**BOEM has determined that, for purposes of OCSLA subsection 8(p)(4), the COP approval for the Atlantic Shores Project “may have failed to account for all the impacts that the Atlantic Shores South Projects 1 and 2 may cause.” BOEM has also determined that record documents on which it relied for purposes of its OCSLA conclusion may have “understated or obfuscated impacts that were then improperly weighed in reaching the determinations” under section 8(p)(4). Id. As a result, BOEM’s COP approval may not have adequately ensured that all activities in the COP will be carried out in a manner that provides for the section 8(p)(4) factors. Id. ¶¶ 13-14.

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- A Trump administration official said in a legal filing that the government is preparing to conduct a rulemaking that could restrict future offshore wind development and codify a view that could tie the hands of future presidential administrations.

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• In a court filing last Friday, Matthew Giacona – Trump’s principal deputy director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management – laid out the federal government’s thoughts about re-doing the entire review process that went into approving the Atlantic Shores project.

• But the Giacona declaration went beyond this specific project. He laid out how in the Trump administration’s view, the Biden administration improperly weighed the impacts of the offshore wind industry when considering the government’s responsibilities for governing use of the Outer Continental Shelf.

• Per Giacona, not only will BOEM be reviewing past approvals under this new legal opinion, but it will also try and take some sort of action changing its responsibilities under federal regulation for approving projects in the Outer Continental Shelf. Enshrining this sort of legal interpretation into BOEM’s regulations would in theory have lasting implications for the agency even after the Trump 2.0 comes to a close.

• “BOEM is currently beginning preparations for a rulemaking that will amend that provision of the regulations, consistent with M-37086 [the legal opinion],” Giacona stated. He did not elaborate on the timetable for this regulatory effort in the filing.