RENEWABLE ENERGY 67
related to each project ’ s impact on endangered species ( particularly the North Atlantic Right Whale ) and on commercial fisheries . The claimants , who consist primarily of local resident groups and organizations representing the fishing industry , have challenged the legality of BOEM ’ s regulatory and leasing programs and the environmental reviews conducted and relied upon by federal agencies in issuing each project ’ s permits and approvals . Thus far , federal courts have rejected these challenges , and the Vineyard Wind and South Fork Wind projects have continued construction . 4 BOEM ’ s recent issuance of a Record of Decision to Orsted ’ s Ocean Wind Project offshore New Jersey suggests that another wave of litigation is coming . 5
c . Leasing
BOEM has also continued to hold auctions for the issuance of new offshore wind leases on the OCS . In 2022 alone , BOEM held offshore wind lease auctions in New York , North Carolina , and California . These auctions resulted in the issuance of thirteen new offshore wind leases — nearly half of all offshore wind leases issued by BOEM since its renewable energy program was created — and more than $ 5 billion in revenue for the U . S . government . The agency is showing no signs of slowing down . In July 2023 , the agency announced that it will hold its first offshore wind lease auction for lease areas offshore the Gulf of Mexico in August 2023 . 6
3 . Offshore Wind Transmission and Interconnection
In addition to permitting and leasing developments , the U . S . offshore wind industry has seen significant legal developments in the areas of transmission and interconnection . On the Atlantic Coast , the PJM Interconnection , L . L . C . ( PJM ) Tariff includes a transmission planning and cost allocation mechanism — the State Agreement Approach ( SAA )— that allows states , individually or jointly , to request PJM to solicit and evaluate on its behalf transmission expansion or enhancement projects that align with defined state public policy goals . 7 In late 2020 , New Jersey became the first state to use this mechanism to enable the interconnection of its then offshore wind procurement goal of 7.5 GW . Following a roughly eighteenmonth process , the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities ( NJ BPU ) announced the selection of the Larrabee Tri-Collector Solution offshore wind transmission
4 . See Nantucket Residents Against Turbines v . BOEM , No . 1:21-cv-11390-IT , Dkt . No . 130 ( D . Mass . May 17 , 2023 ); Seafreeze Shoreside , Inc . v . US Department of the Interior , No . 1-22-cv-11091 , Dkt . No . 128 ( D . Mass . May 25 , 2023 ).
5 . Bureau of Ocean Energy Management , Record of Decision , Ocean Wind 1 Offshore Wind Farm Construction and Operations Plan ( July 3 , 2023 ), https :// www . boem . gov / renewable-energy / state -activities / ocean-wind-1 .
6 . Final Sale Notice ( FSN ) for Commercial Leasing for Wind Power Development on the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico ( GOMW – 1 ), 88 Fed . Reg . 47,173 ( July 21 , 2023 ).
7 . PJM Interconnection , L . L . C ., 179 FERC ¶ 61,024 ( 2022 ) ( order accepting SAA agreement effective April 15 , 2022 ).