A federal judge ruled Monday that Offshore wind project Construction work, which aims to supply energy to 600,000 New York homes, can resume, the fifth project of its kind to be put back on track after the crisis. Trump administration I stopped them in December.
In paving the way for the Sunrise Wind project to move forward, Judge Royce Lamberth found that the government had not proven that offshore wind poses such an imminent national security risk that it should be stopped in the United States.
President Donald Trump has said his goal is to not allow any “windmills” to be built. He often talks about his hatred of wind energy. Manage it Five large offshore wind projects have been frozen on the East Coast days before Christmas, due to national security concerns. Developers and states sued To prevent the request. White House spokesman Taylor Rogers repeatedly said during the legal battle over the pause that Trump was clear that “wind energy is the scam of the century” and that the pause was intended to protect the national security of the American people.
The Danish company Orsted has sued the administration over the grounding of both Sunrise Wind and Revolution Wind in Rhode Island and Connecticut. At a preliminary hearing on an injunction over Sunrise Wind in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday, Lamberth cited many of the same reasons he used when It was ruled in January that construction could continue On the winds of revolution.
Sunrise Wind said it would resume work as soon as possible. New York State and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, He filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration About stopping Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind because she said the pause threatens New York’s economy and power grid.
Other federal judges allowed construction to resume in January Empire Wind Project for New York From the Norwegian company Equinor Virginia offshore winds For Virginia by Dominion Energy Virginia, and Winds of Generosity for Massachusetts By Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.
Hilary Bright, executive director of offshore wind advocacy group Turn Forward, cited the industry’s court victories, saying the government should stop trying to block such projects.
“At a time when electricity demand is growing rapidly and grid reliability is under increasing pressure, these projects represent much-needed utility-scale energy resources that are making progress toward completion,” Bright said. It is estimated that the projects combined will generate 6 gigawatts of electricity, supplying energy to 2.5 million American homes and businesses.
The Sunrise Wind project is about 45% complete and is expected to become operational in 2027. Sunrise Wind LLC said in court papers that the stop-work order has cost the project at least $1.25 million per day, a number that will rise in February if construction does not resume. She also said that if the shutdown continues beyond the first week of February, it could lead to cancellation.
The government said national security concerns outweighed any harm to developers from the pause. It said it was relying on new classified information provided by defense officials in November about the national security implications of offshore wind projects.
Trump did Ignore offshore wind developments As ugly as it is, Ørsted says the Sunrise Wind project would be at least 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Montauk Point on Long Island, which is almost unnoticeable from Long Island. The Sunrise Wind project will be able to generate 924 megawatts, enough clean energy to power about 600,000 New York homes.
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