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Wind Power News: Rhode Island
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Ex-Navy secretary demands halt to RI wind farm that will ‘obliterate quality of life’ and won’t ‘ever’ reduce carbon emissions
A former US Navy secretary and long-serving diplomat has called on the Biden administration and Congress to halt plans for immense offshore wind farms near Rhode Island and Massachusetts. J. William Middendorf warned in an Oct. 24 letter to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the projects were being “ramrodded through a deficient regulatory process despite the controversy over their acknowledged impacts and questionable benefits,” according to a copy exclusively obtained by The Post. The 99-year-old Middendorf . . . Complete story »
Preservation Society of Newport County’s answers to frequently asked questions regarding appeals of BOEM’s permitting of offshore wind industrialization
The Preservation Society of Newport County has received numerous media inquiries since it announced on November 22, 2023, that it was appealing federal agency approval of two wind farms off the Rhode Island coast in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The appeals detail the failure of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to comply with the heightened levels of review required under the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. Developers have . . . Complete story »
Newport mansions owner sues federal government over wind farm it says will mar views
Two Rhode Island preservation groups have filed lawsuits against the federal government claiming it conducted “sham regulatory reviews” when granting the permits of two offshore wind farm projects they say would block the ocean views of the historic Newport mansions. Key Facts The Preservation Society of Newport County and the Southeast Lighthouse Foundation filed lawsuits in federal court in Washington, D.C., claiming the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved the projects without considering the impact to the area’s “irreplaceable character . . . Complete story »
Block Island and Newport preservationists fight to protect Rhode Island from massive wind farms
A month ago, after Cape May County, New Jersey, filed a federal lawsuit to stop two immense Ørsted wind farms, the company responded by announcing they were canceling their plans, leaving unfinished construction, citing their inability to predict financial pressures on the project, not widespread community opposition. Two senior staff have left the company, and management is being shifted as one project after another face an insecure future. Yesterday, Rhode Island took a double-barreled action with federal appeals being filed . . . Complete story »
Newport, Block Island preservation groups sue to stop offshore wind farms
Decrying what it calls the fast-tracking of hundreds of skyscraper-high structures that would dwarf the Statue of Liberty, the Preservation Society of Newport County filed two appeals in federal court on Nov. 22 to vacate the permits issued and halt the development of two offshore wind farms planned off the Rhode Island coastline. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, two separate appeals against the approvals were also filed by the Southeast Lighthouse Foundation, based on . . . Complete story »
Preservation Society files lawsuit to fight massive wind farms and preserve historic and pristine views from industrial-scale development
The Preservation Society of Newport County, Rhode Island’s largest and nationally respected steward of historic preservation, has appealed federal agency decisions approving massive wind farms off the coast of Rhode Island. The appeals were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on November 22, 2023 and detail how the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) failed to comply with the heightened levels of review required under the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation . . . Complete story »
One of RI’s top environmentalists is suing to block offshore wind project
Trudy Coxe, the former head of Save the Bay and once the top environmental official in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, dropped a bombshell on Wednesday afternoon. In her role as the head of the Newport Preservation Society (NPS), Coxe announced that her organization has filed a massive federal lawsuit to block the construction the offshore wind project off the coast of Rhode Island. NPS manages the public-facing mansions in Newport, such as The Breakers and Rosecliff, to name a few. . . . Complete story »
Anti-wind farm group sues R.I. coastal agency over Revolution Wind approval
Green Oceans, the Rhode Island citizens group that fiercely opposes offshore wind farms, is in the midst of a civil lawsuit it has filed against the state Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC), claiming the council violated the constitution, state regulations, and its own responsibilities when it approved the Revolution Wind farm in May. The lawsuit, being heard in Newport Superior Court, asks the court to vacate the CRMC’s decision, which, in effect, declared that the wind farm conforms to the . . . Complete story »
State governors seeking federal help for offshore wind industry
A group of U.S. governors is calling on the Biden administration to help ease the “extraordinary economic challenges” that have combined to threaten not only future offshore wind development, but also the number of projects that are already under way. In a letter submitted to the White House, the governors of Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island say “inflationary pressures, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the lingering supply-chain disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic” have resulted . . . Complete story »
RI fishermen’s board resigns en masse over Biden admin–backed offshore wind farm: ‘Wholesale ocean destruction’
A plan backed by the Biden administration to OK a string of wind farms off Rhode Island has prompted every member of a fishing regulatory board in the state to resign. The entire Rhode Island Fisherman’s Advisory Board quit en masse Friday to protest the 84-turbine Sunrise Wind project after the state’s Coastal Resources Management Council approved the third offshore wind farm in two years off the Ocean State’s waters. The project falls under President Biden‘s executive order authorizing his . . . Complete story »
