June 16, 2025 –A coalition of commercial fishers, conservation groups, seafood processors, and a local mayor has filed an emergency motion seeking to block the development of Empire Wind, an offshore wind project planned off the coast of the U.S. state of New York.
In their suit, the groups claim that the wind energy operations will cause substantial harm to the commercial fishing sector while threatening endangered whales and damaging the seafloor.
June 13, 2025 — The Long Island Commercial Fishing Association is among the groups calling for a renewed halt to the construction of the Empire Wind 1 offshore wind farm, which was the subject of a stop-work order in April that was lifted just a month later.
The organizations, which include Protect Our Coast-New Jersey and the Nantucket-based ACK for Whales, have called on Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to issue a stop-work order on the 54-turbine, 810-megawatt project, which is to span 80,000 acres in the New York Bight and send renewable electricity to New York City. Mr. Burgum had done just that on April 16, reportedly at the urging of Representatives Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and with the support of Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.
A month later, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management informed Equinor, the Norwegian company that is constructing the wind farm, that the stop-work order had been lifted, allowing construction to resume. Gov. Kathy Hochul took credit for the reversal, saying that she had “spent weeks pushing the federal government to rescind the stop-work order” so that construction on “this important source of renewable power” could proceed.
The groups seeking to halt the project cited the June 2 death of a subcontractor aboard a platform supply vessel.
“Unlike [the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s] public reporting for oil and gas accidents, there is currently no centralized public reporting website for offshore wind fatalities or injuries,” the groups said in a statement. “The public, press, and fishing community were never informed of this fatality, echoing the lack of transparency seen after the Vineyard Wind LM107P blade implosion on July 13, 2024, when 55 tons of material were deposited into the ocean and washed onto Nantucket’s beaches, only disclosed 48 hours later.”
June 13, 2025 — The U.S. government and several entities involved in the offshore Empire Wind 1 turbine project are being sued by environmental and fisheries groups seeking to halt construction, after an April stop work order on Empire Wind 1 was lifted by the U.S. Department of the Interior on May 19.
The plaintiffs in the suit, filed on June 3, hail from New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, and include groups like Protect Our Coast NJ, Clean Ocean Action Inc., Massachusetts-based ACK for Whales, the Fisherman’s Dock Cooperative in Point Pleasant Beach and Miss Belmar, Inc.
The suit alleges that the rescindment of the stop work order is “incomplete and failed to safeguard the ecology of our seacoast and the livelihoods it supports,” the plaintiffs’ lead counsel, Bruce Afran, said in a press release obtained by The Ocean Star last week.
“President Trump halted the Empire Wind project due to the Biden Administration’s failure to adequately assess the environmental harm posed by these offshore wind turbines and the impact on our coastal fishing industry,” he said. “None of those critical issues have been resolved. We are asking the federal court to reinstate the stop work order because the project’s federal approvals were incomplete and failed to safeguard the ecology of our seacoast and the livelihoods it supports.”
A representative from Equinor, the Norwegian multinational company that owns the Empire Wind project, did not respond to a request for comment by press time Thursday.
The plaintiffs contend that the project, which would place 54 wind turbines approximately 20 miles east of Long Branch in a triangular area of water known as the New York-New Jersey Bight, would cause environmental disruptions “in one of the Atlantic’s most ecologically sensitive areas.”
Read the full article at Star News Group
June 11, 2025 — Last Tuesday, multiple New Jersey fishermen and other groups — including Belford Seafood Co-op in Middletown — sued U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum for his sudden reversal to allow construction on Empire Wind farm to proceed.
You can read the lawsuit here.
Empire Wind will be a very large (80,000 acres of ocean) wind farm 19 miles off Long Branch, a distance too far out for turbines to be visible from shore. Empire Wind is owned by Norwegian renewable energy company Equinor, which has a contract with New York state to provide electricity to homes on Long Island.
On April 16, Burgum issued a halt-work order to Empire Wind, citing President Trump’s ban on all new offshore wind development, which Trump announced on his very first day in office.
But then just one month later, on May 20, the Trump administration reversed course and lifted the order. Reuters reported last week Equinor was allowed to proceed because of a deal Burgum and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul reached where she agreed to allow canceled plans for a natural gas pipeline in New York state to be revived. In return, Empire Wind could resume work it already started, which includes laying rock on the sea floor.
The June 3 lawsuit seeks to have the stop-work order reinstated. In addition to Belford Seafood Co-op, many familiar Jersey Shore names and commercial fishing companies signed on, including:
Clean Ocean Action (the same group that hosts beach clean-ups every spring); Fisherman’s Dock Cooperative in Point Pleasant Beach; the “Miss Belmar” fishing and sightseeing boat, which docks in Neptune under Captain Alan Shinn; Lund’s Fisheries in Cape May and Seaside Park Mayor John Peterson, a Republican.
Commercial fishermen in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Long Island also joined the lawsuit.
The lawsuit sues the United States of America, Interior Secretary Burgum, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, under acting director Walter Cruickshank, Equinor and the kingdom of Norway.
June 5, 2025 — A new lawsuit filed this week pits a group of fishing businesses and environmental activists against the Trump administration after federal officials reversed course and allowed construction on the Empire Wind offshore project to resume. One of the plaintiffs is owned by a Spanish company.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New Jersey, opposes the Interior Department’s decision to lift a stop-work order on Equinor’s Empire Wind farm – an offshore project expected to power roughly 500,000 homes by 2027. The administration had paused work in April, citing concerns about environmental impacts and political opposition. However, it reversed course in May.
The plaintiffs include a mix of longtime offshore wind critics: Protect Our Coast New Jersey, Clean Ocean Action, and ACK for Whales. A dozen commercial fishing companies have joined the offshore wind opponents in the lawsuit.
One of the more notable players is Seafreeze Shoreside Inc., a Rhode Island-based seafood company that’s been a fixture in anti-wind coalitions.
June 4, 2025 — Fishing companies and offshore wind opponents filed a lawsuit on Tuesday challenging the Trump administration’s decision to reverse course and allow construction to resume on Empire Wind, a $5 billion wind farm project off New York’s coast.
Protect Our Coast New Jersey, Clean Ocean Action, ACK for Whales and 12 fishing industry participants in a lawsuit, filed in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, sought to reinstate a stop work order Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued in April halting construction of Equinor’s wind project.
Burgum issued that order after Republican President Donald Trump on his first day back in office on January 20 directed his administration to halt offshore wind lease sales and stop the issuance of permits, leases and loans for both onshore and offshore wind projects.
He did so while also moving to ramp up the federal government’s support for the fossil fuel industry and maximize output in the United States. Trump as a candidate last year promised to end the offshore wind industry.
June 3, 2025 — Two weeks after the Trump administration abruptly allowed the Empire Wind project to resume, a coalition of project opponents and commercial fishermen filed a new federal lawsuit June 3 calling for the Department of Interior to block the project again.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum – who imposed a stop-work order on Equinor’s project off New York April 16, then lifted it in mid-May – is named among as a defendant along with Equinor and the government of Norway, as a majority shareholder of the energy company.
May 21, 2025 — The Trump administration lifted the stop-work order on a major wind farm off the coast of New York on Monday, according to a statement by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), following direct appeals she made to the president.
The reversal comes after intense efforts to lobby the Trump administration by Hochul and the Norwegian energy company building the Empire Wind project. Equinor Renewable Americas President Molly Morris had said last week that the company would be forced to cancel the project within days if there was no sign from the administration of a possible resolution.
Hochul had three roughly one-hour calls with President Donald Trump, the most recent on Sunday, asking for the stop-work order to be rescinded, according to a person familiar with the matter. In the calls, she emphasized the need for projects that bring more energy to New York, while highlighting the number of jobs Empire Wind would create.
May 21, 2025 — Gov. Kathy Hochul may have poked a hole in New York’s long standing pipeline blockade.
The governor celebrated the revival of one critically endangered energy resource last night as President Donald Trump allowed the Empire Wind 1 offshore wind project to restart construction, POLITICO Pro reported. It faced uncertainty after the White House ordered the company to stop work on the fully permitted project last month.
Hochul also alluded obliquely to working with the federal government and private companies on “new energy projects that meet the legal requirements under New York law.” The governor told Newsday’s The Point that she indicated to Trump she was willing to approve pipelines if they met state and federal requirements.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum hours later praised Hochul in a post on X for her openness to new gas infrastructure.
“I am encouraged by Governor Hochul’s comments about her willingness to move forward on critical pipeline capacity,” he wrote. “Americans who live in New York and New England would see significant economic benefits and lower utility costs from increased access to reliable, affordable, clean American natural gas.”
There was no explicit offshore wind for pipeline tradeoff, according to Hochul’s office. “No deal was reached on any gas pipeline,” said Hochul spokesperson Paul DeMichele.
Still, the remarks raised alarm for some environmental advocates who want Hochul to keep the door closed to new gas pipelines, which they argue undermine the state’s climate law.
“If she goes down the path of exploring or, God forbid, approving pipelines, she should know that New Yorkers will make her life miserable until she’s compelled to do the right thing,” said Laura Shindell, New York director at Food and Water Watch.
While New York’s anti-fracking movement hasn’t been as active in recent years, advocates spent years hounding former Gov. Andrew Cuomo at nearly every public event to block hydraulic fracturing and pipelines.
Trump has repeatedly raised the idea of building a pipeline through New York, including reviving the Constitution Pipeline. Williams Co. dropped plans for that project in 2020, years after New York first denied a permit because of water quality concerns.
There are no pending new interstate pipeline applications in New York state. Hochul last year approved a project to increase the amount of natural gas flowing along an existing pipeline. State regulators said there was a reliability need for the additional supply.
Business leaders support more access to natural gas.
“We need more natural gas, and it should be available to businesses that want to expand,” said Matt Cohen, executive director of the Long Island Association.
Some environmental advocates — basking in the glow of a rare offshore wind victory — shrugged off the pipeline issue, given the likelihood of staunch public opposition, the years-long process and legal requirements in New York.
“We knew when Trump was elected that he was ‘drill baby drill,” said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment. “We know he thinks he’s the greatest dealmaker since sliced bread. If or when there’s something proposed, it will be reviewed — and gas pipelines take years to permit.”
Environmental advocates, union leaders and other supporters hailed the restart of the Empire Wind project as a major victory for the governor and New York’s economy.
It took an all-hands effort including Long Island Republicans, business groups, labor unions and even New York City Mayor Eric Adams to salvage the project. Hochul was on the phone with Trump three times over the weekend, pushing for it to restart.
Adams today sought to take some credit for the victory as well, citing a May 9 meeting with the president in D.C.
Adams, a registered Democrat, is running for reelection as an independent after losing support from voters wary of his hands-off attitude toward Trump.
May 20, 2025 — Equinor said Monday that the Interior Department has lifted a stop work order on Empire Wind 1, a dramatic reversal by the Trump administration that breathed life into the 54-turbine project that had been on the brink of cancellation.
The reason for the turnaround wasn’t immediately clear. In a statement, Equinor CEO Anders Opedal thanked President Donald Trump for “finding a solution that saves thousands of American jobs and provides for continued investments in energy infrastructure in the U.S.”
Empire Wind 1 is central to New York’s climate and energy plans. The $5 billion project would connect directly into New York City’s power grid, providing enough electricity to supply 500,000 homes. It has been the focus of an intense international lobbying effort in recent weeks. Opedal and Norwegian Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg met with White House officials to discuss the project last month.