October 18, 2023 — A southern New Jersey county on Tuesday challenged federal approvals for a major wind farm in U.S. waters off the state’s coast, saying the project’s turbines and construction will harm endangered animals like whales, kill birds and impact local tourism.
The County of Cape May and several local tourism and fishing business groups sued the U.S. Department of the Interior in New Jersey federal court, seeking to stop construction on Danish developer Orsted’s multi-billion dollar Ocean Wind project.
The county said the government violated federal environmental review and endangered species protection laws when it finalized a host of environmental and construction permits for the project earlier this year.
Reviews for those permits failed to adequately account for potential environmental harms from the project and should be vacated, according to the lawsuit. The county said underwater noise and vessel strikes during construction will harm endangered North Atlantic right whales and sea turtles, and that rotating wind turbine blades would kill migrating birds.