By Nate Raymond
(Reuters) -Fishing companies and offshore wind opponents filed a lawsuit on Tuesday challenging the Trump administration’s decision to reverse course and allow construction to resume on Empire Wind, a $5 billion wind farm project off New York’s coast.
Protect Our Coast New Jersey, Clean Ocean Action, ACK for Whales and 12 fishing industry participants in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, sought to reinstate a stop work order Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued in April halting construction of Equinor’s wind project.
Burgum issued that order after Republican President Donald Trump on his first day back in office on January 20 directed his administration to halt offshore wind lease sales and stop the issuance of permits, leases and loans for both onshore and offshore wind projects.
He did so while also moving to ramp up the federal government’s support for the fossil fuel industry and maximize output in the United States. Trump as a candidate last year promised to end the offshore wind industry.
But weeks after Burgum signed the stop-work order, the administration in a turnabout on May 19 allowed work to resume on Empire Wind, which is being developed by Norway’s Equinor and is expected to provide power for half a million homes from 2027 onward.
The administration did so in a compromise with New York that could also see canceled plans for a gas pipeline revived. Burgum said he was encouraged that New York Governor Kathy Hochul will now allow new gas pipeline capacity to move forward.
Tuesday’s lawsuit argued that the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management did not adhere to the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to provide a basis for restoring the work permits.
Bruce Afran, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said the administration had properly recognized the lack of investigation about serious environmental harm from Equinor’s project.
“The administration correctly pulled the Empire Wind work permit because of these concerns and had no basis to reinstate the work orders a month later,” he said in a statement. “This lawsuit seeks to restore the stop work order.”
Equinor declined to comment on the lawsuit itself but in a statement said the project “has undergone years of rigorous permitting and studies, and secured all necessary federal, state and local approvals to begin construction in 2024.”
The agency did not respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; additional reporting by Nichola Groom in Los Angeles; Editing by Sonali Paul)
