January 6, 2026 — The Center for Biological Diversity is suing the federal government for failing to protect American horseshoe crabs under the Endangered Species Act.
Will Harlan, a senior scientist at the Center, says since 2000, horseshoe crab populations have crashed by more than 70% across their range from Maine to Louisiana.
January 5, 2026 — Developers of five offshore wind farms that were ordered last week by the Trump administration to halt construction are suing to restart work on at least three of the projects.
The Interior Department on Dec. 22 ordered companies to halt work on five wind farms in various stages of construction along the East Coast. They were: Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind, both off the coast of New York; Revolution Wind off Rhode Island and Connecticut; Vineyard Wind 1 off the coast of Massachusetts; and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind off Virginia.
The administration cited unspecified national security concerns about the projects.
On Thursday, Orsted, the Danish energy giant that is building Revolution Wind, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. On Friday Equinor, the developer of Empire Wind, did the same.
Both companies said they are seeking preliminary injunctions that would allow construction to continue as the litigation proceeds. Orsted is also building Sunrise Wind and said it was considering a similar legal challenge to restart work on that project, too.
Read the full article at The New York Times
January 3, 2025 — Danish renewables giant Orsted, the world’s largest developer of offshore wind farms, said on Friday that it had launched legal action against the Trump administration over the suspension of its $5 billion Revolution Wind project.
Shares of the Copenhagen-listed company rose more than 4% on the news, putting the stock among the top performers of the pan-European Stoxx 600 index.
Orsted said in a statement that it would seek a court injunction against the U.S. government’s decision to halt its Revolution Wind project, located about 15 miles south of the Rhode Island coast.
December 31, 2025 — The first showdown over the U.S. Department of the Interior’s efforts to stop the construction of five offshore wind farms is being delayed as a U.S. District Court in Virginia waits for data from the government. Dominion Energy’s efforts to gain a temporary restraining order to permit it to restart work were delayed, with the next hearing set for January 16.
Dominion Energy and its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is one of five that were ordered to stop offshore work by the Department of the Interior, which made vague claims about national security concerns due to radar clutter caused by the turbine blades and towers. The government cited new confidential data from studies by the Pentagon as the justification for the orders.
The five projects are all under construction, and in the case of Coastal Virginia and Vineyard Wind 1 in Massachusetts nearing completion. Dominion asserted in its court filing that the stop-work order is costing the company $5 million a day and said it could jeopardize completion of the wind farm on time in 2026 and the stability of the power grid, which needs more electricity. Coastal Virginia was expected to generate its first power in early 2026.
December 29, 2025 — The U.S. federal government, the state of Alaska, and the Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP) have filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court in their ongoing battle over a subsistence fishing system which prioritizes rural Alaskans.
“Subsistence is not just a word on paper. It is the heart of our communities, families, elders, and children,” AVCP CEO Vivian Korthuis said in a release. “The state’s continued attacks on these rights are a direct challenge to our traditions and values. Every salmon counts, and we hope that the United States Supreme Court will affirm what we already know to be true. We will continue to advocate for our people, our waters, and Our Way of Life for as long as it takes.”
December 29, 2025 — The developers of a Virginia offshore wind project are asking a federal judge to block a Trump administration order that halted construction of their project, along with four others, over national security concerns.
Dominion Energy Virginia said in its lawsuit filed late Tuesday that the government’s order is “arbitrary and capricious” and unconstitutional. The Richmond-based company is developing Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, a project it says is essential to meet dramatically growing energy needs driven by dozens of new data centers.
The Interior Department did not detail the security concerns in blocking the five projects on Monday. In a letter to project developers, Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management set a 90-day period — and possibly longer — “to determine whether the national security threats posed by this project can be adequately mitigated.”
December 26, 2025 — The NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement conducted 87 boardings of commercial fishing vessels during Operation Riptide, a two-day patrol off the coasts of New York and New Jersey.
The operation, which took place in July, was carried out to enforce federal regulations on highly migratory species.
December 18, 2025 — A federal judge has declined to issue an injunction that would have protected US Wind from what it says are Trump administration attempts to kill its planned wind farm off Ocean City, for which it already has permits.
U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher in Baltimore noted in her decision — handed down Tuesday — that US Wind technically could move forward with constructing its wind farm off of Delmarva.
Even though President Donald Trump’s (R) administration has announced its intention to reevaluate the crucial Construction and Operations Plan (COP) approval issued to US Wind during the waning days of President Joe Biden’s (D) administration, it has not actually revoked the permit, Gallagher wrote in her ruling.
In a previous decision, Gallagher preliminarily rejected a request from the Trump administration to remand the permit back to the U.S. Department of the Interior for reconsideration. Gallagher ruled that the government needed to present more information in order for her to make a ruling. But she allowed the department to carry on with any “internal review” of the permit, as desired.
December 17, 2025 — A federal court judge in Maryland has denied a request by offshore wind developer US Wind for a preliminary injunction against the federal government in its ongoing fight to save its planned offshore wind project off Ocean City, Maryland. It is the latest twist in the ongoing court battle over Maryland’s first offshore wind project and the broader battle against the Trump administration’s efforts to derail the industry and revoke existing permits.
US Wind, which is a partnership between investment firm Apollo Global Management and Italy’s Renexia, is planning a large wind farm off the Maryland coast that would include 114 wind turbines. The company completed its federal-level reviews, receiving approval of its Construction and Operation Plan in December 2024, but has faced local opposition and the new administration’s declared goal to end offshore wind energy.
The company has found itself caught up in multiple legal battles, including a jurisdictional dispute between the federal and state environmental protection authorities. Ocean City, Maryland, has also sued the federal government, challenging the approval of the wind farm’s plans.
December 16, 2025 — A new slate of environmental rollbacks from the Trump administration are poised to serve as early tests of a recent Supreme Court ruling that limited federal agencies’ power to defend their rules against legal attack.
Over the last few weeks, EPA and the Interior Department have floated rescissions of protections for federal waters, vulnerable species and climate change.
Each proposal presents a dramatic change in position from earlier regulations, and in the absence of Chevron deference — which gave agencies the benefit of the doubt when statutes are unclear — the Trump administration will have to make the case that its approach is the best interpretation of federal law.