Vineyard Wind, mired in the debris crisis on Nantucket, is set to face a “reckoning” in court this week as critics try to toss it’s underlying permit, arguing that regulators failed to analyze how the project would impact the environment and fishermen.

Arguments will be heard in federal appeals court in Boston on Thursday when Responsible Offshore Development Alliance – a coalition of fishing companies and industry associations – continues its fight against Vineyard Wind.

The alliance, based in Washington, D.C., is looking to overturn a lower court judge’s dismissal from last fall, arguing regulators failed to “conduct any safety, engineering, or structural integrity reviews of Vineyard Wind’s Haliade-X turbines.”

While this month’s turbine blade failure is at the top of mind, it is not expected to be a main sticking point during arguments, the alliance’s executive director Annie Hawkins told the Herald on Tuesday.

That’s only because raising new arguments when a case goes to appeal is “not usually welcomed by the appellate judges, you’re not supposed to do that,” she said.

Attorneys for the alliance and Seafreeze Shoreside Inc., another commercial fishing group suing Vineyard Wind, are set to argue on Thursday and stated in filings last week that the court should consider the blade failure in determining the case.

Vineyard Wind and the feds responded this week, arguing the failure and the Bureau of Safety and Enforcement’s order to cease power production from all wind turbine generators should not be factored in.

“Plaintiff-Appellants assert this Order proves that the project is unsafe and should not have been approved. They are mistaken,” a Vineyard Wind attorney wrote on Monday.

“The Order is not in the administrative record and is of no relevance to this appeal because it relates to events that occurred after Federal-Defendants-Appellees approved the project,” the attorney added. “Further, Plaintiff-Appellant ignores the record evidence of the many steps the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and Vineyard Wind took to ensure the project is carried out in a safe manner.”

In the response filing, the attorney highlighted how Vineyard Wind implemented a 500-meter safety zone around the turbine that has been “under constant surveillance” since the July 13 failure and continues to mobilize debris recovery teams, among other response efforts.

“As a rational thinker and citizen, of course, it’s relevant,” Hawkins told the Herald. “The whole lawsuit is us saying ‘You really didn’t analyze, you didn’t do enough to ensure the physical safety of fishermen and the well-being of fishermen and the environment.’

“And this happens,” she added.

Hawkins’ alliance challenged the $4 billion Vineyard Wind project in January 2022 before the case waded through the courts, and U.S. District Judge Inditra Talwani dismissed the suit last October.

Responsible Offshore Development Alliance and Seafreeze Shoreside claimed the 62-turbine, 806-megawatt wind farm would harm fishermen and the North Atlantic right whale.

Talwani said the alliance “did not have the statutory standing because it asserted only economic injuries” concerning National Environmental Policy Act claims.

“It showed a pretty clear misunderstanding of what fishermen do, of their culture, of their jobs, and of what they’re doing out there on the water and how these turbines will interact with the fishing, the environment,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins highlighted how the Biden administration decided to restart permitting for Vineyard Wind in February 2021, just a month after the president took office. The Trump administration delayed the process due to concerns turbines would negatively impact commercial fishing.

“The whole way this project was approved very much felt like a rush job,” Hawkins said.

The Nantucket Select Board and County Commissioners held an executive session on Tuesday to discuss the town’s strategy related to recovery costs associated with the blade failure.

Representatives from Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova, the company that designed, manufactured, and installed the turbines, will be on hand for a regular Select Board meeting on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

Engineering firm Arcadis will present an environmental assessment.

“Some debris has been observed offshore well south of the island near the offshore development area, and closer to shore,” town officials wrote in an update yesterday. “The debris observed floating offshore includes a mix of foam, fiberglass pieces of varying sizes, mainly smaller pieces with some larger pieces. Vessels are actively removing debris from the water.”