Contact Information
Permitting Council Press Office (media@permitting.gov) 

WASHINGTON (March 26, 2024) – The Permitting Council is pleased to announce that the Empire Wind project has received all necessary federal environmental permitting approvals and is now complete on the FAST-41 permitting dashboard. The offshore wind project is expected to generate 2.1 GW of renewable energy, potentially powering over 700,000 New York homes.  

“Offshore wind is a key component of the Biden-Harris administration’s work to power a clean energy economy that not only protects human health and the economy but creates the next generation of career opportunities for American families,” says Eric Beightel, Permitting Council Executive Director. “The Permitting Council could not be more pleased to see Empire Wind reach this milestone, and we are excited to see the role it plays in transforming the energy landscape.”

The 138 turbine project will be constructed approximately 14 statute miles offshore New York and 19.5 statute miles offshore New Jersey. In addition to bringing critically needed renewable energy to New York consumers, project sponsors anticipate that the project will contribute to the state’s renewable energy development goals and provide significant economic benefits to New York. The project is expected to create more than 1000 local jobs during construction and operations. 

The Permitting Council is the central coordinating body for permitting offshore wind energy in the U.S. and serves as a key implementing agent of the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal to deploy 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030. Empire Wind now joins South Fork Wind Farm and Revolution Wind Farm as completed projects under the Permitting Council’s purview. 

The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management served as the lead agency for Empire Wind’s permitting review. Learn more at Permitting.gov. 

About the Permitting Council and FAST-41 

Established in 2015 by Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41), the Permitting Council is a federal agency charged with improving the transparency and predictability of the federal environmental review and authorization process for certain critical infrastructure projects. The Permitting Council coordinates federal environmental reviews and authorizations for projects that seek and qualify for FAST-41 coverage. FAST-41 covered projects are entitled to comprehensive permitting timetables and transparent, collaborative management of those timetables on the Federal Permitting Dashboard. FAST-41 covered projects may be in the renewable or conventional energy production, electricity transmission, energy storage, surface transportation, aviation, ports and waterways, water resource, broadband, pipelines, manufacturing, mining, carbon capture, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and machine learning, high-performance computing and advanced computer hardware and software, quantum information science and technology, data storage and data management, and cybersecurity sectors.