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Vineyard Wind sued the federal government on Thursday, asking a federal judge for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the suspension order that has frozen construction since late last month. It’s the final offshore wind project to sue of the five that were abruptly halted — two of which have been granted preliminary injunctions by federal judges and allowed to resume construction.
“Vineyard Wind believes the Order violates applicable law and, if not promptly enjoined, will lead to immediate and irreparable harm to the project, and to the communities who will benefit from this critical source of new power for the New England region,” reads a press release from the company.
The 52-page complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, says Vineyard Wind is incurring $2 million in costs, per day, under the pause.
It’s 95% complete, with all but one of its 62 turbines standing tall above the Atlantic Ocean, several of which have been spinning and sending power to the Massachusetts grid. One turbine tower remains standing at the quayside of the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal.
Per the filing, the project needs to finish turbine and blade installation by March 31, at which time its contract with the specialized installation vessel, the Sea Installer, ends. In a declaration, Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Moeller said installation needs to resume by Jan. 30 in order to get the work completed before the contract ends.
Losing the vessel before the final components are installed could cause delays of a year or more for full commercial operation of the project, “if completion remains feasible at all,” Moeller wrote.
This could have the cascade effect of leading lenders to foreclose on the project, which would threaten Vineyard Wind’s “ability to survive,” the company said.
Per the project’s chief commercial officer, this includes a $2 billion loan from 27 banks. Vineyard Wind needs to reach full operation in order to generate revenue to pay back the loan, along with its accruing interest.
If it cannot finish installation soon, it also runs the risk of violating power purchase agreements with Massachusetts and the utility companies, opening the door for the utilities to terminate the agreements — the source of the project’s revenue.
“The inability to timely complete construction of the Project in turn jeopardizes the revenues and financing necessary for the Project to remain viable, with resulting financial consequences that would threaten the financial viability of the entire Project and, consequently, Vineyard Wind’s ability to survive,” company attorneys wrote.
The Interior Department and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management have cited “national security risks identified by the Department of War in recently completed classified reports,” as reasons for the project suspensions. A press release from Interior asserts the radar interference created by wind arrays is a national security threat.
Neither agency immediately responded to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.
Gov. Maura Healey in a statement said her administration has been in close communication with Vineyard Wind and the others states impacted by the suspensions, calling the Trump administration’s actions a “reckless and pointless attack” on offshore wind.
“Vineyard Wind is already providing power and has created thousands of jobs. Halting this project now will only create reliability issues, increase winter electricity bills and cost jobs,” Healey said. “President Trump should be embracing an all-of-the-above approach to American energy, not shutting down critical sources like wind.”
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and Department of Energy Resources filed declarations with the court on how the state is being harmed by the suspension.
Mayor Jon Mitchell, a former federal prosecutor, said the suspension order should be viewed as arbitrary under the law.
“I anticipate Vineyard Wind will prevail in its petition to enjoin the order because the project is situated similarly to others that successfully defended themselves against the same order,” he said in an email.
Vineyard Wind in its filing argues the federal government’s reasoning of “national security” is “a pretext for halting offshore wind development, rather than a response to any identified, Project-specific threat.”
“The Project has also been operating as a power plant for more than a year with no reported national security or radar-related issues,” Moeller wrote.
Before the 90-day suspension order was issued on Dec. 22, 2025, the project was expected to wrap up by March.
In this final stage of construction, it is employing about 750 workers and 32 U.S.-flagged vessels, all which will be laid off if the work stoppage continues, the filing says.
Forty-four of its 62 turbines are operational. It has been allowed to continue sending power under the suspension order at a maximum capacity of 572 of the 800-megawatt capacity.
Of the turbines, 10 still need blade replacement or installation.
Vineyard Wind said it “continues to work with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and other relevant stakeholders and authorities in the Administration to understand the matters raised in the Order.”
Per the complaint, Vineyard Wind officials met with BOEM Deputy Director Matthew Giacona and other Interior officials on Dec. 30, 2025, but the government officials “refused to identify any national-security threat posed by the Project or to discuss any mitigation measures Vineyard Wind could implement to address it,” and deferred the company to the Defense Department.
Thursday’s lawsuit comes the same day a federal judge in the District of Columbia granted Empire Wind’s request for a preliminary injunction. The New York project said it was on the verge of cancellation if it could not continue construction this week. It also comes three days after a different federal judge, also in the District of Columbia, granted Revolution Wind’s request for a preliminary injunction.
The judge on the Revolution Wind case, who reviewed the classified material the federal government is citing for the suspension orders, expressed skepticism of the national security argument, and said he did not see harm in allowing construction for that project to continue.
The other projects suing the federal government are Sunrise Wind, slated to send power to New York; and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind off the Virginia coast.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell in a statement said her office “fully supports” the project defending itself from the Trump Administration’s “baseless attempt to halt construction.”
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org
Vineyard Wind’s biggest mistake: They stopped construction in the face of an illegal, arbitrary and capricious suspension order.
To stop a project this important to the energy needs of this region shows the lack of caring for the needs of the people and the shortsighted view of business investing in our country.
Will stopping wind lower our electric rates?
It sure seems to me that the opposite would happen.
Trump has used executive orders as edicts to enforce his will. Such abuse of executive orders has turned the presidency into a dictatatorship.
While courts can overrule an executive order it takes time and in the meantime the order is enforced as is the case with the windmill industry.
Trump’s shortsighted view of clean energy in favor of fossil fuels is further injuring our environment and health of the American public. It is also causing economic hardships, not only for clean energy industrial companies, but also for the workers who derive their living working in the industry.
There needs to be limits to the use of executive orders if our democracy is to survive.