The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked the US District Court for the District of Columbia to grant a summary judgment that would send the approval for the Revolution Wind offshore wind farm back to the Department of the Interior (DOI) for review.
The 704 MW offshore wind farm, set to supply 400 MW to Rhode Island and 304 MW to Connecticut, is owned by Ørsted and Skyborn Renewables. OffshoreWIND.biz contacted Ørsted, which declined to comment.
The DOJ and DOI filed the motion on 9 October in a case brought by environmental groups led by Green Oceans back in 2024, which sued the DOI and the federal government over greenlighting Revolution Wind’s construction and operations plan (COP) in 2023.
According to the court filing, the Department of the Interior agrees that its approval of the project’s COP should be remanded so the agency can reassess its compliance with the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), and has asked the court to grant summary judgment to Green Oceans on claims concerning the National Marine Fisheries Service and the US Army Corps of Engineers.
The current US government administration has requested approval remands and additional reviews for several offshore wind projects since taking office; however, this motion concerns remanding a permit issued to a project that has since been completed and is about to be commissioned.
The final wind turbine was installed at the Revolution Wind site in September.
The project began delivering electricity to the New England grid in March 2026, and with commissioning activities currently underway, commercial operation at the full 704 MW capacity is expected soon.
The latest legal move follows two previous attempts by the Trump administration to halt construction. In August 2025, when the project was approximately 80 per cent complete, the US government issued a stop-work order. A federal court allowed work to resume the following month. A second order, citing national security concerns, was issued in December 2025 and was also blocked by the court in January 2026.
Turn Forward, a US offshore wind advocacy organisation, said the Interior Department’s latest filing creates uncertainty around a project that Connecticut and Rhode Island are relying on for electricity.
“This development only highlights the need to advance meaningful bipartisan policy solutions that improve our permitting process and increase the long-term certainty of valuable new energy projects, regardless of their technology. Today’s lack of needed safeguards only makes it harder to find long-term investors for critical infrastructure and ultimately cedes ground to our competitors”, Hillary Bright, executive director at Turn Forward, said in a statement to offshoreWIND.biz.
The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) pointed out that offshore energy projects require significant upfront investment, extensive federal reviews and years of planning and construction, and that Revolution Wind is already delivering electricity to New England.
“Predictable regulatory processes and timely decisions are important for offshore energy development of all kinds. We recognize the federal government's responsibility to review projects and ensure compliance with applicable requirements, and we hope the remaining process can move forward efficiently while Revolution Wind continues progressing toward full operations”, Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), said to offshoreWIND.biz.
“The second-guessing of federal approvals that have already gone through a lengthy review process is precisely why Congress must pass comprehensive permitting reform legislation, specifically the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act.”