Trump Admin Moves to Sink Maryland Offshore Wind Farm Approval

Sept 12 (Reuters) – The Trump administration has asked a federal judge to cancel the Interior Department’s 2024 approval of a wind farm off the coast of Maryland, according to court documents filed on Friday.

In the motion, attorneys for the agency said Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had underestimated both impacts to search and rescue operations within the project area and potential harm to commercial fisheries.

The action is the latest in a series of moves the administration has made to stymie development of offshore wind and other clean energy facilities.

Attorneys for the Interior Department filed the motion in U.S. District Court in Maryland in a lawsuit brought by the mayor and city council of Ocean City, Maryland, that challenged the agency’s approval of the US Wind project.

US Wind said it would defend the project’s permits in court. 

“After many years of analysis, several federal agencies issued final permits to the project,” spokesperson Nancy Sopko said in a statement. “We intend to vigorously defend those permits in federal court, and we are confident that the court will uphold their validity and prevent any adverse action against them.”

US Wind is a subsidiary of Renexia SpA, the renewable development arm of Italian infrastructure firm Toto Holding.

(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Mark Porter and Nia Williams)

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This article contains reporting from Reuters, published under license.

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