A federal judge granted Empire Offshore Wind a preliminary injunction as it legally challenged the U.S. Department of the Interior’s order directing a suspension of five offshore wind projects along the East Coast, allowing the company to resume construction as local laborers called out against the freeze.
The White House said in December 2025 that it would halt leases for five wind farms under construction off the East Coast, including two off the coast of Long Island, citing national security concerns.
The federal department stated that the pause would give government agencies time to collaborate with leaseholders and state partners to assess the potential to mitigate the national security risks associated with these projects.
Empire Offshore Wind LLC filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s order earlier this month, saying it planned to seek a preliminary injunction and allow construction to continue while the litigation proceeds, according to the federal suit. A U.S. District Judge granted the injunction on Thursday, Jan. 15, allowing construction to resume.
“Empire Wind will now focus on safely restarting construction activities that were halted during the suspension period,” Equinor said in a statement.
Equinor has previously said it has invested over $4 billion into the Empire Wind project and that the project’s construction phase alone has put nearly 4,000 people to work.
In recent weeks, local labor leaders have openly opposed the Trump administration’s halt on offshore wind projects, saying that they disrupt the lives of thousands of working Americans.
Pat Guidice, the business manager for IBEW Local 1049, said in a statement that offshore wind projects have delivered economic and labor benefits and that unions will stand together to demand stability and a path forward.
“The workers we stand with today have played by the rules, met rigorous safety and training standards, and committed themselves to building critical energy infrastructure the right way,” he said. “The uncertainty facing this industry is the result of abrupt federal actions that have halted projects midstream, putting jobs and long-term investments at risk.”
John R. Durso and Ryan Stanton, the president and executive director of the Long Island Federation of Labor, said the freeze put thousands of lives at risk.
“Trump’s stop-work order doesn’t just stall projects; it destabilizes communities, threatens middle-class jobs, and jeopardizes America’s economic future,” they said in a joint statement.
Gov. Kathy Hochul held a press conference in Suffolk County on Jan. 9, backing union workers and saying she would fight to protect the projects’ future.
“You cannot turn your back on the businesses that work so hard here and are contributing to our societies, and you cannot turn your back on the hardworking men of the labor movement here on Long Island by stealing their jobs,” she said.
Matthew Aracich, the president of the Building Construction Trades Council of Nassau and Suffolk Counties, said at the press conference that the federal decision was bad and does not give any attention to workers.
He praised Hochul for standing with union workers and said that it showed a unified front.
“Having a governor by your side is extremely powerful because it means working people are not standing alone. It means the highest office in the state of New York recognizes what’s at stake for our jobs and our communities and when the governor stands up for us, it sends a clear message that really matters, that decisions will be made with the workers’ interest in mind, and that our state is committed to protecting good union jobs,” Aracich said.
He said that seven million hours of work for union employees are at risk due to the federal freeze.
Adrienne Esposito, the executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said that union workers are at the heart of Long Island.
The Sunrise Wind projects off the coast of New York, as well as the Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts, Revolution Wind off Rhode Island and Connecticut and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind were also affected by the federal move, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Danish offshore wind farm developer Ørsted began construction in 2024 on Sunrise Wind, which will be seven times bigger than its neighbor, South Fork Wind — the first utility-scale project of its kind in the nation — about 30 miles off the coast of Montauk.
The 924-megawatt Sunrise Wind project is expected to power approximately 600,000 homes upon its target completion date in 2026.
Ørsted said in 2025 that it had employed over 1,400 local workers for its U.S. wind projects.
Hochul, along with Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont and Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee, had said in a joint statement that coastal states are working hard to build more energy to meet rising demand and lower costs and that the projects have created thousands of jobs and injected billions in economic activity into communities.
“We’re going to continue doing what we have to do every single step of the way, but for now the wind turbines will be turning on,” Hochul said after the preliminary injunction was granted Thursday.
The pause came after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s bid to stop construction of offshore wind farms earlier in December.
The Dec. 8 ruling was the culmination of a lawsuit filed by a coalition of 17 states after Trump issued an executive order suspending federal approval for such projects.
A judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted the coalition’s motion for summary judgment that declared the directive illegal and vacated the order.
The coalition filed suit in May after the administration issued a stop-work order halting the 54-turbine Empire Wind 1 project, just as offshore construction was getting underway off Long Beach. The move raised concerns that the 84-turbine Sunrise Wind would be next.
