LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Three anti-wind power groups are suing New Jersey to overturn a key environmental approval for a wind energy farm planned off the coast of Long Beach Island.
Bruce Afran, an attorney for the groups, said the state's “approval flies in the face of the federal regulator’s environmental impact statement that says the Atlantic Shores project will damage marine habitat, compress and harden the seafloor, damage marine communities, compromise migration corridors for endangered species, and cause commercial fishing stocks to decline.”The lawsuit was the latest obstacle facing New Jersey's quest to become the East Coast leader in offshore wind.
“There ain’t nothing grassroots about this effort,” he said. "It's astroturf, seeded by the fossil fuel industry."“We have never taken one penny from any entity linked to the fossil fuel industry,” he said. “Not one.” Shaffer said state and federal officials are racing to approve offshore wind projects without adequately considering potential negative impacts.