Saving Seafood

MARYLAND: Panel held in OC to Stop Offshore Wind

January 14, 2026 — A public hearing drew in hundreds to the Roland E. Powell Convention center on Monday night, as eight local leaders and experts spoke on a panel against the installation of offshore windmills.

The event, hosted by the StopOffshoreWind Coalition, in coordination with the Town of Ocean City (OC) and Worcester County Government, sought to push back against U.S. Wind’s longstanding proposal to construct a 114 turbine windfarm located 10.7 miles off the coast of OC. The project was approved in Oct. 2024 under the Biden Administration, but faced scrutiny under the following Trump Administration. On Sept. 12, 2025, the Department of the Interior (DOI) reversed course and filed a motion to vacate and remand the project approval. When the U.S. District Court ordered a briefing on that motion, the federal government then sought to stay the proceedings indefinitely. Maryland Attorney General (AG) Anthony G. Brown and Delaware AG Kathry Jennings have since filed briefs requesting preliminary injunctions to save the project. A ruling is expected late summer 2026.

Speakers gathered to inform residents on where the project currently stands, and how they are continuing the fight against offshore wind. OC Mayor Rick Meehan opened the event and introduced each of the panelists, who specialized in a particular field related to concerns surrounding offshore windmill installation.

“It is almost impossible to believe that over the past eight years, and after attending numerous public hearings at both the state and federal level, stating our concerns, that not one of our concerns has been addressed,” Mayor Meehan said in his opening remarks. “Our goal tonight is to bring to light some of these questions, and provide some of the missing answers for the people in this room.”

Read the full article at WMDT

Judge Strikes Down Trump’s Latest Effort to Stop Offshore Wind Project

January 13, 2026 — A federal judge on Monday ruled that construction could resume on a $6.2 billion wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island, striking down the Trump administration’s decision last month to halt work on the Revolution Wind project.

Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Interior Department’s suspension order was “arbitrary and capricious” in violation of federal law.

Revolution Wind is one of five offshore wind projects under construction along the East Coast that were ordered to stop work last month by the Trump administration, which cited unspecified national security concerns. Several states, as well as developers of four of the projects, have challenged the move in court. The case involving Revolution Wind was the first complaint to be heard.

The decision is a temporary victory for Revolution Wind and the offshore wind industry, which has been roiled by the Trump administration’s efforts to block offshore wind farms that had received permits under the Biden administration. Orsted, the Danish energy giant that is building Revolution Wind, can now continue with construction as litigation it has filed against the Trump administration proceeds.

Read the full article at The New York Times

Offshore wind developer prevails in U.S. court as Trump calls wind farms ‘losers’

January 13, 2026 — A federal judge ruled Monday that work on a major offshore wind farm for Rhode Island and Connecticut can resume, handing the industry at least a temporary victory as President Trump seeks to shut it down.

At the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Senior Judge Royce Lamberth said the government did not explain why it could not take action short of a complete stop to construction on Revolution Wind while it considers ways to mitigate its national security concerns. He said it also did not provide sufficient reasoning for its change in position.

Revolution Wind has received all of its federal permits and is nearly 90% complete to provide power for Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Trump says his goal is to not let any “windmills” be built. Three energy developers are challenging the administration’s freeze of their offshore wind projects in the federal courts this week.

Danish energy company Orsted, Norwegian company Equinor, and Dominion Energy Virginia each sued to ask the courts to vacate and set aside the administration’s Dec. 22 order to freeze five big projects on the East Coast over national security concerns. Orsted’s hearing was first on its Revolution Wind project. Orsted said it will soon resume construction to deliver affordable, reliable power to the Northeast.

Read the full article at The Associated Press

Another reprieve for Revolution Wind

January 13, 2026 — For the second time a federal court on Monday turned back the Trump administration’s attempt to shut down the Revolution Wind energy project off southern New England, handing wind power developers another temporary reprieve in an on-again, off-again legal battle.

 U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled developer Ørsted “would be irreparably harmed” unless work on the almost 90 percent complete turbine array is allowed to continue, while the company disputes the government’s Dec. 22 claim that “national security” required an immediate stop-work order.

 The judge’s temporary injunction mirrors an earlier ruling he issued in September a few weeks after the administration attempted then to halt Revolution Wind. Of the Dec. 22 order, Judge Lamberth wrote, the decision appeared “arbitrary and capricious” and violating the Administrative Procedure Act that requires detailed rationale for rule changes and a public comment period.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Legal tests await Trump’s offshore energy agenda in 2026

January 13, 2026 — From stalled offshore wind turbines along the Eastern Seaboard to an oil drilling boom off the Gulf Coast, the Trump administration’s moves to shake up the energy sector are getting their day in court in 2026.

This year, federal judges will decide the legality of the Trump team’s reversals of advances in the offshore wind industry and its push to open more of the nation’s waters to fossil fuel development. The court battles are expected to help shape the U.S. energy mix for decades to come.

“The next 12 months are going to be extraordinarily important for the nation’s long-term protection of the environment and commitment to renewable energy,” said Basil Seggos, partner and senior policy director at the law firm Foley Hoag.

Read the full article at E&E News

Nantucket Group, Island Fishermen Sue Federal Government To Vacate Vineyard Wind Approvals

January 13, 2026 — Already suspended by the federal government over national security concerns, Vineyard Wind is now facing another challenge: a federal lawsuit filed by the Nantucket-based offshore wind opposition group ACK For Whales and two island fishermen seeking to vacate its permits.

The non-profit activist group has been joined by Martha’s Vineyard fisherman and Wampanoag tribe member William Vanderhoop and Nantucket lobsterman Dan Pronk in the legal challenge. They claim the federal government violated the Offshore Continental Shelf Land Act (OCSLA) and the Administrative Procedures Act when it approved Vineyard Wind under the Biden administration.

The lawsuit, filed last Friday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks orders vacating Vineyard Wind’s record of decision and its construction and operations plan, claiming the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Department of the Interior ignored “the disruptive effects the turbines have on civil aviation and national defenses, imperiling safety.”

“They were in such a rush to achieve their political goals, they didn’t care what corners they cut, the threat to our national defense or personal flying safety, or how high our electric bills would go,” said Nantucket resident and ACK For Whales president Vallorie Oliver in a statement. “This was politics at its worst.”

The group’s lawsuit also alleges that BOEM is violating the law by allowing Vineyard Wind to continue to operate.

“BOEM is engaging in ongoing violations of OCSLA because it continues to allow Vineyard Wind 1 project to operate under approvals that were issued using an interpretation of OCSLA…that the Office of the Solicitor has since withdrawn as erroneous,” the lawsuit states.

Read the full article at the Nantucket Current

‘Specific’ Revolution Wind national security risks remain classified in court documents

January 12, 2026 — A recent federal analysis revealed new and specific national security risks posed by offshore wind, including Rhode Island’s nearly completed Revolution Wind project,  according to the Trump administration.

But, it’s classified.

Federal regulators, and the U.S. Department of Justice attorneys representing them in court, offered little explanation for the abrupt suspension of five East Coast wind projects, including Revolution Wind, in court filings submitted Thursday. The tranche of documents, spanning 160 pages, defends the Interior Department’s Dec. 22 stop work order, which is being challenged by the Revolution Wind project developers, along with the companies behind three of the four other projects. The companies have each turned to federal courts to attempt to bar the Trump administration from interfering in their projects, claiming the 90-day suspension is an executive overreach that violates constitutional separation of powers, among other laws.

For the 65-turbine Revolution Wind project already 87% complete south of Rhode Island’s coastline, the late December halt to construction was especially harmful. The 704-megawatt project already endured a monthlong pause from August to September when federal regulators first sought to stop work under the guise of national security concerns.

The initial stop work order was temporarily tossed by U.S. Senior Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Lamberth is scheduled to consider the second request for a preliminary injunction from the Revolution Wind developers, joined by the Rhode Island and Connecticut AGs, on Monday.

Read the full article at the Rhode Island Current

New York attorney general sues Trump administration over offshore wind project freeze

January 12, 2026 — New York’s attorney general sued the Trump administration on Friday over its decision to halt two major offshore wind projects expected to power more than 1 million homes in the state.

State Attorney General Letitia James said in legal challenges filed in federal court in Washington that the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Dec. 22 order suspending construction on the projects off Long Island, citing national security concerns, was arbitrary and unwarranted.

The Democrat said Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind projects had already cleared more than a decade of security and safety reviews by federal, state and local authorities. She said pausing them now threatens New York’s economy and energy grid, and she asked the court to intervene.

“New Yorkers deserve clean, reliable energy, good-paying jobs, and a government that follows the law,” James said in a statement. “This reckless decision puts workers, families, and our climate goals at risk.”

Read the full article at the the Associated Press

US House passes legislation funding NOAA Fisheries for fiscal year 2026

January 9, 2026 — The U.S. House has voted to pass appropriations legislation funding the Department of Commerce and the Department of the Interior for the remainder of fiscal year 2026.

“Today, the House took another step forward in advancing three more FY26 appropriations bills to President Trump’s desk,” U.S. Representative Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said after the vote. “Through bipartisan, committee-led consensus, we are delivering full-year measures that spend less than current funding, implement critical priorities for our districts, and continue to advance the America First agenda. This was not by accident – it is the result of ending bloated omnibuses, empowering members, and doing the hard work Article I of the Constitution demands.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Trump’s offshore wind project freeze draws lawsuits from states and developers

January 8, 2026 — Offshore wind developers affected by the Trump administration’s freeze of five big projects on the East Coast are fighting back in court, with one developer saying its project will likely be terminated if they can’t resume by the end of next week.

Norwegian company Equinor and the Danish energy company Orsted are the latest to sue, with the limited liability companies for their projects filing civil suits late Tuesday. Connecticut and Rhode Island filed their own request on Monday seeking a preliminary injunction for a third project.

The administration announced Dec. 22 it was suspending leases for at least 90 days on the five offshore wind projects because of national security concerns. Its announcement did not reveal specifics about those concerns.

President Donald Trump has been hostile to renewable energy technologies that produce electricity cleanly, particularly offshore wind, and has instead prioritized oil, coal and natural gas that emit carbon pollution when burned.

Read the full article at the Associated Press