— Last Wednesday, April 16, the Trump administration issued a stop-work order to a wind farm off the Jersey Shore that started undersea installation work — despite President Trump's ban on all new offshore wind development.
The wind farm is Empire Wind 1, owned by Norwegian renewable energy company Equinor. In 2017, Empire Wind received a permit to build a wind farm 19 miles off Long Branch, a distance that is too far out for turbines to be visible from shore.
Equinor said on its website it will comply with the stop-work order, but it may file a lawsuit against the U.S. government.
On his first day in office in January, President Trump issued an executive order that put a pause on all U.S. wind farm development. While Trump's order does not affect existing wind farm leases that were already issued, it does call for the U.S. Department of the Interior to do "a review of the necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases, identifying any legal bases for removal."
Equinor moved ahead with construction.
On its website, Equinor said onshore construction for the wind turbines began at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in spring 2024, and "marine activities resumed in spring 2025, beginning with rock laying in the lease area."
On April 2, a spokesman for Equinor told Patch: "Equinor has received all necessary federal permits for offshore construction and will continue to comply with the requirements of these permits."
On March 26, Monmouth/Ocean Congressman Chris Smith, a Republican who has been critical of wind farms, sent this letter to U.S. Secretary of the Interior, former North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, telling him Equinor was beginning construction. Smith asked Burgum "to halt Equinor’s underhanded rush to begin piledriving and block construction until the critical assessment can be completed."
Burgum agreed. On April 16, Burgum announced on his X profile that, after "consultation" with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, he directed the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Management "to immediately halt all construction activities on the Empire Wind Project until further review of information that suggests the Biden administration rushed through its approval without sufficient analysis."
A map of wind farm leases off New York and New Jersey, including Empire Wind 1. (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority)
Last Thursday, Equinor said it will comply with the halt-work order. But the company said it may sue and ask a judge to overturn Burgum's order.
"Empire is engaging with relevant authorities to clarify this matter and is considering its legal remedies, including appealing the order," said Equinor in this statement on its website.
Also in that statement, Equinor said it legally acquired the federal lease area for Empire Wind in 2017, and "validly secured all necessary federal and state permits and is currently under construction."
It was actually supposed to be two wind farms in that lease area, Empire Wind 1 and 2. But in early 2024, Equinor and partner company British Petroleum (BP) announced they were terminating plans to build Empire Wind 2, citing "inflation, interest rates and supply chain disruptions." The company also said there are "changed economic circumstances on an industry-wide scale."
Although Empire Wind 1 will be located 19 miles off the Jersey Shore, it is meant to primarily generate electricity for New York state, not New Jersey. Empire Wind 1 has a contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to potentially provide electricity to 500,000 New York homes via wind energy.
If it gets built, Empire Wind 1 would be New Jersey's largest offshore wind farm to date, taking up a total of 80,000 acres of ocean.
Also last week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Governor said she will fight Burgum's halt-work order.
“This fully federally permitted project has already put shovels in the ground before the President’s executive orders," said Hochul. “As Governor, I will not allow this federal overreach to stand."
On Monday of this week, Burgum tweeted that "Scientists at @NOAA have revealed that the Biden administration's rushed approval of the Empire Wind project was built on bad & flawed science."
