The US Supreme Court won’t listen ACK for whalescase against grapevine windwhich claimed the permitting process that allowed the 64-turbine wind farm to be built was flawed.
But the local opposition group is undeterred by the latest legal setback, announcing monday is filing new litigation against the Department of the Interior and other federal agencies for the authorization of New England winda proposed wind farm project 24 miles southwest of Nantucket.
ACK for Whales board member Veronica Bonnet said it was disappointing the country’s highest court did not hear the case, but it was a long way off. Only 1 percent of the roughly 8,000 cases brought before the Supreme Court each year are chosen to be heard, according to the court’s website.
“We don’t want to read too much into a denial, and obviously we’re disappointed,” Bonnet said. “But the reality is that statistically our chances were very small.”
ACK for whales announced that it had filed notices of intent with relevant federal agencies for new lawsuits that are structured in a way that aims to stop construction of New England Wind, which is expected to be completed in 2030.
The notices say permitting the new offshore energy project violates Endangered Species Acts, Marine Mammal Protection, National Historic Preservation and Outer Continental Shelf Lands Acts.
Bonnet said the new suits are broader in scope and structured in a way that would not just send issues to permitting agencies for further review.
“We’re saying that the process wasn’t done correctly, or that certain information was ignored and (the permitting agencies) continue to not look at the cumulative impacts (of multiple wind farms in the same area),” Bonnet said.
The letters of intent warn the agencies that ACK for Whales will proceed with its lawsuits after the 60-day notice period expires to avoid “substantial harm” to the environment and the critically endangered North. Atlantic right whale.
It also claims the turbines will interfere with tourism, commercial fishing and whale watching.
“New England wind is an existential threat to our environment, and while we are disappointed by the court’s decision not to hear our appeal, we will not stop fighting for the environment,” said the president of ACK for Whales, Vallorie Oliver.
In its case against Vineyard Wind, which ultimately failed after this Supreme Court denial, ACK for Whales argued in court that the federal government failed to properly identify and study the effects the project will have on right whales.
That argument was denied last May by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani, who ruled that the Office of Ocean Energy Management and the National Marine Fisheries Service adequately identified and studied the risks to to the right whale and design programs to protect them.
“Plaintiffs have offered no authority that Defendants’ failure to consider or include one metric over another is arbitrary or capricious or violates NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act),” Talwani wrote in his ruling. “Nor have they offered any evidence to support their speculative argument that right whales will escape shipping traffic.”
A panel of judges from the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the decision.
ACK for Whales, formerly known as ACK RATS, consists of Oliver and board members Amy DiSibio, Veronica Bonnet and Ellen Mayo.
Vineyard Wind said it has implemented several programs to protect right whales, including reducing turbine construction in the winter and early spring when right whales may be in the area, whale monitoring, noise reduction, ship speed limits and a commitment to invest $3 million in scientific research to protect the right whale.
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