The federal district court for the District of New Jersey granted summary judgment to federal defendants in a lawsuit challenging six Incidental Harassment Authorizations (IHAs) and a Letter of Authorization (LOA) issued pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act to developers of offshore wind facilities off the coast of New York and Jersey that authorized the take of marine mammals in conjunction with the development of the projects. The court ruled that claims related to two of the facilities—Atlantic Shores and Bluepoint Wind—were moot because their IHAs had expired and there was “no longer a reasonable expectation or demonstrated probability” that the Trump administration would issue future approvals. Although the court found that challenges to other expired IHAs were not moot, the court found that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge those IHAs as well as the unexpired LOA because they did not prove injury in fact. Alternatively, the court found that the plaintiffs’ claims failed on the merits because they did not show that take estimates of Right Whales and Humpback Whales were arbitrary and capricious. The court did not address the climate change-related allegations in the plaintiffs’ complaint.

Challenge to the National Marine Fisheries Service’s incidental take/ harassment authorizations for offshore wind.

Save Long Beach Island v. U.S. Department of Commerce

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New Jersey Federal Court Dismissed Challenges to Marine Mammal Protection Act Authorizations for Offshore Windfarms

Filed

United States of America

New Jersey

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New Jersey Federal Court Dismissed Challenges to Marine Mammal Protection Act Authorizations for Offshore Windfarms

Policy instrument

Impacted group

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance