February 4, 2021 — The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it would heed Vineyard Wind’s plea to resume review of its massive infrastructure project, jump starting the country’s first utility-scale offshore wind-farm after it appeared dead in the water only months earlier.
A press release from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the federal agency responsible for the project’s review, placed offshore wind firmly at the center of President Biden’s green infrastructure agenda on Wednesday.
“In support of the Biden administration’s goal to address climate change and promote offshore renewable energy production, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced . . . that it intends to resume the environmental review of Vineyard Wind’s proposed offshore wind project,” the release said.
The decision comes less than two months after Vineyard Wind — a joint energy consortium of Avangird Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Projects — pulled its construction plan and requested BOEM halt review.
A decision in the federal register noted that review had been terminated, signaling that the permitting likely would have to begin from scratch.
Federal review of the project — which calls for an 800-megawatt wind-farm 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard — had languished for more than two years.
Then last month after President Biden took office, Vineyard Wind rescinded its prior request to halt review, betting on more favorable treatment under the incoming Department of the Interior.
The political maneuvering now appears to have paid off.
In the release Wednesday, the new BOEM director Amanda Lefton said review would resume promptly and would include development of the long-awaited environmental impact statement — a necessary final step in the permitting process.
“Offshore wind has the potential to help our nation combat climate change, improve resilience through reliable power, and spur economic development to create good-paying jobs,” Ms. Lefton said. “BOEM is committed to conducting a robust and timely review of the proposed project.”
Ms. Lefton, a former first assistant secretary in the New York state office of Energy and the Environment under Gov. Andrew Cuomo who previously worked as an executive with The Nature Conservancy, was tapped by President Biden to head BOEM on Tuesday, one day prior to the announcement. The appointment did not need U.S. Senate confirmation.
A spokesman for Vineyard Wind hailed the decision in an emailed statement to the Gazette.
“We look forward to working with the agency as we launch an industry that will create thousands of good paying jobs while also taking meaningful steps to reduce the impacts of climate change,” the statement said in part.
Not all stakeholders were as excited about the move. The project has faced considerable local backlash from independent fishermen who have raised concerns about its impact on prime fishing grounds south of the Island.
A spokesman for the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, a fishermen’s advocacy group, questioned the review process and called for reopening public comment.
“RODA reaffirms our concerns about the flawed process for offshore wind leasing and development in U.S. waters, and hopes BOEM will capitalize on this opportunity to improve public engagement,” a statement from the group said. “Given the complexity of the leasing process, the fact that the public was informed that the review had been terminated, and renewable power goals have increased since the initiation of the review, the re-initiation merits additional opportunities for public comment.”
Vineyard Wind hopes to reach financial close by the second half of 2021, and be online by 2023, a spokesman said.
Other offshore wind projects, including the neighboring Mayflower Wind development, are set to follow closely on Vineyard Wind’s heels, as a once-niche offshore wind industry continues to proliferate.