US Judge allows Equinor New York Offshore Wind Project to be restarted

The federal judge cleared Norwegian 'offshore wind developer Equinor on Thursday to resume work on the?New York Empire Wind Project, which was halted by President Donald Trump along with four other project last month. U.S. district judge Carl Nichols' ruling is the second legal blow to Trump's offshore policy this week. On Monday, a judge at the same court ruled that?Danish company Orsted? could resume work on a project near the coast of Rhode Island.

Trump has spent most of the past year trying to stop offshore wind farms from expanding in federal waters. He has said repeatedly that he believes the technology is expensive, unreliable, and ugly.

Attorneys for the government argued that the Interior Department's December 22 decision to halt offshore wind was justified because of?new classified information about the impact of offshore wind on national security.

Nichols, however, said that the national security concerns of the government did not outweigh "irreparable damage" Empire Wind could suffer if Trump's order was not paused.

Nichols stated that the order "threatens Empire Wind’s existence" by restricting its?access' to rare vessels needed to complete the project.

Equinor could get a temporary reprieve from the order to continue working on Empire Wind. Nichols stated that the Trump order had been paused while he considered the merits of underlying lawsuits on an "expedited" basis.

Equinor released a statement saying that "Empire Wind" will focus on safely restarting the construction activities which were stopped during the suspension period. "In addition, this project will continue its engagement with the U.S. Government to ensure safe, secure, and responsible execution of operations."

The Interior Department didn't immediately respond to our request for comment. Reporting by Blake Brittain, Washington; Nichola Groom, Los Angeles; Editing by Rod Nickel

(source: Reuters)