Trump Administration Moves to Vacate Federal Approval for Maryland Offshore Wind Project

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[NOTE: Article updated on 16 September with a statement from US Wind and to specify project capacity as 1.7 GW.]

The US Department of the Interior (DOI) has filed a motion in the US District Court in Maryland to remand and/or vacate its approval of the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) for US Wind’s 1.7 GW offshore wind farm planned to be built in the federal waters off Maryland.

“US Wind remains committed to building our 1,700 MW offshore wind project, one of the largest new electricity projects in the entire region” , said Nancy Sopko , US Wind VP of External Affairs.

“After many years of analysis, several federal agencies issued final permits to the project. We intend to vigorously defend those permits in federal court, and we are confident that the court will uphold their validity and prevent any adverse action against them.”

As the DOI announced earlier, the motion was submitted on 12 September as part of a legal action in which the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) are the defendants. The case was brought forward by the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City against the DOI, BOEM and NMFS for approving the COP for US Wind’s project, which the federal government says would then be moot if its request for “voluntary remand with vacatur” is approved.

BOEM is seeking to either remand or remand and vacate the COP approval the agency issued to US Wind in December 2024 to re-evaluate the project and its COP approval process.