Offshore wind giants sue Trump over frozen $25B pipeline

The U.S. renewable energy sector is facing its "Lehman Moment" as the White House invokes national security to paralyze the nation's largest infrastructure projects.

It took exactly 48 hours for the hammer to fall. On December 22, the Department of the Interior paused leases for five major offshore wind projects, instantly stranding over $25 billion in capital and sending shockwaves through global markets. Now, the developers are fighting back.

Dominion Energy, Orsted, and Equinor are leading a furious legal counteroffensive against the Trump administration, arguing the sudden "stop-work" order is an existential threat not just to their balance sheets, but to the U.S. power grid itself. This isn't just a regulatory delay; it’s a calculated dismantle of the clean energy transition, framed as a defense necessity.

The "Nuclear Option"

The administration’s order effectively decapitated the industry’s most critical projects: Vineyard Wind 1, Revolution Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW), Sunrise Wind, and Empire Wind 1.

The official justification cites "emerging national security risks," specifically referring to classified Pentagon reports that claim turbine arrays create radar "clutter" capable of blinding U.S. defense systems. But industry insiders see a different motive. The order didn't just slow permitting; it halted active construction.

"Stopping CVOW for any length of time will threaten grid reliability for some of the nation's most important war fighting, AI, and civilian assets," Dominion Energy stated in a blistering response filed with the Eastern District of Virginia.

Burning Cash

The financial toll is immediate and staggering. For every day these vessels sit idle, developers are burning millions with zero revenue in sight.

1. Orsted reported that a previous, shorter pause cost them $2.3 million per day.
2. Equinor estimated losses of $50 million per week during similar delays earlier this year.
3. Orsted was forced to ask shareholders for a massive $9.4 billion capital injection to stabilize its finances against the "adverse market development" in the U.S.

"Orsted and our industry are in an extraordinary situation," said CEO Rasmus Errboe, causing the company's stock to plummet nearly 30% to a nine-year low.

The Legal War Room

The lawsuit filed by Dominion Energy characterizes the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) order as "arbitrary and capricious." The core legal argument is that these projects had already cleared years of rigorous defense reviews. The sudden reversal, based on "new" intelligence, violates the statutory limits of executive action under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

This legal battle is the industry's last stand. If the December 22 order holds, the U.S. offshore wind market is effectively uninvestable. The $25 billion pipeline, intended to power millions of homes and the exploding energy demands of AI data centers, will likely be written off, handing energy dominance back to fossil fuel incumbents.