The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians are suing the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for giving the all-clear to two areas offshore Oregon for potential floating wind energy projects. The lawsuit, filed last Friday in U.S. District Court in Eugene against BOEM, accuses the organisation of violating two federal laws meant to protect the environment and culturally significant areas. The lawsuit was preceded by the tribes passing a resolution against floating offshore wind energy in those areas late last year. BOEM identified the areas in August last year. The smaller, 247 sq km site, is located some 50 km off the coast of Coos Bay, while the larger, spanning nearly 540 sq km, is located 30 km off the coast of Brookings. If fully developed, wind farms on the two sites could generate more than 3.1GW of renewable energy, enough to power 1m homes. The Bureau, due to its deep waters off the state’s coast, said at the time that these areas were an opportunity for the use of floating technologies. In the lawsuit, Rick Eichstaedt, attorney of the Rey-Bear McLaughlin law firm and the representative for the tribes, accused BOEM of violating the federal National Environmental Policy Act as well as the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires federal agencies to protect culturally significant sites. Tribal officials claim that the proposed offshore areas are in the tribes’ ancestral territory and that the areas are home to fish and other marine species and have views of significant cultural, historical, and economic significance to the tribe. BOEM claimed that there would be no significant impact on people or the environment as companies survey, study, and plan proposals. However, the tribes argue that the assessment ignored the cumulative and future impacts of wind development and failed to identify alternative areas that did not have cultural and historic importance for the tribe and marine species. The tribes are willing to withdraw the lawsuit if the October lease sale is delayed and BOEM again assesses the cumulative and future impacts of wind energy development along not just the Oregon coast, but also across all development areas being auctioned off along the West Coast. The one thing on the side of offshore wind in Oregon is the fact that, under climate change policies, the state set a target of reducing emissions from fossil fuels in Oregon by 50% by 2035 and by 90% by 2050. The Oregon Department of Energy believes that the state needs about 20GW of energy to come from offshore wind by 2050 to meet that target. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); }); TagsOffshore Wind United States