After battling Ocean Wind, they’re suing NJDEP
TRENTON — Although plans were shelved in the fall for two wind farm projects off the coast of Atlantic and Cape May counties, other projects up the coast of southern New Jersey continue to move forward.
Now, three New Jersey shore groups have filed suit challenging the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s approval of the Atlantic Shores offshore wind project, according to Bruce Afran, attorney for Protect Our Coast, Save LBI and Defend Brigantine Beach.
The Atlantic Shores project would place as many as 1,100 turbines off the coast of Long Beach Island, some as close as nine miles from shore. The wind farm projects that were proposed off Cape May County would have placed turbines a minimum of 15 miles off the coast.
In papers filed April 26 in New Jersey’s Appellate Division, Save LBI, Defend Brigantine Beach and Protect Our Coast NJ argue the turbines “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,” Afran said in a press release.
Robin Shaffer of Ocean City, president of Protect Our Coast New Jersey, said the action “was taken to force the NJDEP to follow statutes and regulations that safeguard marine life and habitat, rather than blindly chasing the net-zero carbon ambitions of the Murphy administration.
“In the wake of last month’s bewildering dismissal of a lawsuit against the NJDEP brought by eight New Jersey shore towns, we believe this action is critical in holding the Murphy administration accountable to uphold long-standing coastal zone protections.”
He added Protect Our Coast NJ “sees this lawsuit as a critical step in protecting coastal and marine wildlife, commercial fishing, as well as New Jersey small businesses.”
Shaffer asserted Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration and the NJDEP “blatantly violated the Coastal Zone Management Act. Instead of protecting the environment as is their mandate, DEP gave in to political pressures to approve Atlantic Shores based on a draft environmental impact statement. The government bureaucracy — including the NJDEP, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and NOAA — are forging full steam ahead to cut red tape and ignore regulations so that massive offshore wind energy facilities can be constructed in fragile coastal and ocean environments.”
Previously, the three organizations challenged Ocean Wind 1, the project by Danish company Ørsted to place as many as 98 wind turbines off the coast of Atlantic and Cape May counties. That project was slated to have electricity transmission lines run through Ocean City, out Roosevelt Boulevard to Upper Township to connect with the power grid in Beesleys Point.
Ørsted also had Ocean Wind 2, adjacent to Ocean Wind 1, in the works, but the company announced in the fall it was dropping its plans for both projects, citing economic conditions. However, Ørsted still holds the lease rights to the projects.
“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 in the release.
Under court rules, the 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, according to Afran.
– STORY by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff