Turbines at Vineyard Wind's offshore energy area off Massachusetts Vineyard Wind
Offshore Wind

Another US wind project seeks injunction against federal halt

Reuters

Vineyard Wind, a nearly completed offshore wind project off the coast of Massachusetts, asked a federal court on Thursday to block the Trump administration's suspension of the industry in federal waters.

The filing came the same day a federal judge in Washington dealt the administration a legal setback by allowing construction to proceed on an Equinor project off the coast of New York.

Vineyard Wind, which is a joint venture between Spain's Iberdrola and Denmark's Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, is seeking a temporary restraining order and injunction to lift the Interior Department's December 22 pause.

The project is 95 per cent complete and was expected to be finished by March 31, according to documents filed in federal court in Massachusetts. It is already sending power to the grid, but is losing $2 million a day because of the administration's order, the company said.

The Trump administration suspended leases for five offshore wind projects last month over national security concerns tied to radar interference.

(Reporting by Nichola Groom; editing by Diane Craft)