Saving Seafood

Vineyard Wind sues federal government over suspension order

January 16, 2026 — Vineyard Wind sued the federal government on Thursday, asking a federal judge for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the suspension order that has frozen construction since late last month. It’s the final offshore wind project to sue of the five that were abruptly halted — two of which have been granted preliminary injunctions by federal judges and allowed to resume construction.

“Vineyard Wind believes the Order violates applicable law and, if not promptly enjoined, will lead to immediate and irreparable harm to the project, and to the communities who will benefit from this critical source of new power for the New England region,” reads a press release from the company.

The 52-page complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, says Vineyard Wind is incurring $2 million in costs, per day, under the pause.

It’s 95% complete, with all but one of its 62 turbines standing tall above the Atlantic Ocean, several of which have been spinning and sending power to the Massachusetts grid. One turbine tower remains standing at the quayside of the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal.

Per the filing, the project needs to finish turbine and blade installation by March 31, at which time its contract with the specialized installation vessel, the Sea Installer, ends. In a declaration, Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Moeller said installation needs to resume by Jan. 30 in order to get the work completed before the contract ends.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

New York’s Empire Wind project to resume as federal judge hands a victory to offshore wind farm developers

January 16, 2026 — A federal judge has cleared the way for a New York offshore wind project to resume construction, a victory for the developer who said a Trump administration order to pause it would likely kill the project in a matter of days.

District Judge Carl J. Nichols, an appointee of President Donald Trump, ruled Thursday that construction on the Empire Wind project could go forward while he considers the merits of the government’s order to suspend the project. He faulted the government for not responding to key points in Empire Wind’s court filings, including the contention that the administration violated proper procedure.

Norwegian company Equinor owns Empire Wind. It’s the second developer to prevail in court against the administration this week.

The Trump administration froze five big offshore wind projects on the East Coast days before Christmas, citing national security concerns. Trump has targeted offshore wind from his first days back in the White House, most recently calling wind farms “losers” that lose money, destroy the landscape and kill birds.

Read the full article at CBS News

Vineyard Wind sues Trump administration for halting construction

January 16, 2026 — The developers behind Vineyard Wind, a large and nearly complete offshore wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts, are suing the Trump administration for halting construction on the project last month.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the developers argued the administration acted unlawfully and abused its statutory authority when it suspended the project’s lease, grinding construction to a halt. In a 52-page complaint, the plaintiffs asked the court for a temporary restraining order that would allow the companies to get back to work immediately.

News of the lawsuit immediately drew praise from Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell, as well as from environmental advocates.

“Vineyard Wind  is a key part of the region’s efforts to decarbonize and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels,” said Nick Krakoff, a lawyer with the Conservation Law Foundation. “Despite the Trump administration’s efforts to shut down clean, affordable energy options for the region, we’re continuing to see judges reject those efforts.”

Vineyard Wind’s lawsuit comes hours after a federal judge in a separate case ruled that construction could resume on Empire Wind, an offshore wind farm affected by the December order. Earlier this week, yet another judge ruled that construction could resume on Revolution Wind, an offshore wind project off the coast of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Lawsuits are pending for the two other projects affected by the December order: Sunrise Wind and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind.

Read the full article at wbur

Offshore wind development could hinder scallop fishing, new study reports

January 15, 2026 — Just as the Trump administration abruptly halted five offshore wind projects in December, a new study aims to quantify the impacts the controversial industry may have on commercial scallop fishers.

The study, published mid-December, found that while offshore wind may not change scallop fishing much — causing only an estimated 4% increase in travel time — even that amount of change could still leave a major impact on the highly lucrative and sensitive industry.

“It’s kind of like death by a thousand cuts,” said Sarah Borsetti, paper author and fisheries researcher at Rutgers University’s Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory. “With all of the other things facing the industry, this is another thorn in the side.”

Using a model that previously predicted changes in the surfclam industry, Borsetti and her team sought to simulate fishermen’s real behavior in and around offshore development sites. To make her model as accurate as possible, her team interviewed commercial scallopers across the Eastern Seaboard — but primarily in the industry hub of New Bedford.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

Rigs-to-Reefs hearing sparks fight over Trump energy plans

January 15, 2026 — A House hearing on a bipartisan bill promoting the use of decommissioned offshore oil rigs as artificial reefs instead devolved into a contentious partisan squabble Tuesday as lawmakers debated the merits of offshore drilling and the Trump administration’s oversight of it.

The Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources hearing was intended to discuss H.R. 5745, the “Marine Fisheries Habitat Protection Act,” sponsored by Rep. Mike Ezell (R-Miss.). The bill would expand the use of old offshore oil platforms as artificial reefs by streamlining a decades-old permitting process for doing so in federal waters along the five Gulf Coast states — Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

But the hearing detoured into a debate over offshore drilling, and assertions by some Democrats that the proposal amounts to a financial and regulatory giveaway for the oil and gas industry, and is an “extreme waiver of responsibilities” for their infrastructure.

Read the full article at E&E News

Congress Moves to Preserve NOAA Funding for Fisheries and Climate Research

January 14, 2026 — On Monday, Senators moved a funding package forward that would preserve 2026 funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), despite the Trump administration’s proposed deep cuts to the agency last year.

The appropriations bill, which funds multiple agencies, already passed in the House; the Senate is expected to send it to President Donald Trump’s desk this week.

Last year, Trump requested a $1.5 billion cut to the agency’s roughly $6 billion budget. A memo from his Office of Management and Budget also proposed eliminating NOAA’s office dedicated to research on climate and weather patterns, zeroing out funding for weather and ocean labs, and moving regulation of fisheries to the Fish & Wildlife Service.

Experts warned the budget cuts could have dire consequences for farmers, who rely on weather data, and the country’s fisheries, which rely on NOAA to enforce catch limits, invest in habitat conservation, and preserve coastlines.

Read the full article at Civil Eats

VIRGINIA: Here’s what’s happening with the federal pause on Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farm in Virginia Beach

January 14, 2026 — Dominion is suing the Interior Department for the December order, which the utility calls “arbitrary and capricious.”

The Trump administration is continuing its campaign against the offshore wind industry, and Dominion Energy is now one of the targets.

The U.S. Interior Department last month issued a 90-day pause for work on the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, as well as four others in New England. Officials cited national security risks “identified in recently completed classified reports.”

The $11 billion Virginia Beach project, which stretches about 27 to 44 miles off the Oceanfront, was expected to start delivering electricity to the grid within months and finish construction later this year.

“We stand ready to do what is necessary to get these vital electrons flowing as quickly as possible,” the utility stated in a December news release.

Dominion quickly sued the federal government, calling the stop-work order “arbitrary and capricious.” The first hearing in the case is set for Friday in Norfolk.

Read the full article at WHRO

Trump’s freeze of an offshore wind project faces scrutiny from a judge he appointed

January 14, 2026 — A federal judge is considering whether to set aside a Trump administration order pausing construction on a major offshore wind farm for New York, which the developer says could mean the death of a project that’s 60% complete.

The Empire Wind project is designed to power more than 500,000 homes. Norwegian company Equinor said the project was in jeopardy due to the limited availability of specialized vessels, as well as heavy financial losses. It’s one of five big offshore wind projects on the East Coast that the administration froze days before Christmas, citing national security concerns. Developers and states have sued seeking to block the order.

The case was heard Wednesday by District Judge Carl J. Nichols, an appointee of President Donald Trump. Nichols plans to issue his decision Thursday.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

Rebuking Trump Administration, Judge Allows Revolution Wind To Continue Construction

January 14, 2025 — A federal judge ruled Monday that Revolution Wind can continue construction work as its legal appeal of the Trump administration’s freeze on federal leases for offshore wind projects progresses. Revolution Wind, located off Rhode Island, is one of three wind farms suing over the pause, which the Trump administration claims is necessary to mitigate national security concerns.

District of Columbia Judge Royce Lamberth said the federal government did not provide sufficient justification for the freeze and found that Revolution Wind was likely to succeed on the merits of the case.

Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum claimed that the pause “addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centers.”

The Trump administration has been vague about the specific nature of its national security concerns, and some critics have alleged that the government’s actions are more related to President Donald Trump’s personal dislike of wind turbines.

Revolution Wind called the administration’s actions unlawful, saying it had consulted with the Department of Defense on potential national security issues and had even reached a formal mitigation agreement.

Read the full article at the Nantucket Current