State and companies sue Trump administration over halt to wind farm construction

Offshore wind developers on the US East Coast and officials from the US state of Rhode Island are suing the Donald Trump administration over its suspension of the 704 MW Revolution Wind project. It is just one of a series of projects whose construction has been halted. The project is already 80% complete, and its planned start-up in 2026 will affect thousands of jobs, according to the developers.

The attorneys general of Rhode Island and Connecticut, along with representatives of the joint venture between Danish company Ørsted and Skyborn Renewables, have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its order to halt work on the Revolution Wind project. The dispute is escalating and becoming a focal point of the administration’s efforts to curb offshore wind development.

The lawsuit was filed in federal district court on Thursday. The parties are seeking to overturn the stop-work order issued by the Department of the Interior. Shortly afterwards, the attorneys general of Connecticut and Rhode Island announced that they would also file a separate lawsuit in federal court in Rhode Island.

“The project invested billions of dollars in reliance on valid permits,” Revolution Wind said in its filing. “The stop-work order is invalid and must be vacated because it was issued without statutory authority, in violation of applicable regulations and agency procedures, in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, and is arbitrary and capricious.”

The stop-work order is one of several measures taken by President Donald Trump. Trump has long been a critic of the development of the US offshore wind industry, and since issuing the order, his administration has also withdrawn some grants for infrastructure projects related to offshore wind energy.

Thursday’s filing by Revolution Wind says that the Department of Defense had previously approved the project’s continuation.

“Now Trump wants to mothball the project without any justification, send workers home and saddle Connecticut families with millions of dollars in higher energy costs,” Attorney General William Tong said. “This kind of erratic and reckless governance is plainly unlawful, and we are trying to stop it.”

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers responded with a statement saying that offshore wind projects had been “unfairly favoured” under President Biden, while the rest of the energy industry was “held back by excessive regulation”.

Project almost complete, with more likely to follow

In a separate court filing on Wednesday, the Trump administration said it plans to revoke approval for the New England Wind project, owned by Avangrid, which was due to begin construction off the coast of Massachusetts this year.

A similar stop-work order was issued in April for another offshore wind project in waters off New York. The order was eventually rescinded in May following negotiations between the administration, New York’s governor and the developer, allowing construction to resume—but at a cost of 955 million dollars to the company behind the project.

The Revolution Wind project was halted by the Department of the Interior at the end of August. According to the official statement, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is to assess national security risks and concerns about interference with the reasonable use of surrounding waters.

The project received federal and state permits in 2023, and was expected to begin operating next year. It is currently 80% complete—all foundations have been installed and 45 of the 65 wind turbines have been erected.