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ARTICLE · 15 SEPTEMBER 2025

The Winds Of Change?

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Late last month, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued an immediate stop-work order for Revolution Wind, Ørsted's $6.2 billion, 65-turbine offshore wind power project located 15 miles south of Rhode Island.

United StatesEnvironment
Sarah Slack
Sarah Slack
Judah C. Lieblich
Judah C. Lieblich
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Late last month, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued an immediate stop-work order for Revolution Wind, Ørsted's $6.2 billion, 65-turbine offshore wind power project located 15 miles south of Rhode Island. The order, citing unspecified concerns relating to "national security" and "interference with reasonable uses of the exclusive economic zone," halted construction of the project, which was roughly 80 percent complete. The Attorneys General of Rhode Island and Connecticut filed suit on September 4, 2025, in the District Court in Rhode Island, challenging the stop-work order and alleging that BOEM exceeded its authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. Ørsted filed suit separately in the District of Columbia Circuit on similar grounds and sought a preliminary injunction to allow work to continue.

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