Yet another judge rejects Trump effort to block offshore wind, saying NY project can resume

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A federal judge on Monday ruled that an offshore wind project aimed at powering 600,000 New York homes can resume construction, the fifth such project put back on track after the Trump administration halted them in December.

In clearing the way for Sunrise Wind to proceed, Judge Royce Lamberth found that the government had not shown that offshore wind is such an imminent national security risk that it must halt in the United States.

President Donald Trump has said his goal is to not let any “windmills” be built, and often talks about his hatred of wind power. His administration froze five big offshore wind projects on the East Coast days before Christmas, citing national security concerns. Developers and states sued to block the order. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers has repeatedly said during the legal battle over the pause that Trump has been clear that “wind energy is the scam of the century” and the pause is meant to protect the national security of the American people.

Danish company Orsted sued the administration over halting both Sunrise Wind and its Revolution Wind for Rhode Island and Connecticut. In a preliminary injunction hearing on Sunrise Wind at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday, Lamberth cited many of the same reasons that he used when he ruled in January that construction could continue on Revolution Wind.

Sunrise Wind said it would resume work as soon as possible. The project is roughly 45% complete and is expected to be operational next year.

It wasn’t clear whether the administration would appeal. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management declined to comment on the litigation.

Though all five projects have been cleared to resume, the construction pause has cost developers millions of dollars and, along with Trump’s sustained attacks on renewable energies of all kinds, injected uncertainty and additional risk into future projects. Such delays also mean additional costs for ratepayers, said Hillary Bright, executive director of offshore wind advocacy group Turn Forward.

“At a time when electricity demand is rising rapidly and grid reliability is under increasing strain,” Bright said, “these projects represent critically needed utility-scale power sources that are making progress toward completion.”

Other federal judges allowed construction to restart in January on the Empire Wind project for New York by Norwegian company Equinor, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind for Virginia by Dominion Energy Virginia, and Vineyard Wind for Massachusetts by Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.

Bright estimated the projects combined would generate 6 gigawatts of electricity, powering 2.5 million American homes and businesses.

In a statement, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, called Monday's ruling a “big win” for the state’s future, insisting that “energy independence is national security.” The state’s attorney general, Letitia James, sued the Trump administration over halting Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind because she said the pause threatens New York’s economy and energy grid.

Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate environment committee, said the judges' rulings show that the administration's claims about security and the high costs of wind power don't stand up to scrutiny.

“Enough is enough,” Whitehouse said, adding that the “irrational and unpredictable” attempts to stifle the offshore wind industry were bad for the wider economy.

Sunrise Wind LLC said in court paperwork that the stop-work order was costing the project at least $1.25 million per day, a figure that would increase in February if construction couldn’t resume. It also said if the work stoppage continued past the first week of February, it might force cancellation.

Trump has also dismissed offshore wind developments as ugly, but Orsted says the Sunrise Wind project will be at least 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Long Island’s Montauk Point, virtually unnoticeable from Long Island. Sunrise Wind will be capable of generating 924 megawatts, enough clean energy to power about 600,000 New York homes.

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Associated Press reporter Matthew Daly contributed from Washington, D.C.

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