Final week introduced some excellent news for the East Coast’s struggling offshore wind business.
Federal courts dominated 3 times for builders of northeast tasks — one among them being New London-based Revolution Wind — which to date have succeeded, barely, in combating again in opposition to the Trump administration’s persevering with effort to close them down.
Trump has lengthy opposed offshore wind generators, dismissing them as ugly threats to chook and marine life that, if accomplished, will produce unreliable and prohibitively costly electrical energy.
However the administration’s newest cease work order — turned again finally briefly in court docket by Revolution, New York’s Empire Wind and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind — relies on the declare {that a} categorized Pentagon report, one too secret to debate, has recognized offshore wind generators as a menace to nationwide safety.
The safety declare has met skepticism not solely in court docket, however in Congress and elsewhere. The administration and Pentagon have to date refused to elaborate, however there may be widespread perception that the declare relies on concern that big, revolving windmill blades intervene with navy radar by producing undesirable photos often known as muddle.
If that’s the declare, the wind business and its supporters say the potential downside was recognized by the Pentagon and resolved to its satisfaction years in the past.
In a number of reviews and different data, the U.S. Division of Inside bureau answerable for offshore power leases, acknowledges it has consulted repeatedly with a wide range of U.S. navy companies and that their considerations about gear, coaching and operation have been “mitigated.”
A 2023 report notes that Revolution Wind’s builders paid tens of hundreds of {dollars} at one level for a software program patch to alleviate U.S. Air Drive radar points. A letter the next yr from the Division of Protection to the Revolution builders mentioned the undertaking “wouldn’t have opposed impacts to DoD missions within the space.”
Regardless of the cause for its newest concern, the Pentagon received’t speak about it, even when pressed by highly effective members of Congress with seats on committees that management the protection finances and weapons procurement.
The Pentagon politely dismissed a request for data from U.S. Rep Joe Courtney, D-2. The Navy commonly briefs Courtney on categorized issues in his place as rating member of the Home Armed Providers Committee’s Seapower subcommittee, which oversees the nation’s high protection precedence, the Columba ballistic missile submarines constructed by Electrical Boat in Groton.
Protection workers advised Courtney’s workplace final week that they’re unable to debate no matter the issue could also be with offshore windmills — whereas emphasizing their persevering with respect for the Home armed companies committee’s oversight obligations.
On Thursday, 4 senior Home Democrats with rating committee assignments wrote to each the Protection Division and Inside Division asking for briefings on the safety dangers of offshore wind.
“The Division of Protection mentioned this must be dealt with by the Division of the Inside, which is loopy if it’s a nationwide safety situation,” Courtney mentioned. “And by the best way, we cope with categorized data and get categorized briefings on a regular basis.”
There’s a lot at stake on the way forward for the northeast offshore wind business, specifically for Courtney, whose district contains down-at-the-heels New London, which is beginning to appear to be the traditionally essential seaport it as soon as was because of billions of {dollars} being spent by the offshore wind business.
Norwegian multinational Orsted, which is constructing Revolution Wind, was a considerable investor within the $300 million rebuild that turned the decrepit State Pier in New London right into a state-of-the-art provide hub for development and upkeep of offshore wind farms together with Revolution Wind, which goes up about 25 miles to the southeast.
Orsted has signed a 10-year lease on the pier, throughout the harbor from Electrical Boat, for tens of millions extra. For greater than a yr, the pier has been full of large turbine parts, some standing almost as excessive because the close by Gold Star Memorial Bridge, awaiting ferrying by hi-tech ships for erection on the continental shelf.
Orsted mentioned in court docket that it has spent no less than $5 billion on offshore wind improvement and has employed 2,000 individuals for development, many related to New London pier operations. It mentioned it plans to create tons of extra jobs in operations and upkeep — whether it is permitted to proceed working.
Revolution Wind is the one offshore wind undertaking during which Connecticut has a stake. In late 2024, Gov. Ned Lamont unexpectedly pulled out of an settlement with Massachusetts and Rhode Island to purchase electrical energy from a second wind undertaking, saying the value of the power on that deal was too excessive.
Revolution, a cluster of wind generators south of Block Island, is meant to assist Connecticut meet an aggressive legislative mandate to acquire 2,000 megawatts of power from offshore wind by 2030. The undertaking is meant to inject 880 megawatts of energy into the New England electrical grid. Of that, Connecticut is dedicated below two contracts drawn in 2019 to purchasing 304 megawatts, sufficient to energy greater than 100,000 properties.
The Trump administration has tried and to date failed twice to close down Revolution and different tasks, in August and once more in December. The December order, in line with a court docket submitting, was to “droop all ongoing actions associated to the Revolution Wind Venture on the Outer Continental Shelf for the following 90 days for causes of nationwide safety.”
Orsted mentioned that Revolution Wind is 87 % full. Confronted with the second “suspension” in 4 months, the corporate argued in U.S. District Court docket in Washington D.C. final week that, due to energy supply and ship leasing commitments, “Revolution Wind now as soon as once more faces enterprise-level threats.”
Ruling from the bench in favor of Orsted, U.S. District Court docket Choose Royce Lamberth mentioned that to ensure that the administration to prevail in its order to close down work on Revolution it wanted to point out a nationwide emergency “and demonstrated findings of particularized hurt that can not be averted in need of a complete cease to undertaking exercise.”
“I’m not persuaded that any such emergency exists on this case,” he mentioned.
Revolution Wind, already has needed to clear myriad federal allowing necessities, over a decade or extra of planning and development. Courtney mentioned the in depth undertaking document exhibits the Pentagon has been concerned all through and any considerations it had about navy planning, coaching, gear or operations have been happy.
“Orsted and the Navy and the Division of Protection have been engaged on this for years,” Courtney mentioned. ”The Air Drive was concerned.”
Over these years, in line with the Bureau of Ocean Power Administration, the Inside Division company answerable for offshore power leasing, no less than a dozen federal companies have been consulted on the plans, together with the Division of Protection; the U.S. Navy, Air Drive and Coast Guard; the Federal Aviation Administration; and the North American Aerospace Protection Command or NORAD.
The Bureau of Ocean Power Administration mentioned in an August 2023 report that “at every stage of the regulatory course of involving” the Revolution undertaking it “has consulted with the Division of Protection for the needs of assessing nationwide safety issues in its decision-making processes.”
The reviews reference, amongst different issues, Air Drive defensive radar installations designed to detect incoming air assaults. Impediments to U.S. Navy coaching additionally was a consideration. Submarines stationed on the U.S. Naval Submarine Base in Groton move near the Revolution lease space whereas heading to and getting back from sea.
“There may be an open ended settlement for Orsted to proceed to work with the federal government if there are new points that come up,” Courtney mentioned. “The issue is, halt work orders exit and Orsted will get no clue as to what the issue is.
“The query is, does this justify a halt work order? That is the place the choose, I believe, has been on the right track. The undertaking entails billions of {dollars} of funding and all of the allowing approvals. There isn’t any justification to simply shut it down. If there may be some new query, it’s not like they’ll’t get Orsted to sit down down and discuss. The choose gave the federal government an opportunity to justify this factor and there was nothing there.”
©2026 Hartford Courant. Go to courant.com. Distributed by Tribune Content material Company, LLC.
© Copyright 2026 The Hartford Courant, Connecticut. All rights reserved. This materials is probably not revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
