Federal: Court returns Atlantic Shores offshore wind approval to federal agency, leaving it in force
A federal court has returned the New Jersey project's construction and operations plan approval to the federal ocean energy bureau for reconsideration without vacating it. A joint status report is due October 9, 2026, then every 60 days.
This is a federal court order and a federal agency reconsideration, and it applies in New Jersey because it concerns the approval of an offshore wind project off the New Jersey coast and its onshore connection. On August 10, 2026, Judge Jia M. Cobb of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the federal defendants' motion for voluntary remand and stay in Save Long Beach Island, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Commerce, No. 25-cv-2211 (JMC), sending the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's approval of the Atlantic Shores construction and operations plan back to the agency for reconsideration. The remand is without vacatur, so the approval remains in effect while the agency reconsiders it.
Save Long Beach Island, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Commerce, No. 25-cv-2211 (JMC) (D.D.C. Aug. 10, 2026) (Cobb, J.) (remand without vacatur and stay)