A Massachusetts tribe is backing a Supreme Court petition seeking more federal review of how planned offshore wind projects along the Eastern Seaboard are affecting the endangered North Atlantic right whale.
The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) said in a friend of the court, or amicus, brief last week that protection of the whale is “fundamental” to its cultural heritage and protected resources.
But the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management never consulted with the tribe — or other affected tribes — about the cumulative effects of the planned development of a few dozen projects along the East Coast, starting with Vineyard Wind 1, the Wampanoag tribe told the Supreme Court in a brief Friday.
“The lack of environmental justice for the Amicus Tribe cannot be overstated,” the tribe wrote. “The Vineyard Wind 1 Project is not isolated, but instead, is part of a much larger project, and all of the planned offshore wind projects within the Amicus Tribe’s ancestral lands need to be assessed and mitigated.”
