Offshore Wind Wire

By William Morgan

A consortium of anti-Cape Wind groups filed a legal notice Monday claiming that federal approval of the proposed offshore wind project would violate the Endangered Species Act because of alleged danger to migratory birds.

The notice — in the form of a letter sent to several federal agencies — claims that the Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) and the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (“MMS”) “have violated and are continuing to contravene” sections of the Endangered Species Act “by issuing and relying on an unlawful biological opinion for the proposed Cape Wind power facility.”  The

The letter makes use of a citizen suit provision in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and was filed by the Washington, D.C. law firm of Meyer, Glitzenstein and Crystal.  The consortium is made up of nine members, including the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound and the Industrial Wind Action Group.  The group offered to meet with officials from the federal agencies, but said they would initiate litigation if there was no response within 60 days.

“We believe that FWS has contravened the requirements of the [Endangered Species Act] and the Administrative Procedure Act by relying entirely on the determination by MMS and Cape Wind Associates, without any independent analysis, that a temporary and seasonal shutdown requirement is not a reasonable and prudent measure to reduce the mortality rate of Roseate Terns and Piping Plovers,” the letter read.  “Further, the agency did not employ the best available science in issuing an opinion on the Cape Wind Associates proposal.”