Newport Preservation Group Pushes Back on Offshore Wind Farm

The Preservation Society of Newport County on Wednesday challenged the Interior Department’s approval of an offshore wind farm in Rhode Island, saying the agency didn’t properly consider environmental and historical impacts in what they called “a pattern of noncompliance.”

Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act when authorizing the 130 MW, 12-turbine wind farm, the preservation society told the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

“Despite acknowledging the industrialized wind farms’ adverse impacts, BOEM, has succumbed to intense political pressure to conduct a sham consulting ...