The sudden decision by the Trump administration to halt work on a nearly completed wind farm under assembly in New London has left state officials and the developers scrambling to find a way to convince federal authorities to reverse course — and keep the multibillion-dollar project afloat.
On Monday, officials said they had yet to find such a resolution or even a clearer understanding for why the decision was made to target the project, Revolution Wind.
“I think some of the key facets of the federal government were taken by surprise by this decision as well,” Gov. Ned Lamont told reporters at the State Pier in New London, where a backdrop of hundred-foot-tall turbine shafts and propeller blades stood ready to be transported offshore and installed into pilings already fixed to the seabed.
“We’re trying to get all the players together, but I’ve talked to almost everybody,” he added.
The most immediate impact of the order was to roughly 50 workers, who were told not to show up on Monday for the expected start of a two-week shift assembling the turbines several miles off the coast of Rhode Island, according to Keith Brothers, president of the Connecticut Building and Construction Trades Council.
Brothers said it was unclear whether those crews — made up of union workers from New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island — had been laid off or were being told to stand by for further orders. But he said that if work doesn’t resume soon, the workers are likely to move on to other jobs.
“We train those workers for survival training, to work in the open water, and they’ll go somewhere else,” he said. “Now we have to retrain those other workers, so it’s a bad circle of letting people go that you’ve trained and then trying to re-initiate [them] into those programs.”
A letter sent from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Management to the project’s developer, Ørsted, on Friday ordered an immediate halt to any work taking place on the outer continental shelf. The letter cited unspecified concerns having to do with “national security interests” and “interference” with the use of various maritime areas.
A spokesperson for BOEM declined to comment further on the order Monday.
The letter did not expressly prohibit Ørsted from continuing onshore activities related to Revolution Wind or another project, Sunrise Wind, which is being readied for installation. About 150 onshore workers in and around the State Pier are expected to continue working for the time being, Brothers said.
The Trump administration’s order has also further worsened the already troubled financial situation of Ørsted, a Danish company that is among the world’s leading developers of offshore wind.
On Monday the company’s stock dropped more than 16%. That was on top of a nosedive earlier this month when the company said it would need more than $9 billion to help finance Sunrise Wind. Overall the stock is down more than 50% in the last year.
In a statement Monday, an Ørsted spokeswoman said Revolution Wind supports more than 2,500 jobs around the U.S., including “hundreds” of local offshore jobs. “All these jobs remain in the balance from this stop-work order,” said the spokeswoman, Meaghan Wims.
The company had previously issued a statement on Friday saying it was evaluating its options for the project, which is about 80% complete.
The decision to halt work on Revolution Wind was not the first time the Trump administration has targeted a wind project that was already under construction.
Earlier this year, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered the Norwegian energy company Equinor to suspend work on its Empire Wind project being staged at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal for construction off the coast of Long Island.
The administration reversed course about a month later, allowing the project to proceed following negotiations with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul over permitting approvals for a pair of natural gas pipelines, the Wall Street Journal reported. (Hochul’s office has denied making explicit agreements to approve new gas pipelines.)
The delay cost Equinor a reported $1 billion in additional regulatory and tariff costs.
Lamont, a supporter of developing pipeline infrastructure, has previously suggested he was aware of ongoing talks between Hochul and the Trump administration involving Empire Wind.
After getting word last week that Trump’s BOEM had halted work on Revolution Wind, Lamont said he spoke to Hochul. Still, he told reporters Monday, he has “no idea” what concessions, if any, the Trump administration would be seeking in order to allow work to resume on the project.
“You never quite know with this administration, but I think there’s a deal to be had,” Lamont said. “I’ve got to see what the ask is.”
Regardless of any future deal, Democratic leaders in Connecticut and Rhode Island expressed outrage over the decision to cancel work on a project with significant implications for the the local economy and the regional electric grid.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who formerly served as the state’s attorney general, called the administration’s decision to halt work on a fully-permitted project “insane,” and one that would likely be overturned in court.
His colleague, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, said any attempt by the Trump administration to use the project as part of a quid-pro-quo with state officials would be illegal. “The president of the United States doesn’t have the legal authority to suspend a project that’s permitted and then use it as a leverage point on some unrelated grievance he has with a Democratic state,” Murphy said.
While no legal action has action has been taken against the stop work order, both Ørsted and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong’s office indicated over the weekend they are considering their legal options. So is the New England-based Conservation Law Foundation.
“It definitely seems illegal,” said Kate Sinding Daly, the group’s senior vice president for law and policy. “There’s no valid statutory or executive authority for issuing a stop work order under these circumstances.”
Earlier this year, Tong’s office joined its counterparts in other states to challenge the Trump’s administration’s broader moratorium on new offshore wind leases. That lawsuit is still pending.
As part of power purchase agreements signed with both states, Revolution Wind was due to deliver about 300 megawatts of electricity to Connecticut and 400 megawatts to Rhode Island upon its completion in 2026.
If the project is mothballed, officials said Monday that both states and their power utilities will have to procure other, potentially costlier, sources of electricity to meet customer demand.
In a statement on Monday, regional grid operator ISO New England said that Revolution Wind’s expected output had already been included in forecasts for near-term and future electric demand, and that any delays to the project could put the grid’s reliability at risk.
“As demand for electricity grows, New England must maintain and add to its energy infrastructure,” the statement said. “Unpredictable risks and threats to resources — regardless of technology — that have made significant capital investments, secured necessary permits, and are close to completion will stifle future investments, increase costs to consumers, and undermine the power grid’s reliability and the region’s economy now and in the future.”
Late in the day Monday, Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration may have its sights on stopping a third offshore wind project. According to the article, Trump’s Interior Department plans to remand and vacate a permit granted by the Biden administration for a $6 billion, 114-turbine project off Maryland.
