A federal judge in Boston ruled Tuesday that work on the Vineyard Wind offshore wind project can resume.
Work on the project, which is about 35 miles off Cape Cod and south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, had been halted in December following a stop work order issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The Trump administration claimed the project — which is roughly 95% complete — posed a national security risk.
Vineyard Wind’s turbines are already generating about 70% of the power production they are estimated to produce, and the administration’s suspension order allowed it to continue energy production.
In his ruling Tuesday to stay the stop work order, U.S. District Court Judge Brian Murphy said the government failed to explain why national security concerns would be triggered by the project’s completion while it allowed operation of the existing turbines.
Murphy said classified information provided by the government did not justify the halting of construction.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment on the judge’s ruling.
In a written statement, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said the decision was an important one for ratepayers and workers in the state.
“Vineyard Wind is already providing power and has created thousands of jobs,” Healey said. “We need this project to continue to increase energy supply, improve reliability and lower costs. President Trump never should have tried to take it off the table. We are committed to moving forward with Vineyard Wind and taking an all-of-the-above approach to energy.”
As they left the courthouse Tuesday, attorneys for Vineyard Wind declined to comment, but a spokesperson issued a written statement.
“As the legal process proceeds, Vineyard Wind will continue to work with the administration to understand the matters raised in the Order,” the statement said. “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.”
In court, Vineyard Wind attorney Jack Pirozzolo said the project had been losing $2 million a day since work was halted, and that the company was at risk of default if construction could not be completed by the end of March. He said a specialized vessel called a sea installer is only available for a limited time window and might not be available again for years if work was not allowed to resume.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell was also a party to the case, and in court on Tuesday, an attorney for her office argued that the stop work order hampered the state’s ability to procure affordable energy by limiting the project’s full potential.
“My clients feel fully vindicated,” said Attorney Nicole Horberg Decter, who represents the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, the Massachusetts Building Trades Council and the group Climate Jobs Massachusetts, which are all also party to the case.
“[The stop work order] put over 200 working people, skilled construction workers out of work, both on land and at sea, and we’re grateful that they’ll be returning to work as soon as possible.”
The halting of the project left those workers in limbo, Horberg Decter said.
“These folks trained to work offshore, and they believe in the offshore wind industry. This is something they wanted their careers to be about,” she said. “One important thing to keep in mind is 71% of all of the construction workers on Vineyard Wind actually come from Southeastern Massachusetts, which is an area that really needs more construction and generally more work opportunities.”
Tuesday’s ruling follows three similar court decisions related to other offshore wind projects. Federal judges previously ruled that construction could resume on Empire Wind off the coast of New York, Revolution Wind off Connecticut and Rhode Island and Dominion Energy off Virginia.
It’s unclear if the Trump administration will challenge those court decisions.
Once complete, Vineyard Wind’s 62 turbines are expected to provide enough electricity to power 400,000 homes.
