Another legal defeat for Trump as US judge allows Dominion to restart offshore wind project

Federal judge cleared Dominion Energy, a U.S. energy company to resume its Virginia offshore project on Friday. This is the third legal blow this week against President Donald Trump’s anti-offshore winds agenda.

Judge Jamar Walker of U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Virginia has issued a temporary injunction that allows Dominion Construction to resume construction on the $11.2billion project, while the lawsuit against Trump's Interior Department continues. In Washington, Orsted and Equinor offshore wind developers won similar rulings earlier this week in their lawsuit over Interior's suspension of five projects in construction in federal waters on December 22.

The government has halted projects because of what they claim is new classified information about the risks to national security that radar interference poses.

Walker stated that Interior's order to stop work was too general to cover Dominion's project. He also noted that the government's risks were centered on wind farm operations, not construction.

The Interior Department didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for "comment" on the ruling.

These court cases have high stakes because the decisions could allow multi-billion dollar projects to be completed. However, the underlying lawsuits as well as the administration's "aversion" to offshore wind continue to weigh heavily on the industry. Trump has repeatedly disrupted offshore wind developers, claiming that wind turbines are expensive, ugly and inefficient.

Dominion already spent $9 billion on this project, and will lose $5 million per day during the pause.

It is estimated that the facility will provide enough power to run 600,000 households. Blake Brittain reported from Norfolk, Virginia, and Nichola Grroom in Los Angeles. Chris Reese and Rod Nickel edited.

(source: Reuters)