Trump goes after an offshore wind farm that’s already up and running

After halting construction on offshore wind farms and canceling leases for future projects, the Trump administration just took another step to erode America’s troubled offshore wind industry.

The Interior Department wants to reevaluate a key approval for Revolution Wind — a $6.2 billion project that is already producing power off the coasts of Connecticut and Rhode Island. The wind farm began generating electricity in March, and its developer Ørsted installed the last of 65 turbines in September.

On Friday, Interior asked a federal court for permission to remand the agency’s 2023 approval of a construction and operations plan for the 704-megawatt wind farm. Experts say the move doesn’t immediately affect the project’s activities and is part of a longer legal process that could drag on into early next year.

Even so, the new filing ​“injects uncertainty into a nearly completed offshore wind project that electricity planners and consumers in the Northeast are counting on,” Hillary Bright, executive director of the offshore wind advocacy group Turn Forward, said in an emailed statement.

At full operation, Revolution Wind will generate enough clean electricity to power over 350,000 homes and is expected to play an important role in reducing the region’s grid stress during heat waves and winter cold spells.

The Trump administration’s Oct. 9 filing stems from an ongoing lawsuit filed by the anti-wind group Green Oceans, which bills itself as a grassroots organization dedicated to preserving ocean health. In January 2024, the Rhode Island-based group challenged Interior’s final approvals of both Revolution Wind and Ørsted’s other U.S. offshore wind project, South Fork Wind, which came online in early 2024.

Green Oceans claims that the federal government ​“shortcut” regulatory procedures and violated environmental protection laws by approving the two projects. Late last week, Interior essentially said that it agrees that the key permits should be remanded and asked a judge to close the case against the agency. Revolution Wind received its federal and state permits after a more than nine-year-long process spanning multiple agencies.

The judge overseeing the request is Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who has previously sided with offshore wind developers that were forced to pause construction last year under the Trump administration’s stop-work orders.

“From its very first day, the Trump administration has waged a war on clean energy, and especially offshore wind,” said Pasha Feinberg, an offshore wind strategist at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

She said that, as utility bills soar and electricity demand climbs across the region, Revolution Wind is helping to keep electricity bills in check for residents of Connecticut and Rhode Island. ​“Why the administration would even consider revoking its permit makes no sense,” she added.