OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.
A conservative group is suing the Biden administration and Dominion Energy to stop construction of the proposed Virginia Offshore Wind project, arguing it will harm endangered North Atlantic right whales.
The lawsuit claims the project’s environmental review failed to properly assess cumulative impacts from this and other East Coast wind farms on the estimated 350 remaining right whales.
It alleges the agencies violated the Endangered Species Act by approving the project without verifiable protections for whales.
Dominion and federal agencies say extensive review found no adverse impacts to marine life from offshore wind and that environmental protections will be in place.
With 55 whale deaths in recent years and few breeding females left, plaintiffs argue rushed wind development poses too great a risk to the iconic species’ survival.
“On one hand, the Biden administration says you have to have renewable energy, but in the process, the windmills have an environmental impact, not only on whales but on birds that get chopped up by the windmills,” Paul Kamenar, counsel for the National Legal and Policy Center, stated. “Our position is that it’s a larger issue than the environment, but relying on windmills is also an economic issue that will cost consumers and make energy less reliable.”
“The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has done an extraordinarily thorough environmental review of the project and carefully considered potential impacts to marine wildlife and the environment,” Dominion spokesperson Jeremy Slayton said. “The overwhelming consensus of federal agencies and scientific organizations is that offshore wind does not adversely impact marine life. We’ve put in place strong environmental protections for this project, and are confident the North Atlantic right whale will be protected.”
“Playing politics with such an iconic species as the right whale is a truly pathetic example of the Biden administration’s allegiance to climate alarmism,” Heartland Institute President James Taylor stated.
“The agencies haven’t taken into account the cumulative effect up and down the coast,” Kamenar said.
A ruling in their favor could halt the largest offshore wind project planned for US waters.
