Fisheries Survival Fund sues BOEM over NY wind energy area lease

WASHINGTON, DC – On Dec. 8, the Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF) – an 18-year-old scallop fishing industry coalition – brought suit against the Dept. of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for violations of the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, and Administrative Procedures Act, to stop the New York offshore Wind Energy Area (NY WEA) lease sale.

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Several other stakeholders, including:  the borough of Barnagat Light, NJ; The Town Dock;  SeaFreeze Shoreside Inc.; Sea Fresh USA; Garden State Seafood Association; Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance; the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association; the town of Narragansett, RI;  Narragansett Chamber of Commerce; city of New Bedford, MA; and Point Pleasant (NJ) Dock Cooperative, also joined FSF as plaintiffs in the action.

The proposed NY WEA is located on 127 square miles of productive fishing grounds off Cholera Bank in the New York Bight. The area has been used historically for scallop, squid and other fisheries.

FSF brought suit after the fishing industry’s concerns and comments were largely ignored by BOEM.

A hearing on the complaint and motion for an injunction on the lease sale has been scheduled for Feb. 8 by federal judge Tanya S. Chutkan.

But the lease sale auction was allowed to go forward Dec. 15 upon stipulation that the sale would not be finalized until after the federal court had 14 days prior notice to consider all pleadings…

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