New York Offshore Wind Project Allowed to Restart Construction—for Now

A federal judge issued a temporary injunction, allowing the developer of Empire Wind, an offshore wind project off the coast of Long Island, to resume construction after the Trump administration suspended work there in late December.

“Empire Wind will now focus on safely restarting construction activities that were halted during the suspension period,” a spokesperson for Equinor, the Norwegian company that is developing the project, wrote in an email. 

In court documents, the developer stated that the project would likely be terminated if it was not allowed to resume work by Friday because the suspension of work would disrupt its “tightly choreographed construction schedule,” increase costs and form an existential threat to the project’s financing.

While issuing his decision, the federal judge said the suspension would cause “irreparable harm” to the project. The injunction allows the Empire Wind project to continue while its case proceeds through the court system, but it is not a final ruling. 

“While that underlying case plays out, Empire Wind is allowed to continue construction activities,” said Pasha Feinberg, offshore wind strategist with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “The lease suspension is no longer allowed to be enforced against the project.”

According to the developer, the Empire Wind project is around 60 percent complete and has cost $4 billion to date. The company was granted a lease from the federal government in 2017 and is planning to power 500,000 homes through the project, building 54 wind turbines.

The project has also created more than 1,000 jobs in the area, and will ultimately help revitalize the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, a port facility in Sunset Park. Equinor is working to redevelop the marine terminal—which will house the project’s long-term Operations and Maintenance Base—in conjunction with the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the terminal operator Sustainable South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. 

The Trump administration announced the suspension of the work three days before Christmas, citing “national security risks identified by the Department of Defense.” The decision

left many workers in limbo, said Esther Rosario, the executive director of Climate Jobs New York, a coalition of unions. 

“People are rightfully upset,” said Rosario. “Playing politics with people’s lives doesn’t really bode well for most folks.”

Most of New York’s energy demand is downstate—concentrated in areas like New York City and Long Island. Renewable energy projects are often built upstate because there is more space for solar panels or wind turbines. 

The Empire Wind project would be close to where the electricity demand is high, making it a significant component of the state’s broader transition to clean energy, as mandated by New York’s Climate Act. 

In December, the Trump administration also suspended the construction of four other projects, one of which is also located in New York. Federal courts decided on Monday that a developer for one of these projects, Revolution Wind, could also resume work. 

Since returning to office in January 2025, President Donald Trump has expressed strong opposition to offshore wind energy, saying he would not support “big, ugly windmills” that threaten wildlife. 

On his first day in office, he signed an executive order that withdrew all parts of the Outer Continental Shelf from new or renewed offshore leasing activity and suspended the approval process for all new onshore and offshore wind projects. A federal judge struck that down last month.

The Trump administration initially suspended the Empire Wind project last April, citing concerns about rushed approval, but construction there resumed after discussions between New York Governor Kathy Hochul and the White House. 

In the aftermath, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum wrote on social media platform X that Hochul “would move forward on critical pipeline capacity.” Weeks later, a previously rejected gas pipeline off the coast of New York City was re-proposed. 

Hochul has denied making a deal with the White House, but the Trump administration said she “caved” and agreed to allow the pipeline construction, according to Politico’s E&E News. New York regulators approved the pipeline in November. 

“We’re tired,” said Rosario. “We’re hopeful that this is the last time we have to go through this exercise, and that we’re making strides to be able to build large-scale energy infrastructure projects in a way that allows communities to benefit from them.”