A federal District Court judge in Washington granted a preliminary injunction allow construction work to resume on Equinor’s Empire Wind project off New York, in a second setback for the Trump administration’s effort to shut down offshore wind projects on grounds of national security.
Judge Carl J. Nichols found that “Empire Wind has demonstrated that it will suffer irreparable harm” if the administration’s Dec. 22 stop-work order stands. Developers of the 810-megawatt rated project, now about 60% complete, would be at “existential risk” if the shutdown continued with escalating costs.
The injunction follows a similar court order issued after developer Ørsted likewise appealed the shutdown of its Revolution Wind project off southern New England. Stop-work orders remain in force for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, Sunrise Wind and Vineyard Wind 1.
“Empire Wind will now focus on safely restarting construction activities that were halted during the suspension period,” Equinor said in a statement after the court allowed work to resume. “In addition, the project will continue to engage with the U.S. government to ensure the safe, secure and responsible execution of its operations.”
The wind power advocacy group Oceantic Network said Equinor’s arguments for keeping Empire Wind alive “outweighed the Government’s claim of the potential risk to public safety interests during construction. Additionally, the judge noted the Administration failed to respond to most of Empire Wind’s claims, nor did they contest that the construction pause was an arbitrary and capricious action.”
