A massive wind farm will soon resume construction near New York City after the Trump administration lifted a federal block late Monday, bringing an end to a high-stakes, monthslong saga that threatened to tank the project.
Before its stunning reversal, the stop-work order on Empire Wind 1 sent chills through the burgeoning U.S. offshore wind industry. Many feared it marked the death of the installation, which is the nation’s first offshore wind farm to begin at-sea construction since President Donald Trump took office in January. In the weeks leading up to his inauguration, Trump said “no new windmills” would be built in the U.S. during his presidency.
Empire Wind 1 is eight years in the making and when complete will feature 54 turbines capable of producing 810 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 500,000 homes. It will be the first offshore wind project to feed directly into New York City’s power grid. Its onshore terminal in South Brooklyn is halfway finished, and at-sea construction started in early April.