The U.S Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has been named in a lawsuit alleging failure to follow the National Environmental Protection Act and other regulations.
The bureau was listed along with with four other federal agencies in the lawsuit filed by Allco Renewable Energy President and lawyer Thomas Melone, according to Energy News. Melone alleges that BOEM and other agencies have been noncompliant in the Vineyard Wind project, which is on track to be the first offshore wind farm, as well as the Cape Wind project which has since been abandoned.
The lawsuit alleges that BOEM and others were negligent in evaluating the wind turbines to determine their capability to withstand Category-3-or greater hurricanes.
Melone's company, Allco, states that its corporate mission is to fight against climate change, but the actions of its president seem to go against this mission. Melone has controversially filed multiple lawsuits against several state clean energy programs.
“He is giving solar a really bad name; he’s turning people against solar,” Annette Smith, executive director for Vermonters for a Clean Environment, said according to Energy News. “You’ve got to work with people. He’s coming in and slugging and making enemies. It is a very strange business model.”
Melone said that his actions are being taken to promote the use of solar power, which he added, is the best approach to expand the use of green energy.
"Putting renewable energy on land creates more American jobs, does not put commercial fisheries out of business, is more secure from an electrical grid perspective, and does not come with all the environmental risks of offshore wind," Melone said.
In 2008, Melone tried unsuccessfully to win a bid to develop the U.S.'s first offshore wind farm.
“We were willing to invest in exploring whether wind power was appropriate in those locations,” Melone said.
But, because the company never received a permit for the data collection devices, he said, it never “got to the point of being willing to move ahead with actually building a wind farm.”
Allco has sued its home state of Connecticut in federal court three times from 2013 to 2016. Allco's claims and subsequent appeals were dismissed.
