Norwegian energy giant Equinor has been given the all clear to restart construction of its 810MW Empire Wind offshore wind farm off the coast of New York, just over a month after the Trump administration issued a stop work-order.
The United States Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), part of the country’s Department of the Interior (DOI), informed Empire Wind management in a short letter that it was lifting the halt on “ongoing activities related to the Empire Wind Project … during the ongoing review.”
The BOEM originally issued the stop-work order in mid-April, citing “rushed” approvals “by the prior Administration without sufficient analysis or consultation among the relevant agencies as relates to the potential effects from the project.”
Assessment and approvals for Empire Wind date back to 2018 and followed a normal timeline and process which included environmental impact reports and approvals filed and approved throughout 2022 and 2023, before the project was granted construction and operation approval by the US department of the interior in November of 2023, followed soon after by approval of its specific construction and operations plans.
Equinor subsequently closed the necessary project financing for the project earlier this year and took a final investment decision, before starting construction at the beginning of April with the initial subsea rock installation. Work had also begun on constructing a necessary marine terminal in Brooklyn.
At the time of the stop-work order, Equinor had obtained all necessary permits for the project after what was described as a four-year federal environmental review.
Lifting the stop-work order allows construction to immediately restart, only a week after Equinor was on the verge of terminating the project “within days” if no progress was made on a resolution.
In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Molly Morris, president of Equinor Renewables Americas, explained that Equinor had already invested over $US2.5 billion in the project and that the ongoing halt order was an “urgent, unsustainable situation”, costing the company up to $US50 million per week with 11 vessels on standby.
The injunction halting construction was lifted on April 19, however it is unclear what activities will immediately resume.
In a statement announcing the news, Empire Offshore Wind – a subsidiary of Equinor responsible for development and construction of the project – explained that Equinor will “perform an updated assessment of the project economics in the second quarter” and that Empire Wind “aims to be able to execute planned activities in the offshore installation window in 2025 and reach its planned commercial operation date in 2027.”
Empire will also “engage with suppliers and regulatory bodies to reduce the impact of the stop work order.”
Statements from both Empire Wind and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who has been pressing the administration to lift the stop-work order since it was first announced, were full of praise for President Trump for reversing course.
“I would like to thank President Trump for finding a solution that saves thousands of American jobs and provides for continued investments in energy infrastructure in the US,” said Anders Opedal, president and CEO of Equinor.
“I want to thank President Trump for his willingness to work with me to save the 1,500 good paying union jobs that were on the line and helping get this essential project back on track,” said Hochul in her own statement.
Opedal also thanked “Governor Hochul for her constructive collaboration with the Trump Administration, without which we would not have been able to advance this project” as well as “the Norwegian Prime Minister Støre and Minister of Finance Stoltenberg for their support at a critical time,” adding that the Norwegian minister of finance apparently “raised the situation with the US administration”.
The supposed information that led to the original halt order was reportedly found by BOEM during its ongoing review of offshore wind projects which following President Trump’s day-1 executive order suspending new federal offshore wind leasing and initiating a review by the Secretary of the Interior of all existing leases.
This ongoing review, along with the Trump administration’s long-held antipathy and outright opposition to clean energy projects, raises questions about the immediate future of other clean energy projects, especially as Donald Trump in particular is hoping to restart the coal and gas sectors across the country.
In her statement, Governor Hochul “reaffirmed that New York will work with the Administration and private entities on new energy projects that meet the legal requirements under New York law”. What these ‘new energy projects’ remains unclear, as does the insistence that they “meet the legal requirements under New York Law”.
