Protect Our Coast NJ submitted a petition (attached) on May 12, 2025 requesting EPA to withdraw a permit that would allow the Sunrise Wind to use an open loop cooling system. The gist of the filing:
“Sunrise Wind has obtained an EPA permit to pull nearly 8 million gallons per day (MGD) of seawater from the Atlantic Ocean and discharge it, after use in cooling and mixture with sodium hypochlorite (chlorine), back into the environment at elevated temperatures. This open-loop system was authorized by EPA Region 1 under NPDES Permit MA0004940. However, approval of this method ignores EPA’s Best Technology Available (BTA) requirement and no rigorous alternatives analysis was conducted to justify this method over a closed-cycle cooling system, despite the known and broad negative environmental impacts that will result, including harms to early life stages of marine species.
The facility lies within a biologically rich and economically vital region of southern New England and the New York Bight. NMFS and BOEM have acknowledged this area as essential fish habitat (EFH) for numerous federally managed species, including Atlantic cod, winter flounder, and longfin squid.“
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 