NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The builders of a Virginia offshore wind mission are asking a federal decide to dam a Trump administration order that halted building of their mission, together with 4 others, over nationwide safety considerations.
Dominion Vitality Virginia stated in its lawsuit filed late Tuesday that the federal government’s order is “arbitrary and capricious” and unconstitutional. The Richmond-based firm is creating Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, a mission it says is important to satisfy dramatically rising vitality wants pushed by dozens of recent information facilities.
The Inside Division didn’t element the safety considerations in blocking the 5 initiatives on Monday. In a letter to mission builders, Inside’s Bureau of Ocean Vitality Administration set a 90-day interval — and presumably longer — “to find out whether or not the nationwide safety threats posed by this mission might be adequately mitigated.”
Virginian Pilot through Getty Photos
The opposite initiatives are the Winery Wind mission beneath building in Massachusetts, Revolution Wind in Rhode Island and Connecticut and two initiatives in New York: Dawn Wind and Empire Wind. Democratic governors in these states have vowed to battle the order, the most recent motion by the Trump administration to hobble offshore wind in its push in opposition to renewable vitality sources.
Dominion’s mission has been beneath building since early 2024 and was scheduled to return on-line early subsequent yr, offering sufficient vitality to energy about 660,000 properties. The corporate stated the delay was costing it greater than $5 million a day in losses solely for the ships utilized in round the clock building, and that prospects or the corporate would finally bear the price.
Dominion known as this week’s order “the most recent in a collection of irrational company actions attacking offshore wind after which doubling down when these actions are discovered illegal.”
The Bureau of Ocean Vitality Administration didn’t instantly reply to an electronic mail searching for remark.
U.S. District Choose Jamar Walker set a listening to for two p.m. Monday on Dominion’s request for a brief restraining order.