The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) has appealed its case against the Vineyard Wind offshore wind project to the Supreme Court of the United States.
RODA, a lobbying group representing commercial fishermen, first filed a lawsuit against in 2022 in objection to federal approvals of the wind energy project. The 800-megawatt project, located in an area off the coast of the U.S. state of Massachusetts, is planned to take up as much as 75,000 acres.
That initial lawsuit was dismissed in October 2023 after the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts determined RODA didn’t have the standing to sue the agencies – a ruling that was later upheld by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Now, RODA said it has filed a petition for a writ of certiorari, which asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling of a lower court. The organization argues that the Secretary of Interior did not do enough to consider the needs of the commercial fishing industry when approving the Vineyard Wind 1 project.
RODA claims under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Secretary of Interior “shall ensure” any approved activities are consistent with a legal requirement to prevent interference with reasonable uses, such as “use of the sea or a seabed for a fishery.” RODA said in approving Vineyard Wind, the department merely considered the factors to balance them, a reinterpretation that ignores the potential harm wind projects can have for fishing.
Throughout the approval process of the project, RODA has repeatedly claimed project organizers and government officials alike have ignored its advice and the objections of commercial fishermen. As early as 2019, commercial fishermen said the wind project operators told them the impacts of the turbines on fishing would be sorted out after they were already built.
“How does offshore wind energy affect the fishing industry?” Captain Ed Yates of Barnegat Light, New Jersey, told the Associated Press in 2019. “The answer we get from the wind operators is, ‘We won’t fully understand the impacts until the facilities are already built.’”
In 2023, the entire Rhode Island Fishermen’s Advisory Board (FAB) resigned, also claiming the government was effectively ignoring any concerns out of commitment to the wind project regardless of impact or input from fishermen.
“It has become abundantly clear that the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council [CRMC] has made deference to offshore wind developers its top priority regardless of the requirements of the Ocean [Special Area Management Plan], the cost to the environment, or the impacts to Rhode Island’s fishing industry,” the board members wrote. “FAB members have collectively invested and sacrificed thousands of hours of our own time and our own expenses and have provided CRMC with expertise, data, science, research, and experience. But, we will no longer waste our time.”
RODA has long argued that getting Vineyard Wind right is important for the future of offshore wind development in the U.S.
“Vineyard Wind 1 was the first approved commercial-scale offshore wind project, and its approval sets the precedent for all future U.S. offshore wind development,” it said in a release. “Offshore wind will forever change our oceans and have lasting effects to U.S. commerce, navigational safety, search and rescue operations, commercial, charter, and recreational fishing, and public enjoyment of our waters.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has recently taken up other regulatory cases related to commercial fishing, to the industry’s success. In June 2024, the court ruled in favor of plaintiff fishermen in Loper Bright Enterprises V. Raimondo, overturning the 40-year Chevron Deference precedent.
The move by RODA also comes as the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled its opposition to new wind projects. On 20 January, the first day of his new term, Trump signed an order temporarily withdrawing all offshore wind leasing on the nation's outer continental shelf (OCS).
“This withdrawal temporarily prevents consideration of any area in the OCS for any new or renewed wind energy leasing for the purposes of generation of electricity or any other such use derived from the use of wind,” the order states. “This withdrawal does not apply to leasing related to any other purposes such as, but not limited to, oil, gas, minerals, and environmental conservation.”
It also comes as fishing interests continue to criticize the project for multiple incidents. A turbine blade failure in November 2024 led to allegations that testing data on the blades was falsified.
That same turbine, which is still non-operational, has since been struck by lightning. The U.S. Coast Guard did not report any navigational hazards related to the strike, but the New England Fisherman’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA) said Vineyard Wind was slow to acknowledge the incident took place.
“The coverup blows on. Vineyard Wind’s lack of transparency around the structural integrity of its mammoth wind turbines is deeply frustrating to fishermen,” NEFSA CEO Jerry Leeman said in a release. “Reports indicate that the lightning strike occurred on 27 February, yet Vineyard Wind said nothing about the incident for at least four days. This [came] after Vineyard Wind waited a day and a half before acknowledging last summer’s devastating blade detachment. In fact, Vineyard Wind officials met in February with officials from the Bureau of Safety and Environment Enforcement to discuss improving communications over safety issues. Foreign offshore wind developers seem breezily dismissive of commercial fishermen.”
The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has since ordered Vineyard Wind to fully inspect the damaged wind turbine.
