The joint venture behind the 806MW Vineyard Wind 1 array off the coast of Massachusetts has filed a legal challenge to President Donald Trump’s blanket offshore wind construction shutdown.
In a complaint filed in federal District Court in Massachusetts, the Iberdrola-CIP joint venture wrote that the project is 95% complete, and already partially operational.
“Vineyard Wind continues to work with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and other relevant stakeholders and authorities in the Administration to understand the matters raised in the Order,” a statement from the project read.
“However, Vineyard Wind believes the Order violates applicable law and, if not promptly enjoined, will lead to immediate and irreparable harm to the project, and to the communities who will benefit from this critical source of new power for the New England region.”
The “national security concerns” referenced by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in its letters to the five shuttered projects is simply “a pretext for halting offshore wind development, rather than a response to any identified, Project-specific threat”, lawyers representing Vineyard Wind 1 wrote.
“Because the Order provides no reasoned explanation grounded in facts available to Vineyard Wind and contradicts previous findings by Agency Defendants that the Project does not threaten national security, the court should immediately enjoin it to prevent ongoing irreparable harm,” the project’s lawyers added.
The joint venture has also asked the court for a temporary restraining order that would block the enforcement of the shutdown, similar to those requested by the four other stopped projects.
The joint venture told the court that after the 22 December shutdown order project officials requested permission to “complete construction of partially installed turbines by removing, replacing and/or installing blades and installing one nacelle to ensure that the turbines are in the safest condition in the interim”.
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement denied the request.
Blade installation is necessary, Vineyard Wind wrote in the complaint, “necessary to ensure neither water nor excess humidity enters the nacelle through the blade mount openings and interfaces and damages critical safety systems.
“Although the openings are covered, the covers are not designed to withstand long-term exposure to harsh winter weather conditions, including sustained high winds, rain, and snow.”
Vineyard Wind 1 is the last project to file for an injunction and a restraining order.
Orsted’s 704MW Revolution Wind was granted a restraining order on Monday of this week, while Equinor’s 810MW Empire Wind 1 was granted a similar order on Thursday, allowing both projects to resume work.
Dominion Energy’s 2.4GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind array will present its case to a Virginia judge today.