Interior Department seeks to revisit approval of Revolution Wind project
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The U.S. Interior Department asked a federal court to remand its 2023 approval of the 704-megawatt Revolution Wind offshore project, citing a lawsuit by the anti-wind group Green Oceans.
The Interior Department filed a request with a Washington federal court on Friday to remand its 2023 construction and operations approval for the Revolution Wind offshore wind farm, a $6.2 billion, 704-megawatt project that began delivering electricity in March off the coasts of Connecticut and Rhode Island. The agency’s motion follows a lawsuit filed by the Rhode Island-based organization Green Oceans, which argues that the federal government bypassed regulatory procedures and violated environmental laws in approving Revolution Wind and Ørsted’s South Fork Wind project.
If the court grants the request, the permit would be sent back to the agency for further review, a step that could extend into early next year but would not immediately halt the farm’s operations. Revolution Wind, which completed installation of its 65 turbines in September, is expected to supply enough clean power for more than 350,000 homes and to alleviate grid stress during extreme weather periods.
"The filing injects uncertainty into a nearly completed offshore wind project that electricity planners and consumers in the Northeast are counting on," said Hillary Bright, executive director of the offshore-wind advocacy group Turn Forward, in an emailed statement.
Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who previously ruled on cases involving offshore wind developers affected by earlier stop-work orders, will oversee the matter.
"From its very first day, the Trump administration has waged a war on clean energy, and especially offshore wind," said Pasha Feinberg, an offshore wind strategist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. She added that Revolution Wind helps keep electricity bills in check for Connecticut and Rhode Island residents, questioning the rationale for revisiting the permit.