ELR Citation: 54 ELR 20065
No(s). 23-1501 (1st Cir. Apr 24, 2024)

The First Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and NMFS in a challenge to BOEM's approval for construction of a wind power project off the coast of Massachusetts. A group of Nantucket residents argued NMFS violated the ESA by issuing a deficient biological opinion (BiOp) about the project's effects on the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, and that BOEM violated NEPA by relying on NMFS' allegedly defective BiOp. The court disagreed, finding the agencies followed the law in analyzing the right whale's current status and environmental baseline, the likely effects of the project on the right whale, and the efficacy of measures to mitigate those effects. Further, the agencies' analyses rationally supported their conclusion that the project would not likely jeopardize the whale's continued existence. It affirmed summary judgment for the agencies.