U.S. Department of the Interior Archives

Revolution Wind fully operational, Ørsted reports

November 6, 2026 — Offshore wind developer Ørsted said Thursday its 704-megawatt turbine array Revolution Wind off southern New England has achieved full operation, exporting power to Connecticut and Rhode Island customers.

Located about 15 miles south of Rhode Island, the project’s 65 turbines were completed weeks before the Trump administration mounted another unsuccessful attempt in federal court to void Ørsted’s construction and operations permit.

Ørsted announced the news in a No. 5 earnings call. In a summary the Danish energy company said it “completed the installation of the remaining wind turbines at the 704 MW Revolution Wind offshore wind farm in the U.S. In October the project achieved commercial operations under its offtake contracts with utilities in the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island.”

Read the full article at WorkBoat

Feds now question their own approval of New England Wind

October 29, 2026 — New England Wind is the latest offshore wind project in the federal government’s crosshairs.

In response to a lawsuit spearheaded by Nantucket-based nonprofit ACK for Whales, federal officials are asking a judge to allow them to reconsider their approval of the project about 24 miles southwest of Nantucket.

In an Oct. 20 court filing responding to the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, the Department of the Interior agreed with ACK for Whales saying that its previous approval did not adequately explain how the project would comply with requirements protecting the environment, fishing and navigation.

“This filing by DOI is significant in our efforts to protect the environment around Nantucket from the damaging impacts of large scale offshore wind development,” ACK for Whales member Veronica Bonnet said.

The government is asking the court to send the project’s construction and operations plan back for further review under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

Read the full article at The Inquirer and Mirror

Trump Administration Targets Fourth Offshore Wind Project for Remand

October 22, 2026 — In what is clearly emerging as a new tactic to derail the offshore wind energy sector, the Department of Justice filed for the fourth time in just a matter of days, asking a District Court to remand the prior approval of the Construction and Operations Plan of a proposed offshore wind farm. The latest target is New England Wind and is drawing angry criticism from environmentalists and elected officials.

The Department of Justice filed a memorandum in support of the long-running case between an environmental group, Ack For Whales, which has been suing the Department of Commerce and Avangrid, the developer of a project known as New England Wind. In the now common tactic, DOJ asks the District Court for the District of Columbia to remand the approval of the Construction and Operations Plan back to the Department of the Interior so that it can reconsider the approval under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

It writes in the memorandum that the approval, which was announced on July 1, 2024, “did not properly consider or explain how the COP ‘provides for’ the subsection’s identified factors.” It is the fourth time DOJ has used a similar tactic to target the permits for wind farms. It took the same approach to challenge the largely completed Revolution Wind project, which should complete commissioning by the end of this year, and then to challenge a series of projects that had gained approvals under the Biden administration but have not commenced construction.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

Trump administration asks to reconsider Ocean City offshore wind permit

October 20, 2026 — Months after first threatening to do so, the Trump administration has officially filed a request to reconsider the construction permit it issued to an offshore wind project proposed off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland.

It’s just the latest episode in President Donald Trump’s battle against offshore turbines since returning to office last year. The Republican administration has halted coastal wind leasing, issued stop work orders to projects under construction and spent billions to buy back wind leases previously issued to developers.

When it comes to the Ocean City project, proposed by US Wind, the federal government is arguing that the project did not receive adequate consideration under a federal law known as the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

In their filing, Department of Justice officials cited possible adverse impacts of the project on: the North Atlantic right whale, “scenic and visual resources, some commercial fisheries, and scientific research.”

The administration is requesting to remand the permit “without vacatur,” meaning it would remain in place while the Department of the Interior reconsiders it.

Read the full article at WTOP

Environmental group sues for records related to Trump administration’s ESA rollbacks

October 20, 2026 — The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has sued the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump after the government failed to provide public documents related to its decision to rescind the definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The lawsuit follows the U.S. Department of the Interior’s July decision to roll back the definition of “harm” in the ESA to no longer take into account modifications and degradation of habitat in protecting endangered species. In announcing the change, the Trump administration said incorporating those habitat considerations was a result of federal overreach and the definition in place for roughly 40 years had been used to unnecessarily stifle economic development.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Trump Administration Asks Court to Let It Re-Evaluate Revolution Wind’s COP

October 14, 2026 — The Trump administration is renewing its challenges to Ørsted’s offshore wind farm, Revolution Wind, located off the coast of Rhode Island. The Department of Justice is asking a District Court in the District of Columbia to remand its prior approval of the construction and operations plan (“COP”) for further review on a project that has completed construction and is in the final stages of commissioning.

It marks the third time the Trump administration has challenged the 704 MW wind farm project, which is contracted to supply power to Connecticut and Rhode Island. In August 2025, it sought to stop construction while the project was approximately 80 percent complete, but it was rejected by the courts. In December 2025, the administration included Revolution Wind in its stop-work orders, this time contending the operations posed a risk to national security due to the potential for radar interference. The courts again rejected the stop-work order and let the project resume construction in January 2026.

The Department of Justice made its new filing in a case being pursued by an environmental group that has been challenging the project in the courts for years. Green Ocean has been suing the Department of the Interior and Revolution Wind, contending the project would cause harm to the environment.

The new filing made on October 9 asked the court to grant Green Ocean a summary judgment on its claims against the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, related to the approval of the project. Further, it says the Department of the Interior agrees that remand of its prior approval of the construction and operations plan (COP) for the Revolution Wind Project is warranted so that the agency can reevaluate its compliance with the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

US States Sue Trump Administration for Weakening Endangered Species Protections

September 9, 2026 — U.S. states filed two lawsuits on Wednesday accusing President Donald Trump’s ⁠administration ⁠of illegally weakening the federal Endangered Species Act, a landmark ⁠law that has shielded the bald eagle and other wildlife from dangers posed by development.

The lawsuits by the Democratic attorneys general of 20 states and Washington, D.C. were filed less than two months after the Department of the Interior and the Department of Commerce announced final rules that could make it easier for ‌developers, fossil fuel companies and others to disturb ‌lands that environmental advocates say need protection from business interests.

Enacted by Congress in 1973, the Endangered Species Act has been credited with saving animals including the California condor, grizzly bear and ⁠humpback whale.

In one lawsuit, ⁠the states challenged a rule that narrowed the Endangered Species Act’s definition of “harm,” which had long included encroachments on habitats where endangered animals live.

The new rule, which the states called “a reversal of staggering proportions,” allows oil drilling, mining and other activities in those habitats so long as those activities are not “directed immediately and intentionally” against particular animals, even if they cause injuries or death.

In the other lawsuit, the states challenged two rules. One rule eliminates broad protections for newly threatened species unless the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service creates species-specific protections. The second rule requires the government to consider objections by businesses, such as potential economic burdens, before declaring areas as “critical habitats.”

“The Trump administration is ⁠trying to ⁠undermine the law, the will of ⁠Congress and the will of the people who overwhelmingly support protections for endangered species,” Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said at a press conference. “Instead of stewardship, this administration’s approach to our land, to our water is one of exploitation.”

Read the full article at US News

California Sues DOI Calling Offshore Wind Cancellation “Blatantly Unlawful”

August 31, 2026 — California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Energy Commission moved forward with their earlier challenges and filed a lawsuit on August 28 against the Trump administration and Golden State Wind over what it is calling “the unlawful buyout” of the offshore wind energy lease. The state is contending the deal to buy back the offshore wind lease is illegal and would jeopardize its investments to support the project, the state’s energy policy, and the commitments from the developer for workforce training, the supply chain, and investments in the local communities.

The California Energy Commission in May served an administrative investigative subpoena to Golden State Wind seeking documents and information related to the buyout. The California Department of Justice and CEC followed up in June by sending a Notice of Intent to Sue targeting what it terms an “unlawful agreement between the Department of the Interior and Golden State Wind.” It is asserting that the deal is “blatantly unlawful” and is asking the courts to strike it down.

“The Trump administration’s backroom buyout with Golden State Wind to stop offshore wind development in favor of gas and oil drilling is, unfortunately, a classic playbook for them to line the pockets of their Big Oil donors,” said Attorney General Bonta, announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

Governor, Moylan push back on seabed mining plan

August 21, 2026 — The federal government has taken its clearest step yet toward opening the seabed near the Northern Mariana Islands to commercial mineral mining, and Guam’s governor and delegate to Congress are warning Washington not to move faster than the science allows.

The Marine Minerals Administration, formed in July when the Interior Department folded the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management into a new agency, published a proposed leasing notice Monday covering five lease blocks along the edge of the Mariana Trench. The blocks span roughly 67 million acres, an area close to the size of Nevada, and the agency has set Dec. 16 as the proposed date for the sale.

In a statement released Wednesday, Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero’s office acknowledged Washington’s interest in reducing reliance on foreign mineral sources but said caution should come first. “National security cannot mean asking the people of the Pacific to accept environmental risks before those risks are fully understood,” the statement said.

The governor’s office cautioned that permitting exploration now could make it harder to pull back later, once companies have invested money in surveying the seabed. “A lease is not authorization to begin commercial mining, and it is important that we be precise about that. But it is also not an insignificant step,” the statement said, calling on the Interior Department and the new marine minerals agency to consult with residents of the Mariana Islands before going further.

Read the full article at The Guam Daily Post

US Senate bill would incentivize offshore wind development, despite Trump buyouts

August 12, 2026 — A pair of U.S. senators have introduced legislation to enable more investment in offshore wind development, despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to buyout existing lease holders.

Trump has made opposition to offshore wind power a key policy of his second term, issuing an executive order pausing offshore wind projects his first day back in office. That order was ultimately struck down by a federal judge, and a subsequent order by the U.S. Department of the Interior pausing development over vague national security concerns has not fared much better in court.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource