Developers of two large East Coast offshore wind projects filed lawsuits Jan. 1 and 2 in federal district court in Washington, DC, seeking to block a Dec. 22 Trump administration order halting work on five large Atlantic offshore wind projects on national security grounds.
The Jan. 1 legal response by owners Orsted and Skyborn Renewables, a unit of private investor BlackRock, seeks a preliminary injunction to block the U.S. Department of the Interior’s lease suspension for the estimated $5 billion, 704 MW Revolution Wind project, which the owners say is 87 percent complete and could begin generating power for 350 users in Rhode Islandicut this month
In its Jan. 2 lawsuit, developer Equinor, Norway’s state energy company, said it was seeking a similar injunction for its 810 MW Empire I wind project, with an estimated total cost of $5 billion and investment to date of $4 billion and now 60 percent complete off the coast of New York, including the expansion and improvement of a major port in Brooklyn, New York. The project, scheduled to be operational in 2027, faced a Trump-ordered shutdown in the spring of 2025 that lasted several weeks until it was reversed. That change followed discussions between the president and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), with unconfirmed reports that she agreed to consider new pipelines in the state as part of the deal.
Both lawsuits seek injunctions to allow work to continue while their case plays out in court, citing impacts on a workforce of thousands currently on the projects that research group BloombergNEF has estimated at a total investment of $28 billion.
The legal actions follow a Dec. 24 federal lawsuit against the order by Dominion Energy, which will also soon end the $11 billion, 2.6 GW Virginia Offshore Wind Project in Virginia. A federal judge in Norfolk, Virginia. will hear this lawsuit on January 16.
In their new legal filing, the developers of Revolution Wind also claim that the work stoppage violates federal laws and would cause substantial harm to the project, despite their stated effort “to work constructively with the administration and other interested parties” to resolve the dispute. Orsted and Black Rock had also challenged an August 2025 administration stop-work order on the project, which was overturned last month in a federal court action. The department did not specify what the risks were, but said they had previously been identified as potential interference with military radar.
Equinor said that “Empire and its contractors are complying with the order, while continuing the necessary activities to prevent health, safety and environmental impacts.”
Orsted said it “continues to weigh its options” on legal action related to the earlier-stage 924 MW Sunrise Wind project, also affected by the suspension and which is to provide power to Long Island, NY.
Meanwhile, earlier lawsuits by Connecticut and Rhode Island attorneys general against Revolution Wind’s stop-work order, citing economic and environmental harm to the two states, were consolidated last month in the D.C. federal court action.
Revolution Wind’s developers say the project “obtained all necessary federal and state permits by 2023 after comprehensive reviews … and multi-year consultations” with the US Air Force, US Coast Guard, US Army Corps of Engineers, National Marine Fisheries Service, US Department of Defense and other federal agencies, resulting in “formal agreements” outlining “measures of mitigation”. Equinor stated similar actions taken and approvals obtained in the execution of its Empire 1 project lease in 2017. is being developed under contract to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to provide short-term power for the New York City grid, the company said.
All 65 of Revolution’s wind turbine bases have been installed, as well as offshore substations, export cables and 58 turbines, Orsted said. The project has 20-year power purchase agreements with utilities Eversource, United Illuminating and National Grid for power supply in Connecticut and Rhode Island, which include “supporting the growing power needs of data centers and AI,” the company said, adding that independent grid operator ISO New England has warned “that stopping the project could increase electricity costs and reduce reliability for the region.”
If the project does not begin generating power by December 31, 2026, utilities may have the right to terminate their power contracts, according to the Providence Magazine in Providence, RI
The previous work stoppage had also cost the project more than $2 million a day, Orsted said.
