US Government Takes Another Look at Virginia Offshore Wind Project

© Adobe Stock/Peter Adams

The Trump administration is reviewing whether to send the Interior Department's Biden-era approval of a Virginia offshore wind project back to the agency for reconsideration, according to a court document filed on Wednesday.

The agency is conducting a review of offshore wind leases to comply with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum's July order to end preferential treatment for wind and solar projects, it said in a filing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

"Consistent with (the secretarial order), undersigned counsel is advised that DOI plans to conduct a review in which it will consider if remand would be appropriate," the filing said.

The court filing was made jointly with the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, a conservative group that sued the Interior Department last year over its approval of Dominion Energy's Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.

The $11.2 billion project is currently under construction and expected to be operating by the end of next year.

Neither the Interior Department nor Dominion was immediately available for comment.

(Reuters)