The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked a federal court to send the approval for US Wind’s Maryland Offshore Wind Project back to the Department of the Interior (DOI) for reconsideration.
In the motion for remand, filed in the US District Court for the District of Maryland on 13 October, the DOJ said the approval of the project’s construction and operations plan (COP) should be reassessed under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), citing potential impacts on commercial fisheries, scientific research, coastal views and protected species, including the endangered North Atlantic right whale.
The remand has been requested “without vacatur”, which would allow the DOI to reconsider the approval without revoking it while the re-evaluation is underway.
The motion was filed as part of a lawsuit brought by the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City, Maryland, and other plaintiffs in 2024, which has been challenging the federal green light for the offshore wind project. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued the COP approval in December 2024.
The latest filing follows an earlier motion submitted by the DOI in September 2025, which sought to remand and/or vacate the approval for US Wind’s 1.7 GW offshore wind farm planned to be built in the federal waters off Maryland.
US Wind was awarded offshore wind renewable energy credits (ORECs) by the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) in 2017 and 2021, supporting more than 1,056 MW across two projects.
In July 2024, under a law introduced in May that year, the developer filed an application to sell 6,966,836 MWh of offshore wind energy to Maryland annually. The company’s application was approved in January 2025, paving the way for US Wind to install 1,710 MW of offshore wind capacity and build the Maryland project in four phases.
The latest motion from the US federal government is the latest in a series of efforts to revisit offshore wind project approvals. In December 2025, the DOJ sought remand of the COP approval for Avangrid’s New England Wind project, which has a planned capacity of more than 2 GW. The administration also sought remand and vacatur of the SouthCoast Wind approval, with the court allowing the agency to reconsider it.
Earlier this month, the DOJ also asked a federal court to remand the COP approval for the 704 MW Revolution Wind, a completed offshore wind farm that started feeding electricity into the New England grid in March and is progressing towards full commercial operation this year.