"Federal regulators finished an environmental study of America's first major offshore wind farm in the summer of 2019, according to documents newly obtained by E&E News through a Freedom of Information Act request.
But the review was never made public, and the timing of its completion raises fresh questions about whether the Trump administration interfered with Vineyard Wind's pursuit of federal approval.
The documents suggest that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a final environmental impact study by June 2019, and that it had prepared a record of decision for Vineyard Wind, an 800-megawatt project proposed in federal waters 14 miles south of Martha's Vineyard, Mass. NOAA Fisheries, a coordinating agency that had raised concerns over the bureau's draft environmental study, appeared poised to support the decision.
Instead, the Trump administration called for additional analysis of the project, and never ultimately issued a ruling on it. The delay nearly derailed Vineyard Wind, and it hindered efforts to green the Northeast's power grid with a large injection of renewables. Where Vineyard Wind had planned to start generating power in 2021, it is only now on the cusp of receiving a federal permit."
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