US district court rules that Revolution Wind can re-start construction

A US district court has granted a preliminary injunction which will allow Revolution Wind, LLC, to restart “impacted activities” while the underlying lawsuit challenging the Interior Department’s stop-work order progresses.

On August 23, the Trump administration halted construction of the Revolution Wind project through a “stop-work” order issued by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, under the US Department of Interior. 

The $4-billion offshore wind farm being built south of the Rhode Island coast had reportedly installed 45 of its 65 turbines when construction was halted. 

In turn, the project’s developers, Ørsted and Skyborn Renewables, filed a lawsuit on September 4th in federal court in Washington, D.C., challenging the federal government’s stop-work order. The attorneys general of Connecticut and Rhode Island filed a separate, similar lawsuit in Rhode Island federal court on the same day.

The preliminary injunction was issued by the US District Court for the District of Columbia. 

In a September 22nd statement, Ørsted said that it will resume impacted construction work “as soon as possible, with safety as the top priority.” The statement added that the developers will continue to seek to “work collaboratively” with the Trump administration and other stakeholders to reach a “prompt resolution.”

Revolution Wind is an offshore wind farm being built south of Rhode Island, and it is projected to provide 704-megawatt (MW) of power. The project is the first multi-state offshore wind farm in the US, and original plans called for it to be fully operational by 2026.