A nearly finished offshore wind farm that the Trump administration abruptly froze just before Christmas is spinning back to life, the New York Times reports. A federal judge in Massachusetts on Tuesday ruled construction can resume on Vineyard Wind, a $4.5 billion project about 15 miles off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, granting a preliminary injunction that undercuts the administration's national-security rationale for the abrupt shutdown of the project. Judge Brian E. Murphy, a Biden appointee, said he reviewed the classified Pentagon report the administration relied on and found officials hadn't sufficiently explained or justified halting work.
Vineyard Wind, currently about 95% built, has 61 of its planned 62 turbines in place and is already feeding some electricity into the Massachusetts grid. Once fully online, it's expected to power more than 400,000 homes and businesses. The developers—Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners—told the court they were losing roughly $2 million a day while the project was idled. A company spokesperson said they'll work with federal officials to restart safely. The order is in place while the lawsuit progresses.
The December pause hit Vineyard Wind and four other East Coast projects after the Defense Department flagged potential security risks. The White House said at the time that "America First" and national security guided the move and signaled it still expects to prevail in the broader fight. The decision marks the fourth time courts have cleared construction to continue on offshore wind projects the Trump administration sought to stall, following similar outcomes for developments off Rhode Island, New York, and Virginia. "Nearly the entire suspension order" issued by the Trump administration is now on hold thanks to court rulings, the Nantucket Current reports.
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