Trump administration to appeal offshore wind court rulings

The US Department of Interior will appeal recent court rulings that have allowed five US offshore wind projects to resume construction, according to Bloomberg news and several online reports.   

From mid-January through early February 2026, US district courts have granted preliminary injunctions that enabled these projects to resume work while underlying lawsuits proceed. The projects include Revolution Wind, Empire Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW), Vineyard Wind (1), and Sunrise Wind.

These projects had all been subject to a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) stop-work order issued on December 22, 2025. That order had suspended construction activities for 90 days citing national security concerns related to potential radar interference from turbine blades.

But in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Feb. 11, the US Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum said that the DOI would appeal the rulings.

“Absolutely we are,” Burgum told Bloomberg Television, when asked if the administration would appeal those decisions. “As I’m sure as we get into court and have sessions and share classified information, there will be further discussions on this.”

Burgum underscored the possibility of radar and sonar interference as the basis for the national security concerns that prompted the Dec. 22 stop-work order.

But in his interview with Bloomberg, he also mentioned that autonomous drones and autonomous “submarines” – also deployed in the offshore wind construction process – could make the country’s defense system vulnerable.

The offshore wind projects “represent real national security risks,” Burgum was quoted as saying. “These are not made-up things.”