Revolution Wind Approval Faces Trump Reversal Bid

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes · Last updated: 26 October 2026

The Trump administration has asked a federal judge to send the approval of Revolution Wind back to the Department of the Interior for another look. The request puts a $6.2 billion offshore wind farm in legal doubt just as it nears full operation. The motion was filed in a lawsuit that the anti-wind group Green Oceans brought in 2024. It seeks remand of Interior's construction and operations plan approval so the agency can reassess it under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. Ørsted's 704-MW project off Rhode Island has sent power into New England since March and is almost 95 per cent complete. Interior insists the filing is procedural, not a change of policy.

Frankly, we need to get permitting certainty in law, and this proves it.

Senator Martin Heinrich

What Interior Is Asking the Court to Do

Remand is a legal step in which a court returns a decision to the agency that made it, so the agency can reconsider. That is what the Department of the Interior now wants for Revolution Wind. Its filing states that remand of the construction and operations plan approval "is warranted so that the agency can reevaluate its compliance with the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act."

The motion sits inside an existing case rather than starting a new one. Green Oceans, a group that opposes wind energy, sued in 2024. Its suit challenged the federal approval of Revolution Wind and of a sister project, South Fork Wind.

Interior's filing also tells the judge there would be no need to rule on the plaintiffs' remaining arguments once the approval goes back to the agency. In practice, the government is siding with the group that sued it. It is asking to reopen a permit it granted three years ago, rather than defending that permit on the merits.

Why Interior Says the 2023 Approval Falls Short

The filing names no specific defect in the wind farm itself. Its criticism is aimed at the paperwork. Interior says the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's 2023 record of decision did not "adequately explain" how the project's potential effects square with the agency's duty to accommodate other uses of federal waters, including fishing and recreation. A record of decision is the formal document in which an agency sets out what it approved and why.

Interior has argued before that turbines interfere with military radar. That argument has already been tested. In January, US District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that the government's radar evidence could not justify stopping a project this far along, one that defence officials and BOEM had already reviewed at length.

Interior's public statement plays down the move. "The Department of the Interior is complying with a briefing schedule, not announcing a policy change," it said, adding that the filing "should not be misconstrued as a shift in the Department's approach to offshore wind." That claim is hard to square with a request to reopen a finished approval. Whether the court treats it as routine is still undecided.

A Wind Farm That Is Already Generating

Revolution Wind is no longer a plan on paper. The 704-MW farm, developed by Danish energy company Ørsted, has fed electricity into the New England grid since March. Ørsted's target is to have the whole farm running before this year is out, and around 350,000 homes and businesses will then draw power from it. The project is almost 95 per cent complete.

Ørsted has not responded publicly to the filing. Its silence matters because the remand would put the legal basis for a working asset back in question, not merely delay a construction start.

The move fits a wider pattern. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has tried to stop several offshore wind developments as part of a push toward fossil fuels. His administration has even paid companies to give up offshore leases and put that money into oil and gas instead. Felicity Bradstock, writing for Oilprice.com, argued that cancelling a project this close to finished could make investors hesitate before backing other US renewable projects. That is her assessment, and it depends on Interior actually winning.

Industry and Senators Push Congress on Permitting

Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, which represents offshore energy of all kinds, asked for a quick resolution. "Predictable regulatory processes and timely decisions are important for offshore energy development of all kinds," he said. He hoped the process could move forward "while Revolution Wind continues progressing toward full operations." He went further, saying the episode shows why Congress must pass the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act.

Hillary Bright, executive director of the advocacy group Turn Forward, said the filing "injects uncertainty into a nearly completed offshore wind project that electricity planners and consumers in the Northeast are counting on."

The filing arrived soon after a bipartisan group of senators unveiled a deal to overhaul federal energy permitting rules. Senator Martin Heinrich, one of its negotiators, said in a joint statement that the episode proves the case for writing certainty into statute, and that the administration should meanwhile show good faith progress on wind permits. The deal has been announced, but it has not yet become law.

Will Revolution Wind keep its approval?

The bottom line

Interior is not asking to tear down Revolution Wind. It is asking for permission to reconsider the approval that let it be built, and that is a significant request for a 704-MW farm that is almost 95 per cent complete. The filing points to no specific flaw beyond BOEM's explanation of effects on fishing and recreation. Interior's earlier radar argument has already failed before Judge Royce Lamberth. The court must now decide whether to grant a remand the plaintiffs and the government both want. Lawmakers including Senator Martin Heinrich are using the case to argue for permitting rules that a change of administration cannot unwind. Until either the court or Congress acts, a working power plant rests on a contested permit.

What to watch

• Watch for the federal court's ruling on Interior's remand motion in the Green Oceans case; no date has been set.
• Watch whether Revolution Wind reaches full operation by the end of this year, as expected, while the motion is pending.
• Watch whether Congress moves the bipartisan permitting overhaul or the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act; no vote has been scheduled.