Equinor Wins Ruling to Resume Wind Project Halted by Trump (3)

A US judge ruled Equinor ASA can resume building its multibillion-dollar wind project near New York, marking the second time this week a federal court has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a halt on offshore developments.

Equinor’s Empire Wind project would likely suffer “imminent irreparable harm” from further delays while its legal fight over the government’s stop-work order plays out in court, US District Judge Carl J. Nichols said in a ruling Thursday. The Stavanger, Norway-based company had argued it would likely have to cancel the project, which is 60% complete and intended to supply more than 500,000 New York homes by 2027.

Equinor said in a statement that it will focus on safely restarting construction on Empire Wind, while continuing to engage with the US government to ensure the project’s safe and responsible execution.

Nichols’ ruling offers a boost to developers facing a flurry of US moves to stop offshore wind projects that President Donald Trump has criticized as money-losing and harmful to the landscape. On Monday, a federal judge in a different case ruled that work can resume on a wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island. A hearing for Dominion Energy Inc.’s stalled offshore wind project in Virginia is scheduled for Friday.

On Dec. 22, the US Interior Department ordered a 90-day suspension of five East Coast wind farm projects, including Equinor’s, citing undisclosed national security concerns. The move, which triggered several legal fights, marked Trump’s escalated effort to hobble the industry as he promotes fossil fuels.

A White House spokeswoman said the federal government will keep fighting offshore wind projects.

“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,” said Taylor Rogers, a spokeswoman for the White House. “The administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”

In court filings, Equinor said any delay beyond Jan. 16 would threaten the economic viability of Empire Wind by disrupting a tight construction schedule and increasing the risk of loan defaults. A total loss of the project could reach about $5.3 billion, the company said.

Among the factors weighing on the schedule are contracts Equinor has with two specialized vessels it needs to install the offshore substation. Further delays would render the vessels unavailable for years because they have subsequent commitments, the company said.

“If Empire had been stopped, $2 billion in tax credits and about $5 billion in nominal cash flow would have gone done the drain,” said Sparebank 1 Markets analyst Teodor Sveen-Nilsen.

Equinor’s American Depository Receipts briefly turned positive after the ruling, rising to a session high of $25.04.

Nichols, who was appointed by Trump in 2019, asked both sides to propose expedited briefing schedule by Jan. 20 so he can decide on the merits of the case.

Read More: Equinor Takes Political, Legal Approach to Lift Empire Wind Halt

The government’s stop-work order marked the second time that offshore wind projects, including Equinor’s, were put on hold by authorities. A prior suspension of Empire Wind in the first half of last year was lifted after a flurry of negotiations involving Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg and New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

All five of the offshore wind projects halted by Trump were approved under former President Joe Biden, who sought to jump-start the industry and speed the transition away from fossil fuels in the fight against climate change. Developers of the five offshore wind farms already have committed about $28 billion to the projects, according to BloombergNEF.

Vineyard Wind, which is a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, filed suit on Thursday to challenge the stop-work order for its project off the coast of Massachusetts.

Based on the long-term price of electricity that a power plant needs to charge to break even, an offshore wind farm is cheaper to build than a nuclear power plant, according to BNEF data. Even with the subsidies, however, a new offshore wind facility is more expensive than a new natural gas plant in the US.

The case is Empire Leaseholder LLC v. Burgum, 26-cv-4, US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).

(Updates with White House statement starting in the seventh paragraph, analyst comment in the 11th.)

--With assistance from Jennifer A. Dlouhy and Tim Quinson.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Sabrina Willmer in Washington at swillmer2@bloomberg.net;
Mark Chediak in San Francisco at mchediak@bloomberg.net;
Kari Lundgren in Oslo at klundgren2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.net;
Brian Eckhouse at beckhouse@bloomberg.net

Steve Stroth, Catherine Traywick

© 2026 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission.