The court’s action will allow the Sunrise Wind Project to restart impacted activities immediately while the underlying lawsuit challenging the BOEM director’s order progresses.
This ruling, by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, marks the fifth time courts have struck down the stop work order issued by the US Department of the Interior in December of 2025.
In all five cases attorneys representing the administration argued the offshore projects had raised national security concerns.
“Once again, the Trump administration tried to stop the build-out of affordable, clean power that millions of Americans need — and once again, they lost in court,” said Ted Kelly, Director and Lead Counsel for U.S. Clean Energy at Environmental Defense Fund.
“Because the East Coast relies so heavily on volatile natural gas, adding more cost-stable wind power to the grid is essential for increasing supply and keeping bills down. Offshore wind delivers immense value during electricity crunches in the winter because ocean winds are often at their strongest.
“That’s why it makes no sense for this administration to keep kneecapping America’s largest source of renewable power. We need more cheap, homegrown power on the grid — not less.”
Focusing on Sunrise Wind, a project being built about 30 miles off Long Island’s Montauk Point, Lamberth said BOEM, an agency of the Interior Department, failed to show how the alleged national security concerns related to this specific project.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said, "Today’s court ruling allowing work on Sunrise Wind to resume is a big win for New York workers, families, and our future. It puts union workers back on the job, keeps billions in private investment in New York, and delivers the clean, reliable power our grid needs, especially as extreme weather becomes more frequent. Sunrise Wind alone will power more than 600,000 homes on Long Island.
“The Trump administration tried to shut down this fully permitted project under a bogus claim of national security. But energy independence is national security."
Sunrise Wind is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ørsted.
A statement released by Orsted said, "With safety as the top priority, the Project will resume impacted construction work as soon as possible to deliver affordable, reliable power to the State of New York."
