A judge in Washington D.C. issued a ruling Monday allowing work to continue on Revolution Wind.
The ruling hands a temporary victory to Orsted, which is working on the offshore wind project intended to power more than 300,000 thousand homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island. It’s the second time a judge has overturned a stop work order on the project from the Trump administration.
Revolution Wind was nearly 90% complete when the Trump administration most recently halted the project just days before Christmas, citing national security concerns.
But on Monday, a judge in Washington D.C. issued a temporary injunction, allowing work to resume.
The judge said the administration failed to explain why construction could not continue and that members of the administration were vocal in criticizing offshore wind farms for reasons unrelated to national security.
The administration did not reveal specifics about its national security concerns, but President Donald Trump said Friday while meeting with oil industry executives about investing in Venezuela that wind farms are “losers.” He said they lose money, destroy the landscape and kill birds.
“I’ve told my people we will not approve windmills,” Trump said. “Maybe we get forced to do something because some stupid person in the Biden administration agreed to do something years ago. We will not approve any windmills in this country.”
The developers of Revolution Wind said before Trump returned to office, the project was approved by the Defense Department. The developers said a long delay could kill the project and that they were losing $1.4 million per day due to the stop work order.
In a statement, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont praised the judge’s decision and said the project should never have been shut down.
“Federal interference has stood in the way of lower energy costs and good-paying jobs, but today’s ruling puts Revolution Wind back on track,” Lamont said.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said the judge’s decision will be a boon to energy consumers and that the Trump administration’s efforts to halt the project were misguided and without evidence.
“This repeated effort to stop a project — already nearly 90% complete — plainly flouts laws, facts and public interest,” Blumenthal said.
Katie Dykes, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, agreed.
“Once again, the courts have confirmed what we already know, that the federal government’s efforts to stop the Revolution Wind project are nonsensical, arbitrary, and capricious,” she said in a statement. “This is welcome news for the dedicated skilled laborers working on this project, and for Connecticut ratepayers, who stood to lose an estimated $500 million per year if this project were blocked.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
