The first New Jersey offshore wind project moved forward Tuesday with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approving the Atlantic Shores construction and operations plan. With up to 197 turbines and offshore substations, the two-phase project within 8.7 miles of Long Beach Island and Brigantine, N.J., would have a maximum nameplate rating of 2,800 megawatts.
BOEM issued its record of decision on Atlantic Shores in July, setting the stage for approval of the construction and operations plan for the joint venture by Shell New Energies US LLC and EDF-RE Offshore Development, LLC.
“We are grateful to the Biden-Harris administration, our agency partners at the U.S. Department of the Interior and BOEM, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, and all our federal and state agency partners who helped deliver this moment for Atlantic Shores.”
Atlantic Shores is the target of ferocious opposition from Jersey Shore groups against offshore wind development. The coalition of beachfront property owners, municipal governments and commercial fishermen have focused their legal and public-relations fire on Atlantic Shores since wind developer Ørsted abruptly withdrew from its planned 1,100-megawatt Ocean Wind project in late 2023.
In May 2024 Save Long Beach Island, Defend Brigantine Beach and Protect Our Coast NJ filed lawsuits in state court, reiterating their earlier legal challenges to New Jersey’s earlier state permitting for the Ørsted proposal.
As BOEM was issuing the plan approval, Save Long Beach Island said it was notifying BOEM and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of its new intent to sue the agencies under the federal Endangered Species Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. The new action centers largely on the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale.
“Underwater noise from the massive, diesel-powered hammers that will be used to ‘pile drive’ 50-foot- wide turbine foundations into the seabed as well as from vessel surveys and the opera on of those turbines will obstruct the essential migration of the right whale as it attempts to pass through those waters, jeopardizing the whale’s existence and violating the Endangered Species Act,” said Bob Stern, president and co-founder of Save Long Beach Island.
The New Jersey beach groups have established alliances with Northeast commercial fishing advocates too. At their Sept. 27 meeting trustees of the Protect Our Coast NJ group, based in Ocean City, N.J., appointed new members including Meghan Lapp, fisheries liaison for Seafreeze Ltd., in Point Judith, R.I., and Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association.
Lapp and Brady are longtime outspoken critics of federal offshore wind planning and what they see as its existential threats to the fishing industry and marine environment.
In announcing BOEM’s approval Tuesday project backers said their Atlantic Shores Project 1 “will enable the near-term creation of thousands of in-demand jobs and acceleration of billions of dollars in supply chain investments being made in the Garden State. Atlantic Shores Project 2 will build on this first-mover success and drive economic growth across the state over the next decade.”
Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy – who a year ago felt blindsided by Ørsted’s withdrawal – greeted news of the BOEM plan approval: “Today’s announcement from Atlantic Shores represents meaningful progress toward a clean energy future for New Jersey. Growing New Jersey’s offshore wind capacity has been one of the highest priorities for my Administration.”
While offshore wind critics focus on potential environmental and economic harms to coastal communities, New Jersey environmental activists portray offshore wind as a way to reduce New Jersey’s historically high urban air pollution problems.
“Responsibly developed offshore wind is a critical component in a clean energy future — which will fight climate change, create union jobs and improve the air quality in overburdened communities,” said Ed Potosnak, executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters.
“Children from Newark to Jersey City to Camden will be able to breathe just a little easier once the renewable energy from offshore wind comes online, and we look forward to working with Governor Murphy and our state Legislature to make the promise of clean energy a reality.”
“Today BOEM achieved yet another significant milestone bringing the Atlantic Shores South project one step closer to reality,” said Anne Reynolds, the American Clean Power Association’s vice president for offshore wind.
"This offshore wind farm will unleash economic growth through construction of the project, plus a new operations and maintenance facility in Atlantic City. Atlantic Shores South is expected to support tens of thousands of jobs in construction and maritime trades and inject more than $1.9 billion into the Garden State economy.”
