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By Mark Chediak and Brian Dowling
A US judge said a nearly completed, $4.5 billion wind project off the coast of Massachusetts can resume construction weeks after the Trump administration required all such developments to stop work.
US District Judge Brian Murphy on Tuesday granted Vineyard Wind’s request for a preliminary injunction, effectively reviving the project, whose developers include Iberdrola SA unit Avangrid Inc. and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.
Vineyard is the fourth US offshore project that’s won court approval for a restart following the Trump administration’s decision in December to halt five unfinished projects on the East Coast based on claims that they posed national security risks that weren’t disclosed publicly.
Murphy, who reviewed the classified information, said the government’s argument “fails to adequately explain or justify the decision to halt construction.” The judge also said the administration’s decision had been arbitrary and capricious, given its failure to consider Vineyard Wind’s interest in having the project continue on its schedule to a March completion.
While developers have prevailed in federal courts so far, analysts have slashed their growth projections for offshore wind installations amid President Donald Trump’s campaign against the industry. BloombergNEF now sees just one-fifth of the more than 30 gigawatts of projects that the Biden administration sought coming online by 2030. (One gigawatt is equivalent to the capacity of a traditional nuclear reactor.)
Sources: US Bureau of Ocean and Labor Management, Bloomberg reporting
Note: Data as of 3:45 p.m. New York time, Jan. 27
“For years, Americans have been forced to pay billions more for the least reliable source of energy,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said. “The Trump administration has paused the construction of all large-scale offshore wind projects because our number one priority is to put America First and protect the national security of the American people. The administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”
Read More: Trump Is Winning Fight Over Offshore Wind Despite Court Losses
Vineyard Wind, located 15 miles (24 km) from Martha’s Vineyard, is 95% complete and is intended to deliver power to more than 400,000 homes and business.
In explaining his ruling to halt the stop-work order, Murphy said Vineyard Wind’s potential economic losses, from defaulting on billions of dollars of construction financing to having to renegotiate power purchase agreements, can’t be remedied later. Also, the government can address its national security concerns through “normal channels” without an order that shuts down the entire project.
Vineyard is among several companies suing the government over a Dec. 22 order suspending the offshore projects for 90 days, and it’s the latest one to log a win in court, at least for now.
On Jan. 16, a federal judge ruled Dominion Energy Inc. can restart construction of an $11 billion project off the coast of Virginia. A few days earlier, a different judge ruled Norway’s Orsted A/S can resume development of its project off Rhode Island, and another issued a similar ruling for Equinor ASA’s Empire Wind project near New York.
According to Atin Jain, an analyst with BloombergNEF, the ruling by Murphy was the right one. Vineyard Wind had already been approved by multiple agencies, and many of the issues raised by the government have already been resolved.
“I don’t agree that some of the objections raised were legitimate,” Jain said. “There is a much bigger agenda this administration is following with regard to offshore wind,” by trying to hinder development of the industry, he said.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has assailed Trump’s attacks on offshore wind, saying more electricity supplies are needed to bring down utility bills. The Democratic leader has embraced an “all-of-the-above” approach to the state’s energy needs that includes natural gas infrastructure.
The case is Vineyard Wind v. US, 26-cv-10156, US District Court, District of Massachusetts (Boston).
— With assistance from Will Wade, Jennifer A Dlouhy, Greg Ryan, and Jennah Haque
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