President Donald Trump’s administration is reconsidering federal approval of Avangrid’s planned New England Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts, according to a court filing on Wednesday.
The legal maneuver is the latest move by U.S. authorities to stymie development of offshore wind energy, which Trump has called ugly, expensive, and unreliable. Last week, the administration also said it was reconsidering approval of SouthCoast Wind, another planned Massachusetts project.
Attorneys for the Department of Justice said they would move by October 10 to vacate the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s approval of the New England Wind construction and operations plan.
The filing came in a lawsuit brought earlier this year in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by local groups and individuals opposed to offshore wind development. The suit alleges the government violated federal environmental laws by approving the project.
Avangrid, which is owned by Spanish power company Iberdrola, declined to comment.
New England Wind was approved by former President Joe Biden’s administration in 2024. The project, once built, was expected to be able to produce enough electricity to power 900,000 homes.
Representatives for ACK for Whales, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, could not immediately be reached for comment.
—Nichola Groom and Laila Kearney, Reuters
