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Work on a major offshore wind project in New York can continue after a federal judge temporarily lifted the Trump administration’s suspension of the undertaking — finding that the project faced serious harm if the halt remained in place.
US District Judge Carl Nichols issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of a Dec. 22 stop-work order from the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which had cited national security concerns in halting construction of the offshore wind farm, known as Empire Wind.
The Thursday ruling clears the way for Equinor, the Norwegian energy company behind the project, to restart offshore construction after work was halted amid a broader administration review of five East Coast wind developments.
Nichols said Empire Wind had showed an injunction risked sinking the project completely.
The project’s backers “established on this record that losing access to specialized vessels that cannot be replaced in time to meet binding deadlines, will not just cause substantial financial loss, but it will threaten Empire Wind’s entire existence,” the judge stated.
“Damocles’s sword does not have to actually fall on the movant before the court will issue an injunction” in order to prevent irreparable harm,” he added.
President Trump, a Republican, has long blasted wind as “the worst form of energy,” seeking to slam the brakes on the sector while prioritizing oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear energy and more.
The Post has sought comment from the White House and the Interior Department.
“Empire Wind will now focus on safely restarting construction activities that were halted during the suspension period,” the company said in a press release.
“In addition, the project will continue to engage with the US government to ensure the safe, secure and responsible execution of its operations.
Gov. Kathy Hochul welcomed the judge’s decision — and slammed the feds’ rationale for issuing the stop-work order in the first place.
“They were stopped under the bogus pretense of national security,” the Dem said Thursday. “When I heard this, I said one thing, ‘I’m the Governor of New York. If there is a national security threat off the coast of New York, you need to tell me what it is — I want a briefing right now.’
“Lo and behold, they had no answer.”
Equinor is developing Empire Wind to supply renewable electricity to New York City.
Built in two phases, the big project is designed to generate more than 2,000 megawatts of power — enough to supply electricity to over 1 million homes.
The first phase, Empire Wind 1, has a planned capacity of 810 megawatts and is about 60% complete.
Construction began in 2024, with all 54 monopile foundations — cylindrical structures jammed into the seafloor — installed in the federal waters of the Atlantic Ocean, roughly 15–20 miles southeast of Long Island.
The monopiles were driven into the seabed at the offshore project site, where the wind turbines will be mounted.
Onshore and near-shore work — including cable staging, port activity and grid-connection infrastructure — is taking place in and around New York Harbor and Brooklyn.
Work was halted in late December after federal officials ordered a stop to construction, pausing a critical phase involving installation of the project’s offshore electrical substation.
Developers warned the delay risked derailing the project due to tight construction windows and limited availability of specialized vessels.
English (US)