Save LBI Petitions Feds to Rescind Improper 11th-Hour Prior Administration Amendment to Offshore Wind Leases, Impeding their Cancellation

Audio By Carbonatix

LONG BEACH ISLAND, N.J., Oct. 28, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Save Long Beach Island, Inc. (Save LBI), a grassroots organization dedicated to sound energy policies and preserving our shore and ocean environment, has petitioned the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) to rescind amendments to offshore wind leases approved during the final days of the Biden Administration.

“In what appears to have been a calculated last-ditch effort to push a faltering offshore wind agenda, the DOI’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) changed offshore wind leases to effectively create roadblocks that make it more difficult to cancel existing leases,” said Bob Stern, a Ph.D. scientist and president of Save LBI, which has more than 10,000 supporters. “Without any public notice — or comment — new language was inserted into many leases in late December 2024 and January 2025, and the leases were then buried on an obscure government website.”

According to the petition filed on October 20, 2025 and signed by Save LBI and Rhode Island’s Green Oceans, the amended language effectively says an offshore wind lease on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) must first be suspended for 5 years before it can be cancelled, and that in the event of cancellation, compensation must be provided to the developer. (The petition is available at savelbi.org: https://www.savelbi.org/_files/ugd/a85a2b_2349c820b1384769a9b64411cf701a5e.pdf.)

“There is a huge problem with BOEM’s amended lease-cancellation language: it violates the renewable energy section of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) enacted by Congress in 2005, which does not contain a 5-year suspension prerequisite for cancellation, nor a compensation stipulation,” Stern explained. “That language applies specifically to oil and gas leases.”

The Save LBI petition states: “If Congress intended to include these limitations and protections in the renewable energy portion of OCSLA, such language would have been incorporated into the statute and regulations, but it was not.”

Save LBI has asked the DOI to immediately rescind the new lease language.

The organizations have also asked DOI to remove prior oil and gas lease cancellation criteria language in the leases that should have been updated in 2016 to “harmonize” with the federal regulations issued then that properly cover the cancellation of renewable energy leases.

“The unfortunate reality is that BOEM’s 11th-hour move to rewrite those leases was one of many egregious actions taken by an Administration determined to push these projects at all costs, regardless of their multifaceted harms and absence of benefit,” said Save LBI attorney Thomas Stavola, adding that Save LBI has challenged those actions in court.

In August, Save LBI formally petitioned the DOI to cancel the leases for the beleaguered Atlantic Shores South and North offshore wind projects and rescind existing permit approvals, citing a series of devastating environmental, social, and economic consequences. (See press release at savelbi.org: https://www.savelbi.org/_files/ugd/a85a2b_7605d6bd935448bdb13b23b7d2491192.pdf.) Plans for those projects call for erecting 357 thousand-foot-tall wind turbines less than 9 miles off the coast of Long Beach Island, Brigantine, and Atlantic City, closer to shore than any large offshore wind project in the world.

“We remain committed to canceling the Atlantic Shores leases,” Stern said. “The many harmful impacts of the Atlantic Shores projects are caused by their uniquely bad location. Location is the most critical factor in the entire decision-making process, yet it received little attention when those sites were approved without full and proper vetting or public input.”

The Department of the Interior has said it intends to propose new rules governing offshore wind lease and project approval. “Save LBI looks forward to offering our expertise to help shape those rules to provide for proper estimation of marine mammal impact, consolidation of leasing and project decisions, and assured turbine removal upon ceasing operation, among other issues,” Stern concluded.

ABOUT SAVE LBI  

Save LBI is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization that has been active in ongoing litigation and other efforts to protect the coastal and marine environment from the senseless industrialization of our oceans. The organization is led by Beach Haven, N.J. resident Bob Stern, a Ph.D. scientist with experience in environmental planning and environmental law. He is a former manager of the U.S. Department of Energy office responsible for overseeing environmental protection related to energy projects and the Bureau of Air Quality Planning within the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). For more information on Save LBI and its efforts, please visit SaveLBI.org.

Contact: https://www.savelbi.org/contact

For more information click here: https://www.savelbi.org

ABOUT GREEN OCEANS

Details are available here: https://www.green-oceans.org/our-story.

LOGO link for media: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/25-1028-s2p-savelbi-300dpi.webp

NEWS SOURCE: Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)

Keywords: Energy Oil Gas Wave and Solar, Save Long Beach Island, Inc. Save LBI, preserving our shore and ocean environment, U.S. Department of Interior, Rhode Island's Green Oceans, attorney Thomas Stavola, offshore wind projects, offshore wind leases, LONG BEACH ISLAND, N.J.

This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)) who is solely responsible for its accuracy, by Send2Press® Newswire. Information is believed accurate but not guaranteed. Story ID: S2P130511 APDF15TBLLI

To view the original version, visit: https://www.send2press.com/wire/save-lbi-petitions-feds-to-rescind-improper-11th-hour-prior-administration-amendment-to-offshore-wind-leases-impeding-their-cancellation/

© 2025 Send2Press® Newswire, a press release distribution service, Calif., USA.

Disclaimer: This press release content was not created by nor issued by the Associated Press (AP). Content below is unrelated to this news story.