Attorney General William Tong said Monday that a new federal order suspending work on the Revolution Wind offshore wind project is unlawful and violates a prior court injunction that allowed construction to proceed.
The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a stop-work order earlier Monday, again halting construction on the project. Tong said Connecticut and Rhode Island previously sued over a similar order issued by the Trump administration, which was blocked by a federal court. He said the states are evaluating legal options to challenge the latest action.
According to reporting by the Associated Press and CT Mirror, the Trump administration said it is pausing leases for five large offshore wind projects along the East Coast while it reviews unspecified national security risks identified by the Pentagon. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the pause will allow federal agencies time to assess potential security vulnerabilities associated with large-scale offshore wind facilities near population centers.
The lease pause applies to Vineyard Wind in Massachusetts, Revolution Wind in Rhode Island and Connecticut, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, and two New York projects — Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind — according to the administration.
Revolution Wind, a 704-megawatt project being staged at the State Pier in New London, is about 85% complete, developers have said. Interior officials issued a similar stop-work order in August citing national security concerns, prompting lawsuits from the project’s developers and the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island. A federal judge later issued an injunction allowing construction to continue.
Revolution Wind is expected to begin supplying electricity to the New England grid in 2026, providing enough power for about 350,000 homes, according to state officials.
