Administration Sued Over Stop-Work Order on Wind Farm

UPDATE Sep 4, 2025 3:50 PM CDT

The company building a wind farm off Rhode Island sued the Trump administration on Thursday, arguing its decision to block work on the nearly finished project was illegal. The attorneys general of Connecticut and Rhode Island said they also plan to file separate suits before the day is out to have the stop-work order overturned, the New York Times reports. The filing by Orsted and Skyborn Renewables says they've spent $5 billion on the project so far and would face $1 billion in penalties for not completing it. They say the decision was political; President Trump opposes projects to harness wind energy.

Aug 23, 2025 12:50 PM CDT

The Trump administration has halted construction on a nearly complete offshore wind project near Rhode Island as the White House wages attacks on the offshore wind industry that scientists say is crucial to the fight against climate change. Danish wind farm developer Orsted says the Revolution Wind project is about 80% complete, the AP reports, with 45 of its 65 turbines already installed. Despite that progress—and the fact that the project had cleared years of federal and state reviews—the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued the order Friday, saying the government needs to review the project and "address concerns related to the protection of national security interests of the United States."

The order did not specify what the national security concerns might be. Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee, a Democrat, criticized the stop-work order and posted on X that he and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont "will pursue every avenue to reverse the decision to halt work on Revolution Wind." Construction on Revolution Wind began in 2023, and the project was expected to be fully operational next year. Revolution Wind is located more than 15 miles south of the Rhode Island coast and 12 miles southwest of Martha's Vineyard. It was projected to be Rhode Island and Connecticut's first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, capable of powering more than 350,000 homes.

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"This arbitrary decision defies all logic and reason," Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal said in a statement, adding, "This is a major setback for a critical project in Connecticut, and I will fight it." President Trump has made sweeping strides to prioritize fossil fuels and hinder renewable energy projects and recently called wind and solar power "THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY!" in a social media post. "The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!!" he wrote on his Truth Social site this week. Green Oceans, which opposes the offshore wind industry, applauded the decision. "We are grateful that the Trump Administration and the federal government are taking meaningful action to preserve the fragile ocean environment off the coasts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts," the nonprofit said in a statement.