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A federal judge on Thursday cleared the way for construction to resume on a New York offshore wind project, a victory for developers who said a Trump administration order halting the project could end it within days.
District Judge Carl J. Nichols, Presidential Appointee Donald Trumpruled that construction of the Imperial Wind project can continue while he considered the merits of the government’s order suspending the project. He accused the government of failing to respond to key points in Imperial Winds’ court filings, including its contention that it violated due process.
norwegian company Statoil Has an imperial feel. It is the second developer this week to win against the government in court.
Trump administration freezes five major offshore wind projects east coast Just days before Christmas, citing national security concerns. Trump has targeted offshore wind from his first days in the White House, recently calling wind farms “losers” that lose money, damage landscapes and kill birds.
Developer States filed lawsuits to try to block the order. Large-scale offshore wind farms are key to plans to shift to renewable energy in East Coast states that have limited land for onshore wind turbines or solar arrays.
On Monday, a judge ruled that Danish energy company Orsted can resume its projects to serve rhode island and Connecticut. Senior Judge Royce Lamberth said the government had not adequately explained the need to halt construction entirely. That wind farm, called Revolutionary Winds, is nearing completion. It is expected to meet about 20% of the electricity needs of the smallest state, Rhode Island, and about 5% of the electricity needs of Connecticut.
Orsted is also suing over the suspension of its New York Sunrise Winds project, with a hearing still to be determined. Dominion Energy Virginia, which is developing offshore wind off the coast of Virginia, plans to ask a judge on Friday to block the government order so it, too, can resume construction.
The fifth project on hold is the Vineyard Wind project under construction in Massachusetts. Owners Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners have not said publicly whether they plan to join other developers in challenging the government.
Empire Wind is 60% complete and aims to power more than 500,000 homes. Equinor said the project was in jeopardy due to limited availability of dedicated ships and severe financial losses.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Judge Nicholls said the government’s main safety concern appeared to be the operation of the wind turbines, not their construction, although the government disputed that argument.
In introducing the government’s case, Deputy Attorney General Stanley Woodward, Jr. cast doubt on what Empire Wind said was a perfect storm of horrific events that would derail their entire project if construction didn’t resume. He disagreed with the suggestion that the government’s main concern was operations.
“I don’t understand how to make that distinction,” Woodward said. He likened it to a nuclear project under construction that poses national security risks. The government will oppose its construction and launch.
Molly Morris, Equinor’s senior vice president for Empire Wind, said in an interview that the company hopes to build the project to provide New York with a major, important new source of energy.
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McDermott reported from Providence, Rhode Island.
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