NANTUCKET RESIDENTS AGAINST TURBINES; VALLORIE OLIVER,

Plaintiffs, Appellants,

v.

U.S. BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT; NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION; NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE; DEBRA HAALAND, Secretary of the Interior; GINA M. RAIMONDO, Secretary of Commerce; VINEYARD WIND 1, LLC,

Defendants, Appellees.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

[Hon. Indira Talwani, U.S. District Judge]

Before

Kayatta, Lynch, and Gelpí, Circuit Judges.

Thomas Stavola, Jr. for appellants. Thekla Hansen-Young, with whom Todd Kim, Assistant Attorney General, Environment & Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Luther L. Hajek, Perry Rosen, Mark Arthur Brown, Angela Ellis, Kevin W. McArdle, Pedro Melendez-Arreaga, Assistant Solicitor, U.S. Department of the Interior, Stephen R. Vorkoper, Lea Tyhach, Attorney Advisor, Office of General Counsel, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Scott Farley were on brief, for the federal appellees. Peter R. Steenland, with whom David T. Buente, Jr., Peter C. Whitfield, James R. Wedeking, Kathleen Mueller, Brooklyn Hildebrandt, Jack W. Pirozzolo, and Sidley Austin LLP were on brief, for appellee Vineyard Wind 1, LLC. April 24, 2024 KAYATTA, Circuit Judge. After consulting with the National Marine Fisheries Service ("NMFS"), the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management ("BOEM") approved the construction of Vineyard Wind, a wind power project off the coast of Massachusetts. A group of Nantucket residents -- organized as Nantucket Residents Against Turbines ("Residents") -- allege that the federal agencies violated the Endangered Species Act by concluding that the project's construction likely would not jeopardize the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. The Residents further allege that BOEM violated the National Environmental Policy Act by relying on NMFS's flawed analysis.

We disagree. NMFS and BOEM followed the law in analyzing the right whale's current status and environmental baseline, the likely effects of the Vineyard Wind project on the right whale, and the efficacy of measures to mitigate those effects. Moreover, the agencies' analyses rationally support their conclusion that Vineyard Wind will not likely jeopardize the continued existence of the right whale. We therefore affirm the judgment of the district court. Our reasoning follows.

I.

A.

This case lies at the intersection of four federal environmental statutes: (1) the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act ("OCSLA"), (2) the Endangered Species Act ("ESA"), (3) the Marine

- 3 - Mammal Protection Act ("MMPA"), and (4) the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA").

1.

OCSLA authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to issue leases for offshore wind development. 43 U.S.C. § 1337(p)(1)(C). The Secretary has delegated her leasing authority to BOEM. 30 C.F.R. § 585.100. Before issuing an offshore lease, BOEM must "coordinate and consult with relevant [f]ederal agencies," and it must comply with the consultation requirements of other federal environmental statutes, such as the ESA. Id. § 585.203.

Once BOEM issues an offshore lease, its work is not done. The agency must also approve a site assessment plan and a construction and operations plan. See id. §§ 585.605, 585.620. The construction and operations plan must describe "all planned facilities that [the lessee] will co