\nThe brief, filed today in support of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) and Seafreeze Shoreside appeals, argues the Department of the Interior (DOI) and its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) ignored their statutory duties under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) when they approved the Vineyard Wind project. In their zeal to promote the reckless installation of huge wind projects along the Outer Continental Shelf, they arrogated to themselves powers they do not have, the brief argues.\n<\/p> \nThe Green Oceans amicus<\/i> brief, authored by Lawrence S. Ebner of Capital Appellate Advocacy PLLC in Washington, D.C., urges the Court to hear the case because BOEM ignored explicit language in OCSLA requiring them to protect the environment, national security, safety, and our fisheries. Instead, BOEM chose to \u201cbalance\u201d these priorities instead of safeguarding them. Because the agency\u2019s actions have national implications that will affect millions of citizens, Green Oceans urges the Supreme Court to hear this pivotal case.\n<\/p> \n\u201cBOEM was so eager to move the offshore wind (OSW) construction forward quickly, even in the face of mounting evidence of OSW\u2019s harm, that it second-guessed Congress and exercised power it did not have,\u201d said Dr. Lisa Quattrocki Knight, president and co-founder of Green Oceans.\n<\/p> \n\u201cIronically,\u201d Dr. Knight said, \u201cBOEM rushed these projects through the permitting process presumably to save the planet from climate change, but the Environmental Impact Statement for Vineyard Wind admits that it won\u2019t abate climate change and concedes that even if you added all of the projects<\/i> together, even collectively, they would make no difference.\u201d\n<\/p> \nOCSLA requires DOI, through BOEM, to \u201censure\u201d that projects do not interfere with \u201csafety,\u201d \u201cnational security,\u201d \u201cfishing\u201d and \u201creasonable uses\u201d of the ocean, but, Green Oceans argues, the agencies treated the statutory requirements as a mere suggestion when approving Vineyard Wind 1<\/a>\u2014something to just \u201cconsider\u201d as they rubberstamped the project.\n<\/p> \n\u201cThe agency took the law into its own hands and accomplished what? Unreliable electricity at ridiculously high prices whose production significantly harms the environment, destroys fisheries, and undermines our national security. Congress writes laws with explicit language for a reason,\u201d Dr Knight said.\n<\/p> \nIn doing so, DOI and BOEM violated OCSLA by ignoring the damage offshore wind turbine construction will inflict, unlawfully departing from the law\u2019s requirements without the necessary authorization of Congress, the brief says.\n<\/p> \nWhether, and under what conditions, thousands of massive offshore wind turbines should be allowed on the Outer Continental Shelf are major policy decisions reserved to Congress. The brief also argues that BOEM unlawfully seized that power to benefit one politically favored industry at the expense of the environment and the public good when it greenlit the project.\n<\/p> \nABOUT GREEN OCEANS<\/b>\n<\/p>![](\"https:\/\/mms.businesswire.com\/media\/20250331696219\/en\/2425484\/22\/GO_horiz_digital_RGB.jpg\")
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