The Trump administration told a federal court it intends to reconsider a key US government approval that authorized the construction of Equinor ASA’s planned second phase of an offshore wind project near New York and New Jersey.
By Mark Chediak and Jennifer A. Dlouhy (Bloomberg) — The Trump administration told a federal court it intends to reconsider a key US government approval that authorized the construction of Equinor ASA’s planned second phase of an offshore wind project near New York and New Jersey.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management will review the approved construction and operations plan for the Empire Wind 2 project, the US said in a Tuesday filing with a Washington-based federal district court considering a legal challenge to the project by area residents and businesses. Equinor didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
The move is part of a broader campaign by President Donald Trump against the nascent US offshore wind industry, after years deriding the energy source and casting it as part of a “green energy scam.” His administration has stopped new offshore wind leasing and permitting, is moving to revoke existing authorizations and has halted projects under construction.
The government said its plan is consistent with a broad offshore wind review Trump ordered just hours after his January inauguration. It’s also aligned with an ongoing Interior Department assessment of the extent to which past offshore wind project approvals comply with a decades-old federal law that requires energy projects on coastal federal waters balance a dozen different needs, including protecting the environment and national security as well as preventing interference with use of the high seas.
An Equinor spokesperson said Wednesday that the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation. However, an Equinor executive said on Bloomberg TV in July that the Norwegian company is unlikely to pursue the Empire Wind 2 project, which hasn’t started construction, because of regulatory changes in the US.
The US filing was focused on Empire Wind 2, and the government didn’t outline any plans to similarly review key permits for the nearly built Empire Wind 1 venture.
Although the Trump administration briefly halted construction on Empire Wind 1 earlier this year, it allowed work to resume after Governor Kathy Hochul signaled New York wouldn’t stand in the way of new energy projects.
© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.
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