VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A legal battle is brewing in Virginia Beach waters. A collection of conservative groups filed a lawsuit this week to put a stop to Dominion Energy's Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Turbine project. They're arguing the project could impact endangered whales.
Dominion Energy's offshore wind farm plans caused a stir in Virginia Beach in weeks past.
"Essentially they've created an industrial complex next to a residential community," Patrick McClaughlin of Virginia Beach told News 3 in early March.
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"I physically felt the bed moving like there was an earthquake, and I thought is there an earthquake? Am I losing my mind?" said Deb Higgans of Virginia Beach in early March.
McClaughlin and Higgans are two of the neighbors who noticed construction noise stemming from the site of the land-portion of the Offshore Wind Turbine Project.
Dominion Energy said they're working to mitigate that issue.
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As Dominion Energy now prepares for offshore construction in May, they're facing push back.
"The wind farm seems to be going forward and we think the biological opinion is flawed," said H. Sterling Burnett, PHD, director of Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy. "It did not take into account the cumulative impact of all the wind farms, not just Virginia's, but all the wind farms across the East Coast."
Burnett is part of a group that opposes the project.
A lawsuitfiled Monday by the Heartland Institute, the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow and the National Legal and Policy Center claims the federal government is aggressively campaigning for offshore wind and failed to properly consider the impact on the endangered North Atlantic right whale. The opposition wants to pause the project pending a new federal analysis of risks.
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Burnett added that because multiple dead whales, although they weren't North Atlantic right whales, washed up on Virginia shores two weeks ago there's even more reason for concern.
Scientists said, however, those whales had signs of ship strikes.
A spokesperson for Dominion Energy told News 3 the issues raised in the lawsuit have "no merit."
Dominion Energy stated:
"The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has done an extraordinarily thorough environmental review of the project and carefully considered potential impacts to marine wildlife and the environment. The overwhelming consensus of federal agencies and scientific organizations is that offshore wind does not adversely impact marine life. We’ve put in place strong environmental protections for this project, and are confident the North Atlantic right whale will be protected."
The company also said there were protections in place.
One of those protections, the spokesperson said, will be reducing sound and halting foundation piling during right whale migration season. Another is acoustic monitoring in the vessel corridor.
Burnett doesn't think it's enough.
"It wouldn't matter because you have some whales that have permanent residence off your shores," said Burnett.
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NOAA researchers reportthere's no scientific evidence that offshore wind sites cause whale deaths.
The project consists of more than 170 wind turbines in an area that begins 27 miles off the Virginia Beach Coast. The turbines are set to produce enough energy to power more than 660,000 homes.
Dominion Energy said the project will be a critical resource for clean-energy and is important because it "diversifies our customer's energy supply, which is essential for energy security, reliability and lowering fuel costs."
The groups hoping to stop the project said if they're denied an injunction, they'll appeal.
