Federal Judge Rules Against Trump Administration on Wind Farm Shutdown

A federal court in D.C. has ruled in favor of Orsted in a lawsuit against the Interior Department, allowing the wind farm developer to resume construction at the Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island. The ruling is a small setback for the Trump administration's oft-repeated goal of bringing an end to the U.S. wind energy industry. 

In a statement, Orsted confirmed that it plans to resume construction as quickly as possible, and that it will keep negotiating with the Trump administration on a comprehensive solution to the dispute. The project is 80 percent finished and approaching operation; federal interruption of a fully-permitted energy project of any kind is nearly unprecedented, especially so near to completion of construction. But the Department of the Interior argued that Orsted had not followed the rules of its construction and operations permit, notably a requirement to work with the U.S. Navy on deconfliction of impact on its operations. 

Wind farms do affect navigability for submarines and surface craft, but these conflicts were previously addressed during permitting. Orsted noted that the project had already gone through a complete national security review in 2023, prior to final federal approval. 

"Today’s decision allowing work to resume on Revolution Wind is welcome news for the hundreds of skilled workers who can now return to their jobs while the legal process continues," said Liz Burdock, head of the ocean energy industry group Oceantic Network. "This Made in America energy project is putting Americans to work building reliable, affordable power to communities across New England that desperately need it."

While Orsted may have won a district-court victory, the pressure on developers is intense and is certain to continue. The Trump administration has stood up a powerful cabinet-level task force to review all wind farm permits, following the president's pledge that "we don't allow windmills, we don't allow any windmills to go up."

"We now have an interdepartmental coalition, a team, which is Doug Burgum and Howard Lutnick and Chris Wright and Pete Hegseth are all working on this. We're all working together on this issue," Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy told Reuters last month, referring to the Secretaries of the Interior, Commerce, Energy and Defense (respectively).