EnviroPolitics Blog

Trump’s temper could cost Orsted’s offshore wind project $1 billion

By Alex Kuffner, Providence Journal

A federal judge on Monday allowed work to restart on the stalled Revolution Wind offshore wind project after the Trump administration halted it last month.

Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a motion for preliminary injunction of the stop-work order imposed by the Trump administration on the New England project during a high-stakes hearing. The multibillion-dollar offshore wind project is one of the highest-profile renewable energy projects that the administration has sought to suspend while it reviews approvals.

“There is no question in my mind of irreparable harm to the plaintiff,” Lamberth said of the administration’s actions during the hearing.

Lamberth said that if work does not proceed on the project, the “entire enterprise could collapse,” and he pointed to a specialized ship necessary to complete the project that will no longer be available after December.

The project, which is being developed by the Danish wind giant Ørsted and Skyborn Renewables, has argued that the stop-work order is illegal and “reflects a shockingly expansive theory of agency power to undo prior regulatory approvals.” Lawyers for the companies argued that the Interior Department violated the major questions doctrine with the pause.

Revolution Wind has said the stop-work order “will inflict devastating and irreparable harm” on the project. The company has already spent or committed about $5 billion on the project and will incur more than $1 billion in costs if the project is canceled, it said.

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Judge grants new life to Trump-trashed offshore wind project

The Trump administration had halted construction on the $6.2 billion Revolution Wind project, prompting its developer to sue

By Brad Plumer and Lisa Friedman, The New York Times

A federal judge ruled on Monday that the 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 the 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 that 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 percent completed when the Interior Department ordered construction to stop on 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.

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New Jerseyans rush to take advantage of expiring solar tax credits

By Briana Vanozzi and Ben Hlac, NJ Spotlight News

Homeowners in New Jersey and beyond are rushing to install solar panels on their rooftops in order to qualify for a federal tax credit that expires at the end of the year.

Congress zeroed out that tax credit, which covers 30% of a new residential solar project, as part of a broader Republican budget law.

The loss of that federal incentive is one of several threats facing the domestic solar industry, as our correspondent in Washington, Ben Hulac, explains. This interview has been excerpted and lightly edited.

See the full report

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NJ dive company discovers fishing trawler sunk in 1929

By Dan Radel, Asbury Park Press

One of the last dives of the late shipwreck hunter Joe Mazraani of Millstone Township, NJ, was to the steam trawler Seiner, a fishing vessel that disappeared in the fishing grounds of Georges Bank off Rhode Island in January 1929.

The vessel had been lost for 95 years before the team from the dive boat Tenacious, led by Mazraani and Eric Takakjian of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, discovered the wreck site in 2022 using side scan sonar. They returned on July 27 and 28 of this summer and positively identified the wreck.

However, Mazraani did not have long to celebrate the find. Just two short days later, he died while identifying a second wreck in the Georges Bank, said Jennifer Silletti, Mazraani’s partner in life and in the Atlantic Wreck Salvage Co. and Tenacious dive boat. The business and boat are based out of Point Pleasant Beach, NJ.

The Seiner left from New London, Connecticut, on Jan. 9, 1929, and was last heard from on the 18th when her captain, Thomas Miller, made a required daily report to the vessel’s owner, Portland Trawling Co.

See underwater images of the wreck of the Seiner

Seiner’s double drum trawl winch as seen on July, 27, 2025. The Seiner was an early 20th century fishing trawler that shipwrecked on Georges Bank on 1929. It was identified by the dive boat Tenacious this summer.

Concerns grew when Seiner failed to make her Jan. 19 report and again when she missed her scheduled return to port on Jan. 22. It’s believed that the vessel foundered in a storm. Her entire crew of 21 men went down with the ship.

When the ship went missing, a concerted effort was made to find it. The Portland Trawling Co. and the United States Coast Guard mounted a search and rescue mission that involved private fishing vessels, 12 patrol boats, and two destroyers. They found no survivors

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States press battle to revive Trump-halted offshore wind project

Wind turbines off of Block Island — *Wind turbines at Orsted’s Block Island wind farm off Rhode Island, one of two commercial offshore wind farms in the United States. Credit: PennyJack Creative/Shutterstock*

By Mike Schuler, gCaptain

Connecticut and Rhode Island attorneys general have escalated their legal fight against the Trump administration’s abrupt halt to the Revolution Wind offshore energy project, filing for a preliminary injunction to immediately block what they describe as a “baseless stop work order” issued last month.

Attorney General William Tong of Connecticut and Attorney General Peter Neronha of Rhode Island initially sued on September 4 in U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, seeking to overturn the administration’s directive. Their recent filing outlines what they characterize as “immediate and irreparable harm” to Connecticut and requests judicial intervention to allow construction to resume while the case proceeds.

Located fifteen nautical miles off Rhode Island’s coast, Revolution Wind had reached approximately 80% completion with all foundations installed and 45 of 65 planned wind turbines already in place. The project is expected to deliver enough electricity to power 350,000 homes, representing 2.5 percent of New England’s electricity supply beginning in 2026.

Revolution Wind, a 50/50 joint venture between Ørsted and Global Infrastructure Partner’s Skyborn Renewables, had received full regulatory approvals following a nine-year review process, including its Construction and Operations Plan approval in November 2023. The project secured 20-year power purchase agreements to deliver 400 MW to Rhode Island and 304 MW to Connecticut.

This week, the administration asked a judge to deny Revolution Wind’s request for a preliminary injunction, arguing the company “didn’t include enough detail about the expected breakaway costs or other construction deadlines to justify an ‘extraordinary’ injunction.” The government further stated, “With respect to the $5 billion figure, Revolution Wind has not explained how lack of money already spent would threaten the future viability of its business.”

Ørsted CFO Trond Westlie maintained that restarting the project remains a priority: “Our goal is to get back to work on Revolution Wind as soon as possible. And we work in multiple tracks to make that happen.”

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NJ Congressman Jeff Van Drew makes case for Trump’s war on wind

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) speaks during the second day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 16, 2024. | Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images

By BENJAMIN STORROW, Politico

Offshore wind supporters are crying foul as President Donald Trump revokes permits, rolls back federal incentives and halts projects under construction along the East Coast.

But one New Jersey Republican would like Power Switch readers to know that the president has gotten it right.

In an interview, Rep. Jeff Van Drew echoed Trump’s arguments that offshore wind farms cost consumers money and threaten the environment (two contentions that wind supporters very much dispute). He said he’s pleased with the Interior Department’s recent actions, which have included stopping work on the nearly completed Revolution Wind project south of New England and proposing to rescind permits for three others.

Van Drew said he couldn’t answer the biggest question on the minds of offshore wind supporters and critics alike: whether Interior will issue more stop-work orders.

But he added, “My hope and my belief would be that they would find out what I believe to be true, that these projects are very, very problematic.”

‘The president was very clear’

Van Drew, a former Democrat who switched parties during Trump’s first term, rose to prominence as a wind critic while fighting Atlantic Shores, a massive project proposed almost 9 miles off the coast of Atlantic City. He argued the project would increase power prices, drive tourists from the Jersey Shore, and harm marine wildlife.

His view offers a stark contrast to Democratic Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, who told Power Switch last week that the Trump administration’s decision to stop work on Revolution Wind would lead to higher power prices, jeopardize the reliability of the electric grid and chill business investment in the U.S.

Van Drew pushed back against that idea Wednesday, calling offshore wind “very, very expensive” and arguing that developers took a calculated gamble when they chose to invest in the U.S.

“The president was very clear when campaigning that he was going to do this,” Van Drew continued. “It’s something that I asked for, and I believe in. In fact, we were a part of the process and worked with Interior on this. And I think the beaches and the oceans and the seafloor will be the better for it, and so will the country.”

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