Federal Judge Allows Work on East Coast Wind Farm to Continue Despite Government Opposition

WASHINGTON—The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Sept. 22 issued an injunction that permits construction on a wind turbine farm off the coast of New England to be completed, despite the Trump administration’s opposition.

The turbine farm, known as the Revolution Wind project, was approved by the Biden administration to build 704 megawatts of wind turbine capacity 15 miles off Rhode Island in the North Atlantic Ocean. On Aug. 22, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a “stop-work order” to Revolution Wind pending a review for “national security interests,” when the project was in the final stage of construction.

Revolution Wind sued to overturn that order, saying that it had undergone extensive permitting and security-related reviews of the project, and sought a preliminary injunction. That injunction was granted by the federal District Court, which opined that Revolution Wind was likely to win its lawsuit.

“Revolution Wind has demonstrated likelihood of success on the merits of its underlying claims, it is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction, the balance of equities is in its favor, and maintaining the status quo by granting the injunction is in the public interest,” wrote Judge Royce C. Lamberth, who is presiding over the case.

The decision was lauded by the company, as well as by the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island. The project states that it will supply 350,000 homes with electricity in those two states, whose Democratic-led governments have made carbon emissions reductions and alternative energy sources a priority.

“This is a major win for Connecticut workers and for Connecticut families who need this project on track now so it can start to drive down our unaffordable energy bills. … The Trump administration’s erratic action was the height of arbitrary and capricious, and failed to satisfy any statutory provisions,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a Democrat, wrote in a statement about the injunction.

“Every day that this project is stymied is a day of lost employment, another day of unaffordable energy costs, and another day burning fossil fuels when American-made clean energy is within reach.”

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, also a Democrat, wrote in a statement: “Today’s win is fantastic news for Rhode Island workers and families who want to see stability in energy costs and less reliance on fossil fuels.”

Orsted, the Danish company that owns the project, stated that the project “will resume impacted construction work as soon as possible.”

In court documents, the company stated that it has been losing more than $2 million each day that construction was stopped.

The Trump administration has said that wind turbines are “unreliable energy sources” and that the suspension is part of an “America First energy strategy.”

“Gargantuan, unreliable, intermittent energy projects hold America back from achieving U.S. Energy Dominance while weighing heavily on the American taxpayer and environment,” wrote Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in a statement published by the Bureau of Energy Ocean Management about reviewing wind and solar projects.

The Department of the Interior has not indicated whether it will appeal the injunction. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.