New York Attorney General Letitia James yesterday filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration’s stop-work orders on two major offshore wind projects set to power more than a million New York homes.
One of them – Empire Wind 1, developed by Norway’s Equinor – is 60% complete. By 2027, its 54 turbines were expected to generate 810MW to power 500,000 homes. The project includes an $861m rehabilitation of the 73-acre South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.
The other is 924MW Sunrise Wind, which Denmark’s Ørsted has been building since it got final approval in June 2024. It’s 45% complete, with 44 of 84 monopile turbine foundations installed. It had been expected to power 600,000 homes starting in 2027.
On 22 December the US Department of the Interior halted work on all five big wind schemes under construction off the eastern US coast on undisclosed grounds of national security.
As well as the Empire and Sunrise schemes, Ørsted’s Revolution Wind, Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, and Vineyard Wind 1, a joint venture of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid, were ordered to stop work.
All schemes are fully permitted and, combined, represent decades of planning and billions of dollars already invested.
‘Arbitrary and unwarranted’
James, who secured a fraud conviction against Donald Trump in 2024, called the orders “arbitrary and unwarranted” because both projects went through years of national security and safety reviews.
She asked the court to block the stop-work orders, saying they were unlawful and could threaten New York’s economy and energy grid.
“New Yorkers deserve clean, reliable energy, good-paying jobs, and a government that follows the law,” she said.
“These projects were carefully reviewed and already under construction when the federal government pulled the plug without explanation. This reckless decision puts workers, families, and our climate goals at risk, and my office is taking action to stop it.”
The attorney general said halting construction risks delaying or permanently derailing the projects, jeopardizing contracts, local tax revenue, workforce training programs, and long-term economic development tied to New York’s clean energy transition.
‘Incomprehensible obsession’
New York Governor Kathy Hochul weighed in, saying: “The Trump administration’s incomprehensible obsession with shutting down these fully permitted projects lacks legal justification, hurts his stated goal of U.S. energy independence, and will cost New York thousands of jobs and needed power to keep the lights on and attract economic development opportunities. These unlawful actions cannot stand.”
James joins Equinor and Ørsted in fighting the stop-work orders in the courts.
On 2 January, Equinor’s Empire Offshore Wind LLC filed a civil suit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, saying it would also seek a preliminary injunction.
On 6 January, Ørsted’s Sunrise Wind LLC filed a complaint in the same court challenging the Interior Department’s lease suspension order. Its complaint was to be followed by a motion for a preliminary injunction.
- Subscribe here to get stories about construction around the world in your inbox three times a week
See also:
