Judge Allows Construction to Resume on Virginia Offshore Wind Project

A federal judge in Virginia issued a preliminary injunction on Friday allowing construction to resume on the $11.2 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project while its developer, Dominion Energy, pursues a legal challenge to a federal stop‑work order. The order was issued by Judge Jamar K.

Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The Interior Department last month ordered work stopped on the Virginia project and four other offshore wind projects, citing classified national security concerns. Developers sued, arguing the government failed to justify the halts; separate judges this week issued preliminary injunctions allowing two other projects — Revolution Wind off Rhode Island and Empire Wind off New York — to restart.

Government lawyers shared sealed information with Judge Walker, but the judge concluded the material did not show an imminent national security risk sufficient to justify stopping the Virginia project entirely. Dominion has said the Virginia project is more than 60 percent complete and would ultimately include 176 turbines with 2.6 gigawatts of capacity, about enough to power 660,000 homes.

The company has spent roughly $8.9 billion on the project, said it had paid $250,000 to upgrade military radar in the area and has argued in court filings that the stop‑work order was costing about $5 million per day.

Key Topics

Politics, Dominion Energy, Virginia Offshore Wind, Jamar K. Walker, Interior Department, Trump Administration