Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Vineyard Wind’s final turbine tower heads out of New Bedford port

January 29, 2026 — Less than 24 hours after Vineyard Wind secured a win in federal court that lifted the project suspension, it sailed its 62nd and final turbine tower out of the Port of New Bedford on a brutally cold Wednesday morning. The shipment comes more than two years after the first turbine went out, capping off a long installation process that hit several unexpected bumps and delays along the way.

All that remains now are 10 blade sets — or 30 blades — to install by the end of March, when the project will lose access to its specialized installation vessel.

Depending on the weather and sea conditions, a single blade can take a few hours to install. If the seas are too rough, work has to pause.

Chris Melendez, a millwright who started working at New Bedford’s Marine Commerce Terminal for Vineyard Wind in 2024, said workers are “excited that [it’s] finally leaving.”

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

Vineyard Wind 1 blows past federal stop-work order, project to resume

January 29, 2026 — Vineyard Wind 1 picked up a legal tailwind on Jan. 27 after a federal judge stayed a Trump administration stop-work order that halted the nearly finished project just more than a month ago.

Judge Brian E. Murphy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted the company a preliminary injunction, blocking a Dec. 22 suspension order the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued to five major East Coast offshore wind projects.

The ruling allows Vineyard Wind 1, a joint venture of Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, to restart full construction activities in its lease area south of Martha’s Vineyard and southwest of Nantucket while the broader legal challenge moves through the court system. The project brings power ashore at Covell Beach in Barnstable, connecting to the New England power grid by way of a substation in Hyannis.

Read the full article at Cape Cod Times

Judge says construction on Vineyard Wind can resume

January 28, 2026 — A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that construction can resume on Vineyard Wind, a large and nearly complete offshore wind farm near Massachusetts. Work on the project was suspended in late December, when the Trump administration said it posed a national security risk. Four other wind projects were also halted at that time.

The order represents a temporary victory for Vineyard Wind, which argued that a further delay could put the entire project in financial jeopardy. It also marks the fourth time a federal judge has ruled against the Trump administration in suits challenging the December stop work order.

After hearing oral arguments, U.S. District Court Judge Brian E. Murphy said he was issuing a stay on the administration’s order because the government “failed to provide a reasonable explanation for why it had to stop construction,” meaning, he added, the action was “likely arbitrary and capricious.”

In explaining his decision, Murphy said the government’s concerns about national security related to the operation of Vineyard Wind, not the project’s construction. And yet, under the December stop-work order, Vineyard Wind was given permission to continue producing power from its 44 operational turbines.

“The government has made no attempt to explain this disconnect,” Murphy said. “ If the government’s concern is the operation of these facilities, allowing the ongoing operation of the 44 turbines while prohibiting the repair of the existing turbines and the completion of the 18 additional turbines is irrational.”

Read the full article at wbur

Judge rules Massachusetts offshore wind project halted by Trump administration can continue

January 28, 2026 — A federal judge said Tuesday that a nearly completed Massachusetts offshore wind project can continue, as the industry successfully challenges the Trump administration in court.

At U.S. District Court in Boston, Judge Brian Murphy halted the administration’s stop work order for Vineyard Wind, citing the potential economic losses from the delays and the developers’ likelihood of success on their claims. Vineyard Wind is one of five big offshore wind projects on the East Coast that the Trump administration froze days before Christmas, citing national security concerns — and the fourth that has since been allowed to go forward.

A spokesperson for the company, Craig Gilvarg, said in a statement that it would “work with the Administration to understand the matters raised in the Order.”

“Vineyard Wind will focus on working in coordination with its contractors, the federal government, and other relevant stakeholders and authorities to safely restart activities, as it continues to deliver a critical source of new power to the New England region,” Gilvarg added.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

Feds push to keep Vineyard Wind paused as 10 turbines stand bladeless

January 27, 2026 — Federal officials on Jan. 21 asked a Massachusetts court to uphold the government’s halt to construction at Vineyard Wind 1’s offshore project, which has left 10 turbines partially built — called a “hammerhead” status for each turbine — with towers and nacelles installed, but no blades.

Court filings show the $4.5 billion project is 95% complete, weeks from finishing, and incurring millions in daily costs.

In separate submissions to the court and the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Vineyard Wind 1 has pushed for the go-ahead to install the missing blades, saying that leaving the turbines in “hammerhead” status for too long increases safety, structural and operational risks and leaves components exposed to corrosion, fire hazards, and potential marine debris. The stop-work order, however, does not allow new construction.

Read the full article at The Enterprise

Lawsuit Filings Reveal New Information On Status Of Vineyard Wind Project

January 26, 2026 —  According to several Vineyard Wind executives, if the offshore wind farm isn’t allowed to resume construction, its unfinished turbines could pose a serious health and safety risk.

The turbines that pose the most risk are the so-called “hammerheads,” or turbines that are partially built but have not yet had blades attached. In multiple documents filed as part of its lawsuit seeking a temporary injunction against the federal government’s stop-work order, Vineyard Wind claims that if the company can’t attach the blades soon, they are at risk of catching fire, dumping debris into the ocean, or injuring Vineyard Wind employees.

For some Nantucket residents, this warning may carry uncomfortable echoes of the blade collapse that occurred at Vineyard Wind in August of 2024, sending tons of debris to Nantucket’s shores.

“The risks and impacts associated with hammerheads offshore are as follows: lightning strike, climate control in the Nacelle [head], and structural fatigue,” wind turbine team lead Steven Simkins wrote. “In the event of a [lightning] strike, there is a risk of the electrically powered and charged components in the hub igniting. Any electrical fire has the potential to propagate into the nacelle and cause a larger fire event.”

Read the full article at the Nantucket Current

Nantucket nonprofit, businesses file lawsuit, alleging offshore wind is crushing their operations

January 20, 2026 — A nonprofit opposed to offshore wind development, a lobster fisherman, and a whale-watching business are suing the federal government, arguing it violated federal law when it approved the construction of Vineyard Wind, a 62-turbine project 15 miles off the coast of Nantucket.

Dan Pronk, a Nantucket lobsterman, does commercial lobstering in the area of the turbines. He told Just the News that the project has decimated his business.

Revolution gets greenlighted 

The Trump administration last month paused offshore wind leases due to concerns about the impact of the project on radar, a national-security issue. Multiple reports from various federal agencies over the past few years have found that the clutter from offshore wind blades and turbines causes interference to radar. This lowers the ability of radar to identify targets on the water, and it creates false targets around the projects.

The lawsuit filed this week by Nantuck-based ACK4Whales and two local businesses argues that when the Department of Interior and other agencies under former President Joe Biden approved the Vineyard Wind project, they ignored the impacts radar disruptions would have on civil aviation and national defense.

In so doing, the lawsuit argues, the Biden-Harris administration violated the Offshore Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) and the Administrative Procedures Act.

Read the full article at Just The News

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

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

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