VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – In the past few months, multiple whales, including a right whale who had recently given birth, died along the Virginia coast, causing some groups to question the advancement of wind energy off the coast.

Three public interest groups, as well as two individuals, filed a lawsuit against Dominion Energy and the Biden administration, hopes to delay the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Commercial (CVOW) project.

The lawsuit, filed on Monday, claims there has not been enough research into the environmental impacts of the CVOW project, especially concerning the endangered North Atlantic right whale (NARW).

According to the lawsuit, the CVOW project’s planned site will be located “within or very near the NARW habitat, including the whale’s well-established migration route.”

The full lawsuit can be found below:

In a hearing on Monday, Judge Loren L. AliKhan ordered a status report on the project by Friday, May 3, and a response from Dominion and the Biden administration by Monday, May 6.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Dominion Energy said the offshore wind project has not been delayed, claiming the petition was filed without merit. The full statement can be found below:

Dominion Energy, Inc. (NYSE: D), today announced that any reports that the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project has been delayed are false and grossly misrepresent the facts. On April 29, anti-wind groups filed a petition in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to delay CVOW construction using the same meritless arguments as have already been rejected before by the courts, including last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in relation to an offshore wind project in Massachusetts. Dominion Energy strongly believes that the project’s biological opinion is compliant with all legal requirements and expects to prevail against the request for a construction delay. Consistent with the construction schedule, installation of monopolies by the DEME-operated vessel “Orion” is expected to commence between May 6 and May 8. Therefore, any suggestion that any legal action has caused a delay to the construction timeline as of May 1, 2024, is false.

Dominion Energy