Bucking the Trump administration, a federal judge has ruled that a nearly complete offshore wind project can continue construction for the time being.
Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, granted a preliminary injunction Monday that temporarily allows Revolution Wind to keep building its wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island.
Lamberth wrote that the wind developer is “likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction.”
The move comes after the Trump administration issued a stop-work order against the offshore wind farm in August, part of its broader crusade against renewable energy.
It said at the time that it was halting the project over unspecified concerns related to “national security interests” as well as the “prevention of interference” with other economic uses of the ocean.
Revolution Wind, a joint venture between Ørsted and a consortium led by Skyborn Renewables, then sued the administration. It argued that the stop-work order “was issued without statutory authority, lacks any evidentiary basis, and is unlawful.”
The wind farm in question is 80 percent complete and would be expected to provide enough energy to power 350,000 homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut, according to the company.
The ruling in question does not resolve the underlying case against the stop-work order, but it does put a pin in it for the time being.
In a statement, Ørsted said that Revolution Wind will “continue to seek to work collaboratively with the US Administration and other stakeholders toward a prompt resolution.”
“Revolution Wind will resume impacted construction work as soon as possible, with safety as the top priority,” Ørsted said.
A spokesperson for the Interior Department, which oversees energy production in federally owned waters and public lands, said in a written statement that its investigation of the project would continue even if the project keeps moving.
“As a result of the Court’s decision today, Revolution Wind will be able to resume construction as BOEM [the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management] continues its investigation into possible impacts by the project to national security and prevention of other uses on the Outer Continental Shelf,” the statement said. “The Department of the Interior remains committed to ensuring that prior decisions are legally and factually sound.”
The project is one of several previously approved offshore wind farms that the Trump administration has said it will reassess.
