Judge allows Sunrise Wind construction to resume, overturns Interior halt

A federal judge on Feb. 2, 2026 struck down the Interior Department’s order to halt work on Sunrise Wind, a multibillion-dollar wind farm off the coast of New York State, and issued a preliminary injunction allowing the developer to restart construction while the broader legal battle unfolds.

The ruling was the fifth time courts have ruled against the Trump administration’s efforts to stop offshore wind projects, leaving the administration 0-5 in its challenges to wind farms under construction along the East Coast. Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan, said he was unpersuaded by the government’s national security claims after reviewing a classified Defense Department report under seal.

He said the actions of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had caused “irreparable harm” to the developer and added that “Purportedly new classified information does not constitute a sufficient explanation for the bureau’s decision to entirely stop work on the Sunrise Wind project.” In December, the Interior Department had ordered all work to halt on Sunrise Wind and four other East Coast wind farms, citing the classified report as a national security threat.

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