Yet another judge rejects Trump effort to block offshore wind, saying NY
project can resume
[February 03, 2026] By
JENNIFER McDERMOTT and ALEXA ST. JOHN
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.”
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Blades and turbine bases for offshore wind sit at a staging area at
New London State Pier, Jan. 14, 2026, in New London, Conn. (AP
Photo/Matt O'Brien, File)
 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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