91视频

PROVIDENCE, R.I. 鈥� Connecticut, Rhode Island and the developer of an offshore wind farm that would power 350,000 homes in the two states said Thursday that they’re suing the Trump administration for聽stopping the nearly completed project.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha accused President Donald Trump of waging an 鈥渁ll-out assault鈥� on the wind energy industry. The states’ lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, describes the Revolution Wind project as a 鈥渃ornerstone鈥� of their clean energy future, abruptly halted by federal officials without 鈥渟tatutory authority, regulatory justification or factual basis.鈥�

Danish energy company Orsted filed a separate suit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., also arguing that the administration lacks the legal authority to block the Revolution Wind project. Orsted said it would seek a preliminary injunction that would allow it to advance the project, which is 80 percent complete, with all underwater foundations and 45 of 65 turbines installed.

Interior Department spokesperson Elizabeth Peace said Thursday that the department doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

Work on the project was paused聽Aug. 22 when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a stop work order for what it said were national security concerns. They were not specified.

Trump has demonstrated聽hostility to renewable energy, particularly offshore wind. He has prioritized fossil fuels for electricity. Revolution Wind is the second major wind project that his administration ordered to stop. Work on the first, an聽offshore wind project聽for New York,聽was later allowed to resume.

In separate federal court filings, the administration said recently it was reconsidering approvals for three other wind farms: the Maryland Offshore Wind Project, SouthCoast Wind and New England Wind. Combined, those projects could power nearly 2.5 million homes in Maryland, Massachusetts and Rhode Island with clean electricity.

Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, both Democrats representing Massachusetts, said Trump and his Cabinet 鈥渘eed to end their war on American energy and jobs.鈥�

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told CNN that he’s concerned offshore wind turbines distort radar detection systems, which could give cover to a bad actor to 鈥渓aunch a swarm drone attack through a wind farm.鈥�

Retired U.S. Navy Cmdr. Kirk Lippold called that a 鈥渟pecious and false narrative鈥� pushed by someone with an 鈥渙veractive imagination in search of a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.鈥�

Lippold was commanding the USS Cole when al-Qaida attacked it in a Yemeni port in 2000.

If drones get so close to U.S. shores to be near a wind farm without being detected by the military, he said, 鈥渨e have had a massive intelligence 鈥� a national security 鈥� failure.鈥�

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat and national security expert,聽has also disputed the administration’s rationale, pointing to the Defense Department’s involvement in reviewing the project.

When the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved Revolution Wind in 2023, the agency said it consulted with the Defense Department at each stage of the regulatory process for the lease area assigned to the wind farm. The DOD concluded that with some site-specific stipulations, any impacts to its training and activities in the wind energy area would be 鈥渘egligible and avoidable,鈥� according to the record of decision.

The state and federal reviews took about nine years.

Trump and several Cabinet members repeatedly slammed wind power as ugly and expensive during a recent meeting. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talked about the failure of a massive wind turbine blade at a different offshore wind farm under construction off Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Fiberglass fragments of a blade from the Vineyard Wind project broke apart and began washing ashore last summer during the peak of tourist season. Manufacturer GE Vernova agreed to聽pay $10.5 million in a settlement聽to compensate island businesses that suffered losses due to the blade failure.

鈥淲e’re not allowing any windmills to go up unless there’s a legal situation where somebody committed to it a long time ago,鈥� Trump said.

Revolution Wind was expected to be Rhode Island and Connecticut’s first large offshore wind farm, capable of providing about 2.5 percent of the region’s electricity needs.

Orsted began construction in 2024 about 15 miles south of the Rhode Island coast. It says in its complaint that about $5 billion has been spent or committed, and it expects more than $1 billion in costs if the project is canceled. Rhode Island already has one offshore facility: the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm.

Rhode Island and Connecticut have said that halting construction of Revolution Wind would harm the states, their residents, investments and the offshore wind industry. More than 1,000 people have been working on the wind farm, and Connecticut committed over $200 million to redevelop State Pier in New London to support the industry.

The states said they’re counting on Revolution Wind electricity, particularly in the winter, when demand in New England spikes and natural gas is prioritized for heating. The power would cost 9.8 cents per kilowatt-hour, locked in for 20 years. That’s cheaper than the average projected cost of energy in New England.

The head of Connecticut’s top environmental and energy agency, Katie Dykes, predicts it will cost the state’s electricity ratepayers tens of millions of dollars if the wind project doesn’t come online.

Editor’s note: AP writers Matthew Daly in Washington and Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut contributed to this report.