Nantucket group asks EPA to rescind New England Wind air permits

Nantucket activists have asked the EPA to withdraw key air permits it issued for two New England offshore wind farms.

The group ACK Residents Against Turbines, which calls itself ACK for Whales, claimed in a March 13 letter that the Environmental Protection Agency issued faulty air permits last April for New England Wind 1 and New England Wind 2.

The projects have not been built, but did receive all federal permits before President Donald Trump took office. The 791-megawatt New England Wind 1, which has contracts with Massachusetts utilities, plans to begin construction this year and go live by by 2029. The 1,000-megawatt New England Wind 2, a companion project, hasn't yet secured utility contracts.

New England Wind 1 and 2 are proposed by Avangrid Inc., the Connecticut company that's now building Vineyard Wind 1, also to serve Massachusetts. Avangrid is part of the Iberdrola Group, a global company headquartered in Spain. An Avangrid spokesperson on Monday declined to comment.

The ACK group's letter to EPA Region 1 administrator Timothy Timmerman asked that air quality permits for New England Wind be reopened and potentially revoked. The petition is not a formal appeal, which must come within a 30-day window following permit approval. Instead, the group says under the Clean Air Act, existing permits may be revoked at any time "for cause."

The letter was prepared by Thomas Stavola Jr., a New Jersey attorney who represents offshore wind opponents. It was signed by Vallorie Oliver, president of ACK for Whales, and by two other island residents. Stavola said in an email Monday that he had not yet received a response from the EPA.

The group claims the initial EPA review didn't properly account for emissions from project maintenance and servicing. It says New England Wind didn't crunch numbers for emergencies such as a catastrophic blade failure, which would require more vessels and heavy equipment. It claims that the EPA wrongly grouped wind projects together to conduct certain air quality analyses, failed to consider "cumulative vessel emissions," and failed to correctly model air emissions from pile-driving.

The Trump administration in January paused all new permitting for offshore wind. But questions remain about projects which have cleared all hurdles. Earlier this month, Atlantic Shores, a New Jersey project, had its air permit revoked by the EPA. The revocation followed a formal appeal of the permit by Save Long Beach Island, an anti-wind advocacy group.

Eleven U.S. wind farms were approved under the Biden administration. Several are under construction, including Vineyard Wind 1 for Massachusetts, Revolution Wind for Rhode Island, Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind 1 for New York, and Dominion’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.

A separate project for New England — the 2.4-gigawatt SouthCoast Wind — remains on hold despite having landed all federal permits. Sponsors ENGIE and EDP Renewables, doing business as Ocean Winds, recently said they would mothball the project for four years and take a $270 million haircut while awaiting a more favorable U.S. policy framework.

According to a leading industry advocacy group, efforts to block fully permitted projects shake investor confidence. The ACK petition is "yet another baseless and disruptive attempt aimed solely at delaying the development of approved and necessary energy projects," said American Clean Power spokesperson Jason Ryan.

"Should EPA concur with these unfounded petitions it would send a chilling message to investors, undermining confidence in the U.S. business environment across all sectors," Ryan said in an emailed statement. "Our system is built on laws that provide the business certainty necessary for long-term investments. Blocking these crucial, fully permitted energy projects will not only strain the grid but will inevitably lead to higher energy costs for consumers.”