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Nantucket says staying in Good Neighbor (CBA) gives legal leverage; town outlines enforcement options
Summary
Town and its counsel said at a public briefing that remaining a party to the Community Benefit Agreement (CBA) provides Nantucket legal leverage to enforce communications and other obligations, and that the town retains options including regulatory requests and litigation.
Nantucket officials said they will remain a party to the Community Benefit Agreement — sometimes called the good neighbor agreement — because withdrawing would forfeit contractual leverage the town now uses to press Vineyard Wind on communications, emergency planning and other commitments.
“Our legal leverage is the contract,” said Greg Werkheiser, special counsel for the town. He told reporters the proper response to a counterparty’s failure to meet obligations is to enforce the contract, not exit it. Brooke Moore and other select board members reiterated that staying in the CBA preserves the town’s ability to demand compliance and to seek remedies if Vineyard Wind does not adopt the requested protocols.
Werkheiser and town officials said the CBA contains specific communications and coordination commitments — the town referenced paragraph 4.2 (coordination on development, permitting, construction, and operations), paragraph 6.1 (regular communications), and paragraph 5.2 (ensuring residents and visitors can learn about and engage with the project). The town said some CBA commitments were later reflected in federal processes, but other communication obligations are unique to the CBA and would disappear if the town withdrew from the agreement.
Town counsel said the range of enforcement options includes: seeking regulatory action from federal agencies (the Departments of the Interior and Justice, BOEM, and BSEE were named in the press conference), pursuing litigation to enforce the CBA, and political or public-pressure strategies that might prompt investor or company action. Officials said they will ask regulators and elected officials to use their authority to press Vineyard Wind to agree to reasonable accountability measures.
When asked about the authority to enforce specific dollar penalties the town proposed (for example, a $25,000-per-turbine daily figure for lighting), Werkheiser said the town is making the demands publicly to seek a line‑by‑line company response; he did not commit to a specific enforcement mechanism and said the town would evaluate options if Vineyard Wind declines to comply.
