Shore Municipalities Continue Legal Battle Opposing Proposed Wind Turbines Off Long Beach Island
Hackensack, NJ (November 1, 2024) - The Shore Municipalities (Long Beach Township, Beach Haven, Ship Bottom, Barnegat Light, Surf City, Harvey Cedars, Brigantine Beach, and Ventnor City) filed their brief with the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court in their appeal challenging actions by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in connection with the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, LLC (Atlantic Shores) proposal to build offshore wind turbines just miles from Long Beach Island and nearby shore towns. In their appeal, the Shore Municipalities request that:
- the issuance of the federal consistency certification issued by the DEP on April 1, 2024, be reversed and remanded, on the grounds that its issuance was arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable;
- due to impermissible bias resulting from pressure to advance Governor Murphy’s agenda, the issuance of such federal consistency certification be vacated and remanded to DEP for reconsideration with full due process safeguards; and
- the denial of the Shore Municipalities’ post-certification request for a hearing before an impartial administrative law judge be reversed and the Court direct the DEP to grant the Shore Municipalities request for an adjudicative hearing on the merits of the consistency determination.
Read Appeal of DEP Consistency Certification
These filings are in addition to the appeal brief filed in September 2024, challenging the Court’s denial of the Shore Municipalities’ request to compel the DEP to hold a pre-decision adjudicatory hearing.
Appeal of DEP Consistency Certification
The Shore Municipalities appeal the DEP’s issuance of the federal consistency certification, which found the Atlantic Shores project consistent with New Jersey’s coastal zone management rules and which paved the way for the federal government to approve the project. In its filing on October 30, the Shore Municipalities argue that:
- The DEP’s issuance of the consistency certification was arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable in disregarding and minimizing the destructive impact the turbines will have on vital scenic resources that are protected by the DEP’s rules. Those rules provide that developments such as these turbines are discouraged and cannot be approved absent a finding of net gain in scenic resources overall, which was not present.
- The consistency certification arbitrarily found the project consistent with rules to protect fisheries and other protected wildlife and aquatic resources, contrary to the record before the agency that showed clear detrimental impacts.
- The extreme pressure placed upon the DEP to advance Governor Murphy’s agenda rendered the agency impermissibly biased, and that the DEP should not have acted on the application at all without first referring it to an impartial adjudicator.
Appeal of Denial of Shore Municipalities’ Request for Adjudicatory Hearing
The Shore Municipalities appeal the DEP’s June 2024 order denying the Shore Municipalities’ post-certification request for an adjudicative hearing by a neutral administrative law judge to further develop the factual record concerning the impacts of the Atlantic Shores project. Citing, among other things, an economic study performed on behalf of the Shore Municipalities which concluded that Ocean County alone would experience $668.2 million in annual economic losses and losses in tax revenues, the Shore Municipalities argue the DEP wrongly concluded that the Shore Municipalities lacked constitutional standing.
The Shore Municipalities
Joseph Mancini, Mayor of Long Beach Township, said, “The Shore Municipalities, as well as all New Jersey residents, deserve the reversal and reconsideration of the DEP’s federal consistency determination to prevent the devastating impacts on the shore economy, wildlife, and aquatic resources. Opposition to the Atlantic Shores project is growing because there are too many questions left unanswered and issues that have not been adequately addressed, including rate hikes across the board, renegotiation of the economic terms and massive subsidies, the risk of broken blades washing ashore, the impact on communities during construction, and the risks of high-voltage power cables running through neighborhoods. We need answers and a full hearing on the merits with an impartial adjudicator before the widespread and irreparable industrialization of our shores begins.”
“We will not stop advocating for the protection of the diverse businesses and residential communities of Long Beach Island and nearby towns,” said Frank Huttle III, partner at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden P.C. who, together with firm chair and managing partner Michael S. Stein, and partner Timothy P. Malone, represent the Shore Municipalities. “The DEP has effectively abandoned its independent role and rushed to advance the Atlantic Shores project without adequately considering the magnitude of the impacts it will have on the coastal communities, environment, and wildlife.”
“The DEP’s sole rationale for denying the Shore Municipalities’ request for an adjudicatory hearing before an impartial law judge was its conclusion that the Shore Municipalities lacked a constitutional right to a hearing,” added Stein. “Yet the devastating economic impacts detailed in the report, as well as the Shore Municipalities’ undeniable property interest in collecting tax revenue and safeguarding their local economies on behalf of their residents and businesses, are sufficiently grave to establish standing and warrant an adjudicative hearing on the merits.”
About Pashman Stein Walder Hayden P.C.
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