A wind developer sued the Interior Department on Thursday over its decision to halt work on a nearly completed offshore project, setting up a legal battle with President Donald Trump’s administration as he wages war against the wind industry.
Revolution Wind, a joint venture of Ørsted and BlackRock Inc., is seeking an injunction that would allow work to resume on the 65-turbine project off Connecticut and Rhode Island. It was 80 percent complete when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, a division of Interior, ordered construction to stop on Aug. 22. Separately, the two states indicated that they would file their own suit against the Trump administration.
In a filing with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Revolution Wind noted that BOEM had alleged no violations of the project’s permit and invoked “no legal source authorizing its directive.”
“The longer the Stop Work Order remains in place, the more likely it is that the Stop Work Order will lead to the Project’s termination,” lawyers for the project wrote.
