THE BLUEPRINT:
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Empire Offshore Wind files federal lawsuit challenging Interior Department stop-work order
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Developer seeks injunction to continue construction during litigation
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$5 billion Empire Wind project is already about 60% complete
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Offshore wind project expected to power 500,000 homes and support nearly 4,000 jobs
Eleven days after the Trump administration suspended its $5 billion wind power project off Long Island, Empire Offshore Wind LLC has filed a lawsuit to allow its construction to continue.
Empire filed a civil suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Friday, Jan. 2 challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior‘s order to suspend its project. Empire is seeking a preliminary injunction to allow construction of the project while the litigation proceeds, according to a statement from Equinor, the company behind the Empire Wind project.
Equinor said the stop-work order is unlawful and threatens the progress of ongoing work with significant implications for the project, which it maintains is already 60 percent complete. The company said the injunction is necessary to “avoid additional commercial and financing impacts that are likely to occur should the order remain effective.”
Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind, located in the waters off Long Island, were two of five East Coast wind projects that received stop work notices from the Department of the Interior, as part of the Trump administration‘s ongoing assault on renewable clean energy.
This is the second time this year that the $5 billion Empire Wind project has been stopped by the federal government. It was halted in April by an order from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who claimed the Biden administration had rushed its approval, even though the lease for Empire Wind was approved in March 2017 during the first Trump administration. The project was restarted a month later the result of a compromise between the federal government and New York State to revive plans for the NESE gas pipeline project between Pennsylvania and New York that was cancelled five years ago, according to published reports.
Once completed in 2027, Empire Wind, being developed under contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, is expected to supply enough power to electrify 500,000 homes. The project has created nearly 4,000 jobs within the offshore lease area and through its revitalization of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, according to the statement.
The reason cited for the federal government’s lease suspensions was that the Pentagon complained that the wind turbine blades would cause radar interference and create a national security risk. In a statement from Department of the Interior, the halting of the wind projects is aimed at providing federal agencies “time to work with leaseholders and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects.”
However, Equinor responded that Empire “has coordinated closely with numerous federal officials on national security reviews since it executed its lease for the project in 2017, including with the Department of War, and has complied with relevant national security related requirements identified as part of the regulatory process,” according to the statement.
