Legal Challenge To Be Filed Against Lease Suspension Order For 924-Megawatt Sunrise Wind Project: Officials

SHIRLEY, NY — Sunrise Wind is expected to file a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging the lease suspension order issued last month by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which will be followed by a motion for a preliminary injunction, Ørsted officials said Wednesday morning.

Sunrise Wind, which is a subsidiary of the Danish-owned Ørsted, is continuing to work constructively with the federal government and other stakeholders toward "an expeditious and durable resolution of this matter," believes the lease suspension order violates applicable law, according to a news release.

The project "faces substantial harm from a continuation of the lease suspension order," and as a result, litigation is a necessary step to protect its rights, according to officials.

The preliminary injunction will seek permission for the construction to move forward.

Revolution Wind, LLC, a 50/50 joint-venture between Global Infrastructure Partners’ Skyborn Renewables and Ørsted, and Empire Wind, which was set for off of Long Beach, made similar filings in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia last week.

The three projects were reportedly included in five, including the Vineyard Wind project in Massachusetts, and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, which were halted by suspension orders in December.

In a post to Twitter, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said that "due to national security concerns identified by the Department of War," his department is pausing the leases "for five expensive, unreliable, heavily-subsidized offshore wind farms," adding that "one natural gas pipeline supplies as much energy as these five projects combined."

He went on to say that President Donald Trump is "bringing common sense back to energy policy and putting security first."

Gov. Kathy Hochul was previously joined by her colleagues in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts in decrying the move, and asking that the stop work order be lifted.

In a statement last week, Ken Lovett, senior communications advisor on energy and environment for Hochul, noted she "successfully fought to convince the Trump administration last summer to lift its first stop work order on Empire Wind 1, and we will continue to aggressively push back against the latest irrational orders impacting Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind."

"Once completed, New York's fully permitted offshore wind projects will provide needed power at a time when we are facing potential energy shortages downstate as soon as this summer and create thousands of good-paying union jobs while helping secure our energy independence," he said. "We are exploring all our options to reverse this continued nonsensical attack by the White House on the offshore wind industry."

Patch has reached out to the press offices for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for comment.

When contacted for comment on Monday, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers reissued a previous statement released to Patch, saying that the president "has been clear: wind energy is the scam of the century."

"For years, Americans have been forced to pay billions more for the least reliable source of energy," she added. "The Trump administration has paused the construction of all large-scale offshore wind projects because our number one priority is to put America first and protect the national security of the American people.”

The project secured all required local, state, and federal permits, following extensive multi-year reviews, and as a requirement of the permitting process, the project engaged in years-long consultation with the U.S. Department of Defense Military Aviation and Installation Assurance Siting Clearinghouse to address potential impacts to national security and defense capabilities from construction through to operation, officials said.

The consultations resulted in a fully executed formal agreement between the Department of Defense, the Department of the Air Force, and Sunrise Wind, outlining mitigation measures by the project, according to officials.

"Sunrise Wind has spent and committed billions of dollars in reliance upon, and has met the requests of, a thorough review process," the news release continued.

Other federal reviews and approvals included the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Marine Fisheries Service, as well as "many other agencies," officials said.

New York conditionally approved Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind in 2024.

In early December, Sunrise Wind reported that the project was on track for completion.

Officials maintained that the project is in advanced stages of construction and is nearly 45 percent complete, including 44 of 84 monopile foundations, as well as the offshore converter station.

Construction of the onshore electric infrastructure is substantially complete, and near-shore export cables have been installed, and at the time of the lease suspension order, the project was expected to begin generating power as soon as October 2026, officials said.

"At a time of increasing energy demand, the project will deliver reliable power and increased stability to the electric grid, with industry experts forecasting that ratepayers could face increased risks to reliability without the completion of Sunrise Wind," officials said. "The project will deliver affordable power at a stable rate to nearly 600,000 homes once fully operational in 2027 under a 25-year contract with the State of New York."

Officials went on to explain that Sunrise Wind supported thousands of American jobs across construction, operations, shipbuilding, and manufacturing, including more than 1,000 union workers who have already contributed more than 1 million union work hours to this project.

The project is also a part of Ørsted’s investment into American energy generation, grid upgrades, and port infrastructure, as well as a supply chain, including U.S. shipbuilding and manufacturing extending to more than 40 states, they said.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.