A Connecticut wind farm can resume work — again

HAWK EYE Photography

A federal judge ruled that a wind farm off the coast of Connecticut can resume construction, overturning the Trump administration's stop-work order. 

If that sentence sounds familiar, it's because the same judge overturned an attempt by Trump to halt the same project back in September. 

Revolution Wind is one of many targets in the Trump administration's war against offshore wind, which he's been waging for most of his second term. The casualties, affected parties argue, are energy goals in the Northeast and long-term trust from infrastructure developers. 

Monday's ruling hasn't dissuaded Trump from tilting at windmills — a White House spokesperson told Politico the administration is still hoping for "ultimate victory on the issue."

In late December, the Department of the Interior sought to pause the leases for five offshore wind projects, claiming they threatened national security. 

In addition to Revolution Wind, the Trump administration halted the Vineyard Wind project in Massachusetts, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, and Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind in New York. 

On Monday, Revolution Wind's developer, Ørsted, had its first hearing from this round of lawsuits. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an injunction on the stop-work order, and Judge Royce Lamberth expressed skepticism that the administration's national security concerns were genuine.

DOI justified freezing the projects based on a classified report from the Department of Defense, but Lamberth noted it sat on the report for a month before taking action. Lamberth said the administration made little effort to explain its "unreasonable and seemingly unjustified change in position," Politico reported. 

The Trump administration first issued a halt-work order in August, when the project was 80% completed. The project is now nearly 90% complete, NPR reported. Targeting projects already in construction is unprecedented, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont told The Bond Buyer in September, and could dissuade states and contractors from undertaking future infrastructure projects. 

The $6.2 billion wind project is intended to power 350,000 homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Ratepayers in Connecticut would lose $500 million per year if the project were blocked, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes said in a press release. 

Revolution Wind's attorney Janice Schneider told the judge the work stoppage last year cost the project $100 million and the second work stoppage was costing $1.5 million a day.

Several developers and states involved in the other projects halted by Trump are pursuing litigation. 

The court is set to hear several more lawsuits from the other four projects that were halted. The company behind Empire Wind, which has a hearing on Wednesday, said it will likely need to end the project if it can't resume work by Friday. Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind's hearing is scheduled for Friday.