Filed on Sept. 13, the lawsuit challenges the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) environmental assessment and decision to proceed with the development of two offshore wind energy areas (WEAs). The WEAs would encompass approximately 195,000 acres between 18 and 32 miles offshore from the coastal communities of Coos Bay and Brookings.Published on Aug. 13, the environmental assessment concluded that issuing lease sales will have "no significant impacts to people or the environment," according to a statement from BOEM.
In a Sept. 16 press statement, Tribal Council Chair Brad Kneaper said that BOEM’s analysis narrowly focused on the impacts of the lease sale and site surveys, while "turning a blind eye" to the inevitable impacts that construction and operation of private wind energy facilities will have on coastal resources, the tribe, commercial fisheries, and other residents.
The tribe says that the Oregon WEAs are within its ancestral territory, contain critical fish and marine wildlife habitat, offer viewsheds of significant cultural and historic significance, and are important for commercial fishing.
Its goal is to delay the lease sale and force the federal agency to conduct a thorough environmental impact statement that "honestly looks at the impact wind energy would have on the Oregon Coast," attorney Rick Eichstaedt, who is representing the tribe, told The Epoch Times.