On May 12, Protect Our Coast NJ (POCNJ) submitted a petition to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeking to have the agency withdraw a permit issued by the Biden Administration to allow the Sunrise Wind offshore wind project to use an open loop cooling system rather than the more technologically advanced and environmentally safer closed loop system. According to POCNJ, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has stated that the potential effects from using open loop cooling systems include the discharge of heated water, use of chemicals, and trapping of fish larvae.
“President Trump in his January 20, 2025, Executive Order found ‘alleged legal deficiencies and ‘potential inadequacies in various environmental reviews’ in the Biden Administration’s offshore wind permitting process,” said POCNJ President Robin Shaffer. “Secretary Burgum said that ‘staff of the Department of the Interior has obtained information that raises serious issues with respect to project approvals’ that were apparently ‘rushed through by the prior Administration.’ In connection with Orsted’s Sunrise Wind project off of Southern New England, it is clear that the Biden EPA ignored legal, regulatory and environmental requirements in allowing Sunrise Wind to use a dangerous and polluting open loop cooling system.”
According to Shaffer, POCNJ has petitioned the EPA to undo this mistake and require Sunrise Wind to redesign the project to include a closed loop cooling system before any further permits are issued or any further work on the project proceeds.
POCNJ has engaged former New Jersey Superior Court Judge Michael J. Donohue of the law offices of Blaney, Donohue & Weinberg, P.C., in Avalon, NJ to represent POCNJ on the petition. “Sunrise Wind has obtained an EPA permit to pull nearly 8 million gallons per day of seawater from the Atlantic Ocean,” Donohue said. That water will then be discharged back into the ocean mixed with chlorine and at temperatures as high as 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Donohue represented the County of Cape May for several years and orchestrated their efforts that contributed to the abandonment by Orsted of their Ocean Wind One and Ocean Wind Two projects off of Cape May County. “The Biden Administrations approval of this method ignores EPA’s Best Technology Available requirement and no rigorous alternatives analysis was conducted to justify this method over a closed-cycle cooling system, despite the known and broad negative environmental impacts that will result, including harms to early life stages of many marine species,” he added.
Many offshore wind projects require the conversion of AC current to DC current in order to delivery electricity over long distance through cables on the ocean floor. This conversion creates tremendous heat and a cooling system is necessary. According to POCNJ, the open loop system Sunrise Wind intends to install will discharge super-heated water and pollutants into the Atlantic after sucking up nearly 8 million gallons of sea water each day and killing fish and crustacean larvae and other small forms of sea life in the process.
In other wind-related news, roughly one month after being ordered by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to cease construction on Empire Wind industrial offshore wind project off Long Branch, NJ, President Donald Trump lifted the stop-work order to allow Norwegian energy company Equinor to resume construction. According to the Washington Post, the reversal comes after intense efforts to lobby the Trump administration by New York Governor Kathy Hochul and the Norwegian energy company.
“After countless conversations with Equinor and White House officials, bringing labor and business to the table to emphasize the importance of this project, I’m pleased that President Trump and Secretary Burgum have agreed to lift the stop work order and allow this project to move forward,” Hochul told the Washington Post.
South Jersey congressman Jeff Van Drew, an outspoken critic of offshore wind development, issued the following statement after the announcement. “While today’s news is certainly not what we had hoped for and I am disappointed, it is important to remember that it is specific to one, and only one project, that had already begun construction off the coast of another state where they have a very different attitude towards such projects.”
“Empire Wind should serve as a reminder as to why it’s important to stand up and fight the industrialization of our coastline like we have so ferociously here in South Jersey. I have spoken with the Trump administration and was glad to receive their reassurance that this changes absolutely nothing in regards to the ill-conceived projects that were originally planned off the coast of South Jersey and, that thanks to our efforts, are literally dead in the water.”
