A federal judge ruled on Monday that work can resume on Revolution Wind, a large and nearly complete offshore wind farm near Rhode Island. Construction on the project had been halted since Aug. 22, when the Trump administration issued a stop-work order.
The order represents a rare — and, at least for now, temporary — win for the offshore wind industry, which has been a frequent target of the Trump administration.
In issuing a preliminary injunction in favor of Revolution, Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said the construction pause represented the “height of arbitrary and capricious action.” In explaining his decision, the judge repeatedly said that while the government cited potential national security concerns related to the project, it failed to “make any factual findings or cite any reasons” why the project needed to be paused.
Furthermore, Lamberth noted that the project’s developer, Ørsted, was losing at least $2.3 million a day, and that hundreds of people were out of work while the project was in limbo.
“There is no question in my mind of irreparable harm to the plaintiffs,” he said.
In granting the injunction, Lamberth didn’t make a final ruling in the case; the lawsuit over the stop-work order will continue, but in the meantime, construction can restart.
In a statement, Ørsted said it would “resume impacted construction work as soon as possible, with safety as the top priority.”
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which issued the stop-work order, could challenge the injunction. In a statement, the agency said it will continue “its investigation into possible impacts by the project to national security and prevention of other uses on the Outer Continental Shelf.”
Revolution Wind is a 65-turbine project that’s slated to deliver 704 megawatts of power to Rhode Island and Connecticut starting next year — enough electricity to power about 350,000 homes. The project received its final federal permits in 2023 and has been staging the wind farm from a newly revitalized port in New London, Connecticut.
At the time of the stop-work order, the company had spent around $5 billion on the project and construction was 80% complete.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont praised the judge’s decision, calling it “good news on behalf of consumers.” Once the project comes online, it’s expected to save ratepayers in the state about $500 million annually.
“If you want to talk about the birds and the fish and national security, we can do that,” Lamont added. “But in the meantime, let’s get back to work.”
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha also applauded the injunction, writing in a statement that the “President cannot cancel clean energy projects just because he believes doing so is politically expedient for him.”
In a separate lawsuit, Rhode Island and Connecticut sued the Trump administration over the stop-work order.
“What we’re looking for is to get this project up and running again as quickly as possible — get those workers and ships back out to sea to get the last 20% of this project done, and to bring this clean, reliable, over time inexpensive energy online to meet our energy needs up here in New England,” Neronha said.
In New London, where daily construction work at State Pier has come to a standstill since the stop-work order was issued, Mayor Mike Passero said his reaction to the news was “exuberance.”
“It’s been a long month and we’re so close to the end of this project,” he said. “We’re just months away from turning on the spigot, so it’s just a relief.”
Passero said Ørsted still has its construction workforce in place, so work should resume quickly.
“To be perfectly honest, I was a little concerned about irreparable harm,” he added. But he now expects the project will be done before the lawsuit over the stop-work order wraps up.
Across New England, wind advocates outside of government also celebrated news of the injunction.
“This ruling confirms what we’ve known all along — that the Trump administration’s attempt to stop Revolution Wind is not only a violation of the law but a dramatic overreach,” said Kate Sinding Daly, senior vice president for law and policy at Conservation Law Foundation. “We applaud the court for upholding the rule of law and rejecting a reckless attempt to sabotage clean energy progress that will slash bills and toxic pollution.”
Revolution Wind is just one of a handful of large offshore wind projects under construction along the Atlantic Coast. Several New England states are counting on the renewable energy from offshore wind projects to provide a critical source of power, create jobs and spur economic development.
Under the Biden administration, these states, and the young industry, had a lot of support. But President Trump is a longtime critic of offshore wind, and his administration has launched a multi-agency effort to stop projects at all phases of development.
Just last week, the administration moved to revoke key permits for two previously-approved wind projects: SouthCoast Wind near Massachusetts and US Wind near Maryland. In court documents, the administration has announced its intention to revoke permits for another Massachusetts project, New England Wind, sometime in the next few weeks.
WSHU’s Ebong Udoma, CT Public’s Áine Pennello and Ben Berke of the Public’s Radio contributed reporting.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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