A federal judge in the District of Columbia has granted a request by federal agencies to pause ongoing litigation and send approvals for an offshore wind project back to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for administrative review.

New Jersey Wind Farm Project

The lawsuit was originally brought by individuals and organizational plaintiffs connected to Long Beach Island, New Jersey, challenging federal approvals granted to Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, LLC, for its offshore wind farm project.

U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb issued a memorandum opinion and order on August 10, 2026, granting the federal government’s motion for a voluntary remand and a stay of proceedings in the case Save Long Beach Island, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Commerce.

The federal government stated that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is undertaking a reevaluation of the Construction and Operations Plan approvals, citing potential failures to account for all the impacts of the project and understated or obfuscated impacts in accompanying environmental reviews.

While the plaintiffs supported the government’s request to pause the lawsuit and return the matter to the agency, Atlantic Shores opposed the motion, arguing that the Interior Department lacked the statutory authority to reconsider the approvals.

Judge Cobb ruled that federal agencies possess inherent authority to reconsider their own administrative decisions and determined that the remand would not work undue prejudice against Atlantic Shores, as the remand was ordered without vacating the existing approvals.

Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.