A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Monday overturned an Interior Department directive halting construction of a $6.2 billion offshore wind project serving New England.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, marks a setback for President Donald Trump's efforts to shut down coastal wind projects.
It was the second time Lamberth has issued an injunction against the Trump administration's stop-work order affecting the Revolution Wind project.
Lamberth said evidence presented by the federal government, which cited potential impacts large offshore wind farms could have on military radar, was insufficient to justify halting work on a project that had been under years of development, CT Mirror reported.
He noted that Revolution Wind had undergone extensive reviews by defense officials and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which approved the project in 2023 under the Biden administration.
"While the bureau may order a suspension of operations for legitimate reasons of national security … those suspensions are limited to emergency situations and demonstrated findings of particularized harm that cannot be averted short of a total stop to project activity," Lamberth said.
The judge also noted that administration officials said they became aware of newly classified information related to offshore wind projects in November but did not act on that information until Dec. 22.
"I'm not persuaded that any such emergency exists in this case," Lamberth said.
Lamberth's ruling applies only to Revolution Wind and not the four other offshore wind projects whose development was halted by the Trump administration's stop-work order.
That order included Revolution Wind's sister project, Sunrise Wind.
Even with Monday's court victory, Revolution Wind's developers face a tight deadline to complete construction off the coast of Rhode Island.
The project was nearly 87% complete when work was halted in late December.
All but seven of the project's 65 turbines have been mounted on pilings driven into the seafloor, and transmission cables have already been laid to connect the facility to onshore substations, according to court filings.
Revolution Wind is a 50-50 joint venture between Orsted and Global Infrastructure Partners' Skyborn Renewables, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Janice Schneider, an attorney for the developers, told the court the project is at a "crucial stage" of construction and that the work stoppage was costing the company about $1.44 million per day.
Court records showed developers face a Feb. 22 deadline to complete installation of the remaining turbines before a specialized vessel must depart for other projects, CT Mirror reported.
The work is expected to take at least 41 days to finish.
"Today's ruling reaffirms what was already clear.
The Trump administration's second attempt to halt the Revolution Wind project is driven by the president's longstanding personal vendetta against offshore wind, not any genuine national security concerns," Rep. Joe Courtney, ranking member of the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, said in a statement Monday.
The ruling could have broader implications for other offshore wind developers.
Norwegian energy company Equinor has filed a legal challenge in the same court over its Empire Wind project off the coast of New York, while Dominion Energy Virginia has brought a separate challenge in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia over its offshore wind project.
Both cases are scheduled for similar hearings later this week, according to the Journal.
Newsmax reached out to the Interior Department and the Department of Justice for comment.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.