Showdown looms for Empire Wind
By
David Wojick
|
June 2nd, 2025
Empire Wind is a big New York offshore wind project that is ready to start construction. The Trump administration stopped it about a month ago but has now unstopped it, supposedly after the President made an informal deal with Governor Hochul to lift New York’s ban on new gas pipelines from Pennsylvania.
Empire is about to start driving the enormous steel monopiles that hold the turbine towers, but a new wrinkle has hit the fan, setting the stage for a massive confrontation. A group protesting the project has filed a federal lawsuit challenging its approval. Unlike prior lawsuits, this one makes a new argument in addition to some of the usual ones. It challenges the NOAA Fisheries’ authorized harassment of large numbers of a threatened dolphin.
The issue is the authorization limits in the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), which the lawsuit claims are being exceeded by a huge margin. On paper this looks like a strong case, so there is a real possibility the court will stop the project.
https://www.cfact.org/2025/06/02/showdown-looms-for-empire-wind/
