A Republican-appointed federal judge has hit the brakes on President Donald Trump's effort to shut down a massive offshore wind project in New England.
According to Politico, D.C. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth "granted a motion for preliminary injunction of the stop-work order imposed by the Trump administration on the New England project during a high-stakes hearing. The multibillion-dollar offshore wind project is one of the highest-profile renewable energy projects that the administration has sought to suspend while it reviews approvals."
Last month, Trump ordered work halted on Revolution Wind, a project developed by Danish wind company Ørsted and Skyborn Renewables, which is already 80 percent complete.
Trump, who has reportedly hated wind power ever since an installation was built near one of his Scottish golf courses, has repeatedly blasted wind projects, claiming they destroy tourism and are a threat to birds and whales. Most of his complaints are significantly overblown.
Attorneys for Revolution Wind said that the stop order “reflects a shockingly expansive theory of agency power to undo prior regulatory approvals,” and puts the administration in violation of the major questions doctrine.
Lamberth, a longtime conservative judge first appointed to the bench by Ronald Reagan, granted a preliminary injunction that pauses Trump's order while the case goes forward.
“There is no question in my mind of irreparable harm to the plaintiff,” wrote Lamberth, adding that the “entire enterprise could collapse” if the order stands, not least because a specialty ship required to finish the project will not be available past December.
