Attorney General William Tong has responded to a new order from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management that again suspends work on the Revolution Wind offshore wind project.
“This appears to be a second, even more lawless and erratic stop work order, reviving the Trump Administration’s prior failed attempt to halt construction of Revolution Wind. We went to court over this before. There is a court order blocking their prior stop work order and this appears to be a new brazen attempt to circumvent that order. The project has been vetted and approved through every layer of federal and state regulatory process, including a careful review of the issues raised in this announcement. Every day this project is stalled is another day of lost work, another day of unaffordable energy costs, and other day burning fossil fuels when American-made clean energy is within reach. We are evaluating all legal options, and this will be stopped just like last time,” said Attorney General Tong.
Revolution Wind is located fifteen nautical miles off Rhode Island’s coast and aims to supply enough electricity for 350,000 homes—about 2.5 percent of New England’s electricity needs—starting in 2026. The project is expected to save ratepayers in Connecticut and Rhode Island hundreds of millions of dollars over two decades while supporting more than 2,500 jobs nationwide across construction, operations, shipbuilding, and manufacturing sectors. Of these jobs, over 1,000 are union construction positions. The project has completed all required federal and state regulatory reviews and approvals.
Construction on Revolution Wind is nearly finished. The initial stop work order was issued by the Trump Administration on August 22. In response, Connecticut and Rhode Island filed lawsuits; developer Ørsted also sued separately. A federal district court later granted an injunction in Ørsted’s case that allowed construction to continue.
