Belford Seafood Co-Op President Says Why He Joined Lawsuit Against Empire Wind Farm

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Middletown's Belford Seafood Co-op joined a host of New Jersey commercial fishing companies in a federal lawsuit against Empire Wind, a wind farm owned by the Kingdom of Norway that is currently under construction 19 miles (17 nautical miles) off Long Branch.

And now today — for the first time — Belford Co-op president and fishing boat captain Richard Isaksen talks about why he is against the wind farm.

"It's going to interfere with our fishing grounds. We fear we will be stopped from fishing there," said Isaksen, who lives locally in Middletown. "It changes by season, but those are our prime grounds for fluke, flounder and squid. The underground cables could also disrupt fish."

The area is also a feeding ground/migratory route for the North Atlantic Right Whale, said Cindy Zipf of Clean Ocean Action, a lead plaintiff in the suit.

"And they're gonna take up a lot of real estate. They've already got the foundations in for a lot of them," said Isaksen. "We've seen it from miles away."

Empire Wind is located near the entrance of New York Harbor. Its footprint has been dramatically reduced: It was once supposed to be two wind farms, Empire Wind 1 and 2, on 80,000 acres of ocean but former partner company British Petroleum terminated Empire Wind 2 last year, and it's now approximately 27,000 acres. It is expected to start generating electricity next year, and launch full operations in 2027.

The lawsuit was filed June 3, and the two other lead plaintiffs are Protect Our Coast New Jersey and ACK for Whales, a Nantucket group that is critical of wind farms that have been built there. The attorney is Bruce Afran, located in Princeton. (If his name seems familiar, that's because Afran represented 16 students across New Jersey who sued Gov. Phil Murphy in 2021 for forcing them to wear face masks in order to return to school. Two of those students were from Middletown High School South. The lawsuit did not advance very far in the courts, with a federal judge ruling the state of New Jersey was only relying on advice from the CDC.)

The lawsuit asks President Donald Trump — who said many times he hates wind farms — to halt construction of Empire Wind. As Patch reported last week, construction on Empire Wind is well underway: Parent company Equinor is currently pile driving 54 wind turbine bases into the ocean floor. Equinor is using The Thialf, a 661-foot vessel that traveled from the Netherlands and is currently docked off Monmouth County to pile drive the turbine bases.

Once built, each wind turbine will be 951 feet tall, as tall as a skyscraper. The wind farm stands near the entrance to New York Harbor and, once built, the turbines will quite likely be seen from the top of the Freedom Tower and Statue of Liberty.

Isaksen said he's spoken with Equinor representatives in the past, and they told him fishermen will still be allowed to fish among the turbines. But he is deeply skeptical.

"They said it's not going to interfere with our fishing. But we just don't believe that. I've gotten unclear answers," he said. "They don't tell you can't fish there at first. They wait until after the turbines are installed. Then they tell you can't fish there. I've heard from commercial fishermen in Rhode Island they are not allowed to fish around the turbines up there." (referring to wind farms in Block Island Sound, which are not owned by Equinor.)

Patch asked Equinor to respond to Isaksen's comments.

"Empire Wind has demonstrated a commitment to fisheries coexistence since the project’s beginning, engaging in ongoing dialogue and partnerships with fisheries organizations that, for example, helped shape the layout of the turbines," said an Equinor spokeswoman. "During operations, the Empire Wind lease area and export cable route will be open to the public to utilize, however temporary safety zones may be established during maintenance activities."

(See the fisheries page of the Empire Wind website - https://www.empirewind.com/environment-and-sustainability/mariners-and-fisheries/)

Isaksen said the fishermen of Belford Co-op decided to join the lawsuit after word about it spread this spring among New Jersey's commercial fishing community.

"All the docks joined in," he said. "We don't think it's any good."

"It's going to cost a lot of money to maintain them. We've been on the water for a long time; the salt and moisture will get right in there and eat those wires and blades right up. What happens when that happens? What happens when the fins start breaking off and blades fall into the ocean? It's going to turn the ocean into a junkyard."

There are all the New Jersey fishermen, and others, who signed onto the lawsuit as plaintiffs:

• 1. American Seafood (Stonington & New London, CT)
• 2. Belford Seafood Co-op (Belford, NJ)
• 3. The Miss Belmar Inc., the popular whale watching boat that runs daily out of Belmar
• 4. Fisherman’s Dock Cooperative in Point Pleasant Beach
• 5. Heritage Fisheries (in Westerly, RI)
• 6. Long Island Commercial Fishing Association (Montauk, NY)
• 7. Shawn Machie (under fishing vessel Capt. John in New Bedford, MA)
• 8. Mackenzie Paige LLC (under fishing vessel Mackenzie Page in Stonington, CT)
• 9. NAT. W. Inc. (under fishing vessel Tradition in Westerly, RI)
• 10. David Aripotch, Old Squaw Fisheries, Inc. (under fishing vessels Caitlin & Mairead, Montauk, NY)
• 11. Seaside Park Mayor John Peterson
• 12. Seafreeze Shoreside (North Kingstown, RI)
• 13. Lund’s Fisheries, Inc. located in Cape May
• 14. Fulton Fish Market in the Bronx, which buys much of its fish from New Jersey fishermen

The Kingdom of Norway owns 67 percent of shares in Equinor (formerly Statoil), so Afran argues Equinor is effectively owned by the Kingdom of Norway. Their lease should be voided, he says, as the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act does not allow a foreign government to control offshore U.S. territory.

"This is not America First," said Meghan Lapp, a spokeswoman for Seafreeze Shoreside in Rhode Island. “U.S. commercial fishermen operating U.S. vessels will be pushed off their domestic fishing grounds to make way for foreign-flagged vessels with foreign crews constructing a wind facility owned by the Kingdom of Norway, right in U.S. waters."

"Make no mistake about it: It's not just that the Kingdom of Norway is a majority shareholder. Equinor is owned, funded and controlled by the country of Norway. Norway entirely funds it with money from that country," said Zipf.

Empire Wind also sits beneath critical flight paths for JFK and Newark airports and directly in the shipping lanes for the Port of New York/New Jersey. Zipf said she's concerned the spinning turbines could interfere with radar systems.

"Radar mitigation is not a new issue," said the Equinor spokeswoman. "Empire Wind has developed and provided detailed analyses of potential radar system impacts that were studied over the course of the four-year federal review process that culminated in the April 2024 approval of our Construction and Operations Plan. These analyses were provided to the U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Defense, Federal Aviation Administration, Department of the Interior, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other agencies."

What's next for the lawsuit?

Robin Shaffer of Protect Our Coast said the U.S. Dept. of the Interior has until Sept. 13 to review all litigation against any wind farm in America. He anticipates they will make a decision on Empire Wind then.

Prior on Empire Wind: Construction Underway On Wind Farm 19 Miles Off Long Branch (August 2025)

NJ Commercial Fishermen Sue Trump For Allowing Empire Wind Off Long Branch To Proceed (June 2025)