Empire Wind Gets Court-Ordered Injunction Against U.S. to Resume Work
A U.S. District Court Judge on Thursday, January 15, found for Equinor and its Empire Wind offshore project issuing a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration’s December stop-work order on the construction of offshore wind farms. It was the second court this week to issue a preliminary injunction, with others expected to rule in the coming days, while today the judge said the court would expedite a decision on the underlying case.
The injunction issued for Empire Wind came one day before the company had said it would have to shut down the project and abandon the wind farm, which is approximately 60 percent completed. The company told the court the project is working on a tight, carefully orchestrated timeline, and that the delay since the December 22 order threatened the project.
A heavy lift vessel has arrived on-site, and Equinor said it was critical that it, along with the crane, proceeded to place the topside for the project. It highlighted that the vessel is under contract and cannot linger at the sight. It said the company would find it difficult, if not impossible, to store the substation pending a later decision. The company also cited mounting costs from the delays and a threat to its project financing.
Judge Carl Nichols on the D.C. District Court heard the case on Wednesday and promised a quick decision regarding the request for the preliminary injunction. Today, the judge ruled the project would likely suffer “imminent irreparable harm” from the delay and granted the injunction while the merits of the case are being decided.
Equinor and Empire Wind quickly issued a statement saying they were focusing on safely restarting construction activities. They said they would also continue to seek to engage with the government to ensure safe and responsible operations.
Equinor, Ørsted, and Dominion Energy, in their pending legal cases, emphasized the long permitting process, including reviews and approvals by the Department of Defense. Ørsted won a similar preliminary injunction on Monday, permitting it to restart work on Revolution Wind off the coast of Rhode Island. A hearing is scheduled for Friday for Dominion Energy’s request for an order to permit it to also resume work on its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.
The Department of the Interior instructed five offshore wind farms under construction to stop work as of December 22. It cited new confidential research conducted by the Pentagon that showed a risk to national security. The reports said it is focusing on radar interference and “clutter” created by the wind turbine blades and towers.
A lawyer for Empire Wind, Ann Navaro, told the court that the Trump administration has not responded to requests for a confidential briefing on the new data. Similarly, Ørsted and Dominion Energy also said they have asked for a briefing and not received a response from the Pentagon. The judge in the Dominion Energy case has ordered the Pentagon to turn over data to the court.
Empire Wind, which is located south of New York’s Long Island, is reported to be 60 percent installed. It is due to be completed by 2027. The project had previously been ordered by the Trump administration to stop work for a month just before offshore work was scheduled to begin in the spring. That issue was settled in an out-of-court agreement after Norwegian government officials appealed to the White House, and New York State reportedly agreed to let a stalled pipeline project proceed.
A White House spokesperson told Bloomberg this afternoon that the federal government will keep fighting the offshore wind projects.
Judge Nichols today asked the government and Empire Wind to propose an expedited briefing schedule for the case. He set a January 20 deadline so that he can quickly decide the merits of the complaint against the stop-work order.
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In addition to the cases for Empire Wind, Revolution Wind, and Coastal Virginia, Ørsted has filed a separate case for its Sunrise Wind project located off the coast of New York's Montauk Point. Today, Avangrid, which is developing Vineyard Wind 1, also reported that it has filed for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, challenging the suspension order.
The states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York have also joined the legal battle. Each of the states filed suit in support of the offshore wind projects, citing the harm to the state’s economic development from the order.