January 27, 2025 — The developer behind a large offshore wind farm near Massachusetts will try to convince a federal judge on Tuesday to allow construction on the project to resume.
Attorneys for the company, Vineyard Wind, will ask the judge to hit pause on a federal order that stopped work on the nearly complete project. The Trump administration suspended work on Vineyard Wind and four other offshore wind projects last month, citing unspecified national security concerns.
In a subsequent lawsuit, Vineyard Wind accused the government of acting unlawfully and of abusing its statutory power — a move the company said is costing it $2 million for each day that construction is shut down.
Tuesday’s hearing in U.S. District Court in Boston comes amid mounting public outrage over the region’s high energy costs, and concerns about how New England will handle the projected growth in electricity demand over the next decade. The hearing also comes after judges allowed construction to resume — at least temporarily — on three other East Coast offshore wind projects that were similarly shut down by last month’s federal order.
Given the outcome of those cases, Timothy Fox, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners, an independent research firm that tracks offshore wind projects, said Vineyard Wind stands a good shot at getting its temporary restraining order, too.