Trump Administration Asks Court to Reopen Permit for New England Wind Farm Off Massachusetts

The Trump administration has asked a federal judge to let it reconsider a permit for the New England Wind farm off Massachusetts, making it the fourth offshore wind project the administration has targeted in recent months.

The permit is the construction and operations plan for New England Wind, approved in 2024 under President Joe Biden. The Justice Department said in a filing on Tuesday that the court should send the permit back to Interior, because the plan was approved despite major adverse impacts. The project, developed by Avangrid, has not begun construction. Its plans call for up to 129 turbines able to supply as much as 2,600 megawatts, enough power for more than 900,000 homes a year. Avangrid declined to comment on Wednesday.

A lawsuit the government now agrees with, in part

The federal approval was challenged in court by ACK for Whales, a group of Nantucket residents concerned about the harm the project could cause. Their lawsuit, in federal court in Washington, says the government failed to follow several federal laws when it approved the plan. In its filing on Tuesday, the government told the court that sending the permit back is warranted, so the Interior Department can make a new decision.

The Interior Department said on Wednesday that the filing followed a court briefing schedule and did not announce a policy change.

A warning over the Senate permitting deal

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, warned that the move risks derailing an effort to speed up permitting reviews for energy and infrastructure projects. Senators reached a bipartisan deal in September on a permitting bill, but it has not yet been voted on.

"This is how you blow up a permitting deal," Whitehouse said in a statement on Wednesday.

Pasha Feinberg, an offshore wind strategist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the attacks are escalating while Americans struggle with rising utility bills. "It's long past time for the Trump administration to realize its war on clean energy is backfiring," Feinberg said.

The National Ocean Industries Association, which represents offshore industries including oil and wind, said reopening federal approvals creates uncertainty, especially for projects already being built or already running. Its president, Erik Milito, said the actions "underscore why Congress needs to get this done."

The fourth project in the line

President Donald Trump has attacked offshore wind as "ugly" and unreliable next to fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. His administration has used executive orders, agency actions and the courts to try to stop it, and officials began buying back offshore wind leases after federal judges blocked efforts to halt construction on five major East Coast projects.

Interior also wants to reconsider its earlier approval for Revolution Wind, a farm for Rhode Island and Connecticut that has finished construction, and for the Maryland Offshore Wind Project, which has not begun construction. In August, a judge granted the administration's request to reconsider the permit for Atlantic Shores, a stalled New Jersey project halted soon after Trump returned to office. Last year, another judge said the administration could reconsider the permit for SouthCoast Wind, a Massachusetts project approved days before Trump's second inauguration.

Avangrid also built Vineyard Wind off Massachusetts, with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. Construction finished in March, making it the first project to reach that stage during Trump's time in office. It was one of the projects the administration tried to halt, citing national security concerns.