Cancel Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Projects, LBI Group Asks Trump Admin

LONG BEACH ISLAND, NJ — A local anti-offshore wind group is petitioning the Trump Administration to cancel the Atlantic Shores offshore wind farm projects.

Save LBI announced Tuesday that the group had formally petitioned the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to cancel the leases for the Atlantic Shores South and North offshore wind projects and rescind existing permit approvals.

"We are committed to permanently stopping the Atlantic Shores projects," Save LBI wrote in the petition. The group called for an expedited lease cancellation.

The Atlantic Shores projects have already been dealt several blows over the past months. Shortly after his swearing in, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to temporarily halt offshore wind projects. At the time, Trump said he hoped that Atlantic Shores was "dead and gone." Shortly after, Shell withdrew a nearly $1 billion investment into the project, as Patch previously reported. Read more: Shell Withdraws From Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project: Report

Following a prior lawsuit by Save LBI, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency yanked a previously approved air permit, which left Atlantic Shores unable to continue construction.

Despite already having federal permits, Atlantic Shores sought cancellation of the projects in June, citing political and economic factors. Read more: Offshore Wind Farm Files To Cancel Project Off South Jersey Shore

The project's lease areas remain, which Save LBI seeks to cancel. The group has opposed Atlantic Shores from the beginning.

"The root cause of the many harmful impacts of the Atlantic Shores projects is their uniquely bad location," said Save LBI president and co-founder Bob Stern. "Location is the most critical factor in the entire decision-making process, yet it received little attention many years ago when a DEP-led task force approved those sites without full and proper vetting or public input."

Save LBI claimed that "the actual impacts of these projects were misrepresented, systematically underestimated, and not fully disclosed."

The petition says that the wind farms will damage the environment and marine animals and that they were "flawed from the start."

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