Offshore wind developer has the upper hand in US court as Trump calls wind farms ‘losers’

A federal judge ruled Monday that work can resume on a major offshore wind farm off Rhode Island and Connecticut, giving the industry at least a temporary victory as President Trump tries to shut it down.

In the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Senior Judge Royce Lamberth said the government has not explained why it could not take action short of a complete halt to construction of Revolution Wind while it considers ways to address its national security concerns. He said it also did not provide sufficient rationale for the change of position.

Revolution Wind has received all federal permits and is nearly 90% ready to deliver power to Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Trump says his goal is not to have any “windmills” built. Three energy developers are challenging the government’s freeze on their offshore wind projects in federal court this week.

Danish energy company Orsted, Norwegian company Equinor and Dominion Energy Virginia have each filed a lawsuit asking the court to vacate and set aside the government’s Dec. 22 order freezing five major projects on the east coast over national security concerns. Orsted’s hearing was the first on the Revolution Wind project. Orsted said it will soon resume construction to deliver affordable, reliable power to the Northeast.

The administration has not disclosed details of its national security concerns, but Trump said wind farms are “losers” during a meeting with oil industry executives on Friday about investing in Venezuela. He said they are losing money, destroying the landscape and killing birds.

“I have told my people that we will not approve wind turbines,” Trump said. “We may be forced to do something because some stupid person in the Biden administration agreed to do something years ago. We will not approve wind turbines in this country.”

The Biden administration sought to ramp up offshore wind energy as a solution to climate change. Trump began rolling back the country’s energy policies on his first day as president with a series of executive orders aimed at boosting oil, gas and coal. A federal judge ruled Monday that the Trump administration acted illegally by revoking $7.6 billion in clean energy subsidies for projects in states that voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

The Trump administration has suspended leases for the Vineyard Wind project under construction in Massachusetts, Revolution Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind and two projects in New York: Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind. New York’s attorney general sued the Trump administration on Friday over Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind.

Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind are both major offshore wind projects of Orsted. Rhode Island and Connecticut filed their own petitions in court to save Revolution Wind.

“The law takes precedence over one man’s political whims, and we will continue to fight to ensure that remains the case,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said in a statement.

During Monday’s hearing, attorney Janice Schneider, representing Revolution Wind, said the stop-work order came at a critical stage of construction, with the project nearly 90% built and weeks away from starting to deliver power to the grid. She said the delay is costing more than $1.4 million a day, and now gives a specialized vessel just enough time to install the remaining turbines before the contract expires at the site in February.

Schneider said they take national security issues seriously, but the administration has not shared more information about its concerns with their experts who have security clearances or shared unclassified summaries.

“We think this court should be deeply skeptical of the government’s true motives here,” Schneider said, citing Trump’s comments on Friday.

Justice Department lawyer Peter Torstensen argued that national security is of paramount importance and that protection against new risks identified in the classified material outweighs the alleged irreparable harm to the developers.

Work on the Revolution Wind project was halted earlier on August 22 due to what the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said were national security concerns. A month later, Judge Lamberth ruled that the project could resume, citing the irreparable harm to the developers and the demonstrated likelihood of success based on the merits of their claim. Orsted builds it with Skyborn Renewables.

With four offshore wind projects still stalled, Hillary Bright, executive director of the offshore wind advocacy group Turn Forward, said she is hopeful they will prevail in court and that the administration will “come to understand the tremendous benefits these near-complete energy sources can bring to our nation’s energy and national security.”

Equinor owns Empire Wind. The limited liability company, Empire Wind LLC, said the project “will likely be terminated” if construction cannot resume Friday, as the order disrupts a tightly choreographed construction schedule dependent on vessels with very limited availability. The hearing is Wednesday.

“I would like to think that offshore wind energy is and will continue to be part of a comprehensive energy solution that our country desperately needs,” said Molly Morris, Equinor senior vice president who oversees Empire Wind.

Dominion Energy Virginia, which is developing Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, was the first to file a lawsuit. It asks a judge to block the order, calling it “arbitrary, capricious” and unconstitutional. The hearing is Friday.