WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled Monday that Danish energy company Orsted could restart work on Revolution Wind, a large wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island that is nearly complete but had been abruptly halted last month by the Trump administration.
Judge Royce Lamberth of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit that the developers of Revolution Wind had filed challenging the Interior Department’s stop-work order. The injunction means that construction can continue while the case moves forward.
“Revolution Wind will resume impacted construction work as soon as possible, with safety as the top priority,” Orsted, which is developing the wind farm in a joint venture with Skyborn Renewables, said in a statement. Orsted added it would “continue to seek to work collaboratively with the U.S. administration and other stakeholders toward a prompt resolution” of the lawsuit.
The $6.2 billion Revolution Wind project was 80% completed when the Interior Department ordered construction to stop Aug. 29. The developers behind the 65-turbine project had said it was on track to generate enough electricity for more than 350,000 homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut by next spring.
When it ordered construction to stop last month, the Interior Department cited unspecified national security concerns. In response to Orsted’s lawsuit, the government argued that the project failed to comply with some conditions of its permit, including coordinating with the U.S. Navy to avoid risks to military operations.