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 US 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.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom, Editing by Franklin Paul)