesses on and off the Island working together to protect the ocean and Long Beach Island and neighboring communities from the destructive impact of the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind projects and potentially other offshore wind projects. As a not-for-profit, non-partisan entity, we do not endorse any political candidates but vigorously pursue policies and actions that protect the Island and New Jersey communities.

The organization is led by Beach Haven resident Bob Stern, a Ph.D. engineer with experience in environmental law who previously managed the U.S. Department of Energy’s office overseeing environment protection related to energy programs and projects. Visit SaveLBI.org for more information.

Contact: https://www.savelbi.org/contact

For more information click here: https://www.savelbi.org/

LINKS:

Save LBI Sues U.S. Agencies and Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, Challenging Federal Approvals Greenlighting Marine Ecosystem Devastation, Including Risks to Critically Endangered Whales

Click here (PDF): https://www.savelbi.org/_files/ugd/a85a2b_ea578a317854424389201d397b96325e.pdf

Save LBI Letter to Supporters

Click here: https://www.savelbi.org/

Save LBI to Petition the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to Provide Safe Migration Corridor for Critically Endangered North Atlantic Right Whale

Click here (PDF): https://www.savelbi.org/_files/ugd/a85a2b_82a935ca190b42a5b2a7a322f5169f56.pdf

MULTIMEDIA:

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PHOTO CAPTION: Visual simulation of Atlantic Shores South project from Holgate, New Jersey. Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

NEWS SOURCE: Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)


This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)), who is solely responsible for its accuracy, by Send2Press Newswire. Image, if any, was provided by the news source and not this website or the wire service. Information is believed accurate, as provided by the news source, but is not guaranteed.

To view the original story, visit: https://www.send2press.com/wire/save-lbi-encouraged-by-collapse-of-atlantic-shores-offshore-wind-projects-presses-on-with-litigation-to-ensure-permanent-victory/

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NJ Coalition Slams Feds for Ignoring Key Environmental Impacts of Offshore Wind Development

Save LBI Calls Out Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for Flouting the National Environmental Policy Act and Misleading the Public

BEACH HAVEN, N.J., Oct. 25, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — The New Jersey citizens group Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI) today rebuked the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for issuing a final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that blatantly ignores critical environmental impacts for offshore wind development in six lease areas off the coast of New Jersey and New York in a region known as the New York Bight. The area lies to the north of the controversial Atlantic Shores South project (OCS-A 0499) off the southern coast of New Jersey, which received federal approval in July.

Map showing the six offshore-wind lease areas in the New York Bight region off the coast of New Jersey and New York. Source: BOEM.
Image caption: Map showing the six offshore-wind lease areas in the New York Bight region off the coast of New Jersey and New York. Source: BOEM.

BOEM’s Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Final PEIS) flouts the intent of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and masquerades as a “comprehensive” environmental review as it fails to address the most significant environmental decisions: the location of a wind project and the number and size of the wind turbines to be placed in the project area — decisions BOEM quietly covets for itself and the developer to make, according to Save LBI, the grassroots organization dedicated to protecting the New Jersey shore environment.

The 600-plus-page EIS, which is intended to justify BOEM’s selection of lease areas in the New York Bight region, remarkably only addresses technical mitigating measures, such as spotting whales at long distances, which unfortunately is largely ineffective and not environmentally significant.

“BOEM will now proceed to prepare EIS’s for projects within the New York Bight area without offering any real, environmentally different alternatives — only a choice to approve or disapprove the proposed developer’s project,” said Bob Stern, president and co-founder of Save LBI. “The real travesty here is that the outcome is already largely pre-determined since BOEM provides no criteria in those documents that would lead to disapproval of a project.”

In so doing, BOEM sidesteps the intent of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), enacted by Congress in 1970 to compel government agencies to seriously consider environmental impact when they make their most important and environmentally impactful decisions and to look at alternative means of accomplishing their goals through the process of preparing an EIS and allowing for public input.

Even more egregious, at no point in the flawed BOEM NEPA review process is the public allowed to inject its views and concerns regarding the most crucial environmental decisions of location and project size. “The BOEM process not only flouts NEPA’s intent but misleads and insults the public by following the ineffective and inefficient past process of pursuing only a single developer proposal, regardless of the potential environmental impact, and rendering the public’s input meaningless. It is situations like this that led to the passage of NEPA in the first place.”

Save LBI will be challenging the BOEM NEPA review process in court. The legality of that process will be determined by a judge, but from the standpoint of making sound decisions informed by the public, this is not a process to embrace.

About Save LBI:

Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI) is an organization of citizens and businesses on and off Long Beach Island (LBI), New Jersey working together to protect the ocean and the Island and neighboring communities from the destructive impacts of offshore wind projects. As a not-for-profit, non-partisan entity, we do not endorse any political candidates but vigorously pursue policies and actions that protect the Island and surrounding communities. The coalition is led by Beach Haven resident Dr. Bob Stern, a Ph.D. engineer with experience in environmental law who previously managed the U.S. Department of Energy’s office overseeing environment protection related to energy programs and projects.

Visit SaveLBI.org for more information and to make a donation. Click here: https://www.savelbi.org/

IMAGE LINK:

New York Bight

Click here: https://www.boem.gov/sites/default/files/images/lease_areas_image.png

Photo Caption: Map showing the six offshore-wind lease areas in the New York Bight region off the coast of New Jersey and New York. Source: BOEM.

NEWS SOURCE: Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)


This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)), who is solely responsible for its accuracy, by Send2Press Newswire. Image, if any, was provided by the news source and not this website or the wire service. Information is believed accurate, as provided by the news source, but is not guaranteed.

To view the original story, visit: https://www.send2press.com/wire/nj-coalition-slams-feds-for-ignoring-key-environmental-impacts-of-offshore-wind-development/

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NJ Coalition Fights Destructive Impact of Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind South Project

Save LBI Notifies Federal Agencies of Intent to Sue Over Breach of Endangered Species Act and Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act

BEACH HAVEN, N.J., Oct. 8, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI), a New Jersey citizens group working to protect the ocean and local shore communities from the destructive impact of the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind South project, has notified federal agencies of its intent to sue Atlantic Shores under the Endangered Species Act and Outer Continental Shelf Act (OCSLA).

Visual simulation of Atlantic Shores South project as it would appear from Holgate, NJ. Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)
Image caption: Visual simulation of Atlantic Shores South project as it would appear from Holgate, New Jersey. Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

The notices give the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 60 days to resolve issues raised in the filings before the coalition pursues litigation. BOEM oversees offshore wind development in the United States and NOAA manages the use of our marine resources.

Save LBI contends that constructing and operating hundreds of wind turbines directly in a prime migration path of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale could push these mammals into extinction. The population of the right whale is down to approximately 338, with fewer than 70 reproductively active females, according to NOAA estimates.

“Underwater noise from the massive, diesel-powered hammers that will be used to ‘pile drive’ 50-foot-wide turbine foundations into the seabed as well as from vessel surveys and the operation of those turbines will obstruct the essential migration of the right whale as it attempts to pass through those waters, jeopardizing the whale’s existence while violating the Endangered Species Act,” said Bob Stern, president and co-founder of Save LBI.

Save LBI further maintains that BOEM and NOAA have, without sound justification, dismissed the significant problem of operational noise from the larger and noisier turbines Atlantic Shores plans to build off the coast of New Jersey. “The agencies routinely cite lower noise levels from smaller turbines to avoid addressing the problem of higher noise levels from larger turbines,” Stern said.

With respect to the Endangered Species Act, the agencies have also failed to consider, let alone study, the impact all wind-turbine projects along the East Coast would have on the right whale’s migration.

“And this is just one of many problems that will be created by the Atlantic Shores South wind project, which, shockingly, has already received federal approval,” Stern added.

Safeguarding the Natural Environment, Fishing, and National Security Under OCSLA

Save LBI asserts that BOEM and NOAA did not adequately account for how the Atlantic Shores offshore wind farm will interfere with other uses of the ocean — particularly vessel navigation, fishing, including the New Jersey surf clam industry, and national defense — as required by OCSLA, which gives the federal government the authority to lease areas of the ocean.

Save LBI further contends that the federal agencies acted in an arbitrary manner when they approved the placement of hundreds of wind turbines weighing hundreds of thousands of tons in the ocean with no plan or capability, technically or monetarily, to remove them at the end of their useful life or upon their failure during normal operation or in the aftermath of a hurricane or extreme storm event.

BOEM and NOAA have also failed to account for structural failures, such as the Vineyard Wind turbine blade that spontaneously collapsed off the coast of Nantucket Island in July, the damage from such failures to the ocean and beaches, how that damage will be remediated, and who will pay for it.

Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project Overview

The Atlantic Shores South project and planned Atlantic Shores North project, would industrialize the New Jersey coastline between Atlantic City and Barnegat Light with the installation of the 357 wind turbines, each three times the height of the Statue of Liberty. The greater New Jersey/New York offshore wind plan embraced by the federal government could ultimately include more than 2,000 wind turbines.

This project area, selected many years ago with no public consideration of wind turbine impact, would place the largest turbines available less than 9 miles off a beautiful 18-mile barrier island beach, closer than any other wind project in the world and in a primary migration path of a critically endangered whale. The project would:

  • Jeopardize that whale’s existence due to the project’s high levels of underwater noise.
  • Destroy the shore experience with highly visible turbines and disturbing blade rotation, airborne noise, reduced breeze, and higher air temperature and humidity.
  • Degrade the nearby Brigantine National Wilderness Area from construction air pollutants.
  • Have a severe economic impact on tourism, jobs, rentals, property value, and tax revenues.
  • Dramatically increase electric bills to every user in New Jersey, placing an additional financial burden on households and businesses.
  • Require new infrastructure and substantial long-term funding for turbine removal.
  • Remove key fishing grounds.
  • Impair defense air radars in Gibbsboro, NJ.
  • Have only a “negligible” effect on climate change, according to the official impact statement. Because climate change is caused by global heat transfer that is already underway, this project would only delay future sea level rise for a matter of days, not stop or even reduce it.

“It should be obvious to any objective decision-maker that siting a huge offshore wind project that brings this extraordinary degree of short and long-term environmental and social damage, with no clear project purpose to justify that, is a big mistake,” Stern concluded. “Decision-makers should acknowledge the significant new information that has come forward since this area was selected, recognize the strength of the legal challenges ahead, and change course to save everyone on both sides of this issue a lot of time, work, and money.”

Save LBI Legal Challenges at a Glance

Save LBI is pursuing a series of legal actions against the Atlantic Shores South project. One case regarding wind companies vessel surveys and recent whale deaths is already in court, and the organization recently filed suit against Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, declaring the project will violate local noise ordinances and nuisance criteria. Save LBI will be fighting in court to:

  • Protect marine mammals, including critically endangered whales, under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
  • Dispute the project’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and the entire governmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act; that review process has not allowed for the consideration of meaningful alternatives, which should be the “heart of any EIS.
  • Prevent excessive electric bill increases under the New Jersey’s Offshore Wind Energy Development Act by challenging the flawed cost-benefit analysis on which the NJ Board of Public Utilities pending award is based.
  • Safeguard vessel navigation, fishing, and national defense uses of the ocean under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
  • Protect the NJ Coastal Zone under the Coastal Zone Management Act.
  • Protect the Brigantine National Wilderness Area from air quality degradation.

About Save LBI:

Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI) is an organization of citizens and businesses on and off Long Beach Island (LBI), New Jersey working together to protect the ocean and the Island and neighboring communities from the destructive impact of Atlantic Shores offshore wind projects, and potentially others in the future. As a not-for-profit, non-partisan entity, we do not endorse any political candidates but vigorously pursue policies and actions that protect the Island and surrounding communities. The coalition is led by Beach Haven resident Dr. Bob Stern, a Ph.D. engineer with experience in environmental law who previously managed the U.S. Department of Energy’s office overseeing environment protection related to energy programs and projects. Visit SaveLBI.org for more information and to make a donation.

For more information click here: https://www.savelbi.org/.

LINKS:

Save LBI Coalition Calls for Moratorium on BPU Awards for Offshore

Click here (PDF): https://www.savelbi.org/_files/ugd/a85a2b_2f621b9f4a9746ab9255d2cd1a33139e.pdf

Save LBI Files Lawsuit Declaring Airborne Noise from the Atlantic Shores South Offshore Wind Project Violates New Jersey Land Use Law, Local Ordinances, and Creates a Private Nuisance

Click here (PDF): https://www.savelbi.org/_files/ugd/a85a2b_08ce714c2a6044a58b97a02abe309e18.pdf

MULTIMEDIA:

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Image caption: Visual simulation of Atlantic Shores South project as it would appear from Holgate, New Jersey. Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)

NEWS SOURCE: Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)


This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)), who is solely responsible for its accuracy, by Send2Press Newswire. Image, if any, was provided by the news source and not this website or the wire service. Information is believed accurate, as provided by the news source, but is not guaranteed.

To view the original story, visit: https://www.send2press.com/wire/nj-coalition-fights-destructive-impact-of-atlantic-shores-offshore-wind-south-project/

Copr. © 2024 Send2Press® Newswire, Calif., USA. -- REF: S2P STORY ID: S2P121340 NOREL-3B