The ongoing battle between the Trump administration and the American offshore wind industry saw multiple court rulings in January. In December, the Interior Department ordered all work to stop on five offshore wind projects under construction, citing unspecified national security concerns. As a result, $25 billion in investments are in jeopardy. In response, the developers of the projects filed lawsuits in various courts arguing that the government failed to justify its actions and delaying the projects would cause irreparable harm to the companies involved.
The administration’s efforts to stifle the offshore wind power industry has suffered three legal setbacks. The judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued a preliminary injunction that would allow the $11.2 billion Coastal Virginia windfarm to continue construction while its developer Dominion Energy pursues its legal case.
The judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia stayed the Interior Department’s suspension order for the 87% complete Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island and that work can continue with construction while litigation filed against the Trump administration continues.
Finally, a second judge of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia ruled that the stop work order on the $5 billion Empire Wind project off the coast of Long Island would likely cause irreparable harm. Judge Carl Nichols, who was nominated to the bench by President Trump, said that the Justice Department provided no substantive proof of potential dangers of the wind project before it ordered the work stopped.
