The U.S. Supreme Court last week decided against hearing a national fishing group’s petition to halt an offshore wind energy project south of the Vineyard. 

Last Monday, the court announced it would not take up the appeal filed by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), keeping a previous ruling on the 62-turbine Vineyard Wind project intact. The group argued that the Department of Interior did not follow the law when approving the project. 

This is the second time this year that the Supreme Court decided to not take up a case around Vineyard Wind, and one of several legal challenges lobbed at the project, the first utility-scale offshore wind project approved in the U.S. The wind farm, which is about 14 miles south of the Island, has an operations headquarters on Beach Road in Vineyard Haven. 

The court did not elaborate on why it declined to take up the case, which is normal.

Along with a group of Nantucketers, which also had their petition turned down by the Supreme Court, RODA has been leading the court fight against offshore wind projects in New England. 

“We are disappointed that the Supreme Court denied our petition,” said Lane Johnston, the acting executive director of RODA. “This issue is of such importance to members of the commercial fishing industry. RODA will continue our efforts to combat the destructive industrialization of the nation’s marine resources.”

RODA’s petition hinged on the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which allows the secretary of the interior to grant leases in areas offshore. 

RODA claimed that the law requires the secretary to ensure the protection of the sea for a fishery. But in the Vineyard Wind approval, the secretary reinterpreted the requirement as only a single consideration weighed against the emerging offshore wind energy industry, according to the lawsuit. 

The chances of petitions being taken up by the highest court in the country are slim; The Supreme Court gets about 7,000 requests to review cases every year, but only takes up about 100 complaints. 

Vineyard Wind is still working to complete its project. Construction was set back after a blade on one of the turbines snapped in half in July.