The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) has stepped into the legal ring, joining a coalition of tribes, fishermen and coastal homeowners in a federal lawsuit in Washington, D.C., that aims to overturn federal approvals for the Sunrise Wind offshore project. Filed March 24, the complaint argues that the 84-turbine development would scar sacred views from the Gay Head Cliffs, threaten submerged cultural resources and interfere with long-standing fishing and ceremonial uses. The plaintiffs want a judge to wipe out the permits and send the project back to federal regulators for a do-over review.
According to Tribal Business News, the tribes and their allies laid out their case in a 79-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The suit takes aim at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s Record of Decision and the project's Construction and Operations Plan, alleging that federal officials fell short of requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. The outlet reports that the complaint leans heavily on a May 2025 memo from the Interior Department’s solicitor, which the plaintiffs cast as a key pivot point in the legal theory.
A press release from Green Oceans distributed on Business Wire identifies the coalition’s members, including the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), the Narragansett Indian Tribe, commercial fishing groups and other coastal stakeholders, and lists the case as No. 1:26‑cv‑01006. In that statement, plaintiffs’ counsel argue that the government misread the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and urge the court to send Sunrise Wind back to the agencies for a new review under what they describe as a corrected legal standard.
Project Approvals And Basics
Sunrise Wind, developed by Ørsted, secured a Record of Decision from the Department of the Interior in March 2024, followed by BOEM approval of its Construction and Operations Plan that June. Federal permitting records show the project was cleared for up to 84 wind turbine generators with an electrical capacity of roughly 924 megawatts, in a lease area about 18.9 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. Those approvals, along with the underlying permitting documents, are summarized on the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s website and in a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit notice.
What Plaintiffs Say
The plaintiffs contend that BOEM signed off on Sunrise Wind using a legal interpretation that the Interior Department’s Office of the Solicitor later withdrew. They point in particular to a May 2025 solicitor’s memo that, in their telling, instructed agencies to revisit approvals that had relied on that now-abandoned interpretation. That argument, set out in detail in the complaint, underpins their claims that BOEM did not fully account for cumulative environmental impacts and instead leaned on what they describe as a flawed approach to weighing benefits and harms.
Cultural And Fishing Concerns
The Aquinnah Wampanoag have told local reporters that Sunrise Wind would alter sacred viewsheds from the Gay Head Cliffs, erode ancestral seascapes and potentially damage submerged cultural resources linked to the tribe’s history. The Narragansett Indian Tribe has raised similar alarms, saying the industrial buildout of waters central to its fishing, gathering and ceremonial practices would cause irreparable cultural and subsistence harm. Those concerns have been detailed in local coverage of the filing and sit at the emotional core of the challenge.
What The Lawsuit Asks
The complaint asks the court to vacate Sunrise Wind’s federal approvals and send the project back to BOEM for a fresh look under what the plaintiffs describe as a lawful reading of the governing statutes. The full 79-page filing is available in the public docket. If the court grants that request, BOEM would likely need to reopen its environmental and historic-preservation reviews, a move that could delay construction already under way and scramble the project’s current schedule.
Why It Matters For New York
On paper, Sunrise Wind is supposed to deliver more than 900 megawatts of offshore wind power into New York’s grid, and state officials along with Ørsted have repeatedly framed it as a pillar of New York’s clean-energy ambitions. Federal regulators and the developer maintain that the project cleared a multi-agency environmental review process, which is now squarely in the plaintiffs’ crosshairs.
A hearing date in the case has not yet been set, and BOEM has declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation. Tribal leaders, meanwhile, have emphasized what they see as the urgency of protecting cultural sites. Court-watchers can expect a flurry of filings and motions in the weeks ahead as both sides sketch out the contours of a high-stakes fight over one of the region’s largest offshore wind projects.
