The US government has moved to revoke federal approval for Avangrid’s planned New England Wind offshore project off the coast of Massachusetts. In a filing submitted this week to the US District Court for the District of Columbia, the Department of Justice, representing the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), said it intends to vacate BOEM’s approval of the project’s Construction and Operations Plan (COP) by 10 October 2025.
The action comes in response to litigation filed by the advocacy group ACK for Whales, which alleges that the approval process violated several federal laws, including the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
New England Wind received COP approval in July 2024 following a review that began in 2017. The project was authorised for up to 129 turbines with a combined capacity of about 2,600 MW. It was one of several large-scale offshore wind projects planned for southern New England waters.
According to the court filing, the federal government intends to seek remand and vacatur of BOEM’s approval as part of the ongoing case. If granted, this would effectively halt the project until a new permitting process is undertaken. Avangrid has not yet issued a formal response to the latest development.
