Attorney General Neronha & Attorney General Tong to sue Trump Administration for stop work order on Revolution Wind project
Published on Thursday, September 04, 2025
Attorney General Peter F. Neronha and Attorney General William Tong today announced their intent to sue the Trump Administration in Federal District Court in Rhode Island to overturn the baseless stop work order abruptly issued on August 22, 2025, which halted the construction of Revolution Wind. The project is approximately 80% finished and was on track to be completed in 2026, at which time it would immediately begin providing a major source of clean, renewable energy to the two states. The lawsuit will be filed in the District of Rhode Island later today.
On August 22, 2025, the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) issued a stop work order to Revolution Wind, and did so without identifying any violation of law or imminent threat to safety. The order abstractly cites BOEM’s authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), ordering the stop so that the agency may address unidentified “concerns.”
“With Revolution Wind, we have an opportunity to create good-paying jobs for Rhode Islanders, enhance energy reliability, and ensure energy cost savings while protecting our environment,” said Attorney General Neronha. “And yet, this stop work order is not even the latest development in this Administration’s all-out assault on wind energy. Just yesterday, we learned of reports that the Administration is pulling in staff from several different unrelated federal agencies, including Health and Human Services, to do its bidding. Does this sound like a federal government that is prioritizing the American people? This is bizarre, this is unlawful, this is potentially devastating, and we won’t stand by and watch it happen.”
“Revolution Wind is fully permitted, nearly complete and months from providing enough American-made, clean, affordable energy to power 350,000 homes,” said Attorney General Tong. “Now, with zero justification, Trump wants to mothball the project, send workers home, and saddle Connecticut families with millions of dollars in higher energy costs. This kind of erratic and reckless governing is blatantly illegal, and we’re suing to stop it.”
Located fifteen nautical miles off the coast of Rhode Island, Revolution Wind is a wind energy facility expected to deliver enough electricity to the New England grid to power 350,000 homes, or 2.5 percent of the region’s electricity supply beginning in 2026. Revolution Wind is projected to save Connecticut and Rhode Island ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars over 20 years. Approximately 80% complete, the project has been vetted and approved through every layer of the federal and state regulatory process, and is supported by binding contracts and legal mandates.
Revolution Wind is an integral part of the Rhode Island’s statutory mandates set by the legislature in the Rhode Island Renewable Energy Standard in 2004, as amended in 2022, and in the 2021 Act on Climate. Revolution Wind is expected to reduce Rhode Island’s greenhouse gas emissions by 11 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (MMTCO2), a very significant reduction. Without this reduction, it will become extremely difficult for Rhode Island to meet its Act on Climate greenhouse gas emission reduction mandates, including that greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to 45% percent below 1990s levels by 2030, eighty percent (80%) below 1990s levels by 2040; and that the state reaches net-zero emissions by 2050.
Further, this stop work order will have significant harmful economic impacts to the states. Revolution Wind’s construction phase supports over 2,500 jobs nationwide across construction, operations, shipbuilding and manufacturing sectors, including over 1,000 union jobs in Rhode Island and Connecticut. Once the project is complete, 86 full-time jobs are anticipated to staff Revolution Wind operations in Rhode Island.
The disruption of Revolution Wind may also harm energy reliability. On August 25, 2025, in response to the stop work order, ISO New England (ISO-NE) warned that delaying the Revolution Wind project would “increase risks to reliability,” including potential “near-term impacts to reliability in the summer and winter peak periods,” and “adversely affect New England’s economy and industrial growth.” ISO-NE also stated that “unpredictable risks and threats to resources—regardless of technology—that have made significant capital investments, secured necessary permits, and are close to completion will stifle future investments, increase costs to consumers, and undermine the power grid’s reliability and the region’s economy now and in the future.”
The complaint, which will be filed later today against the Department of the Interior, BOEM, and their appointed leaders, alleges that such arbitrary and capricious government conduct violates both the Administrative Procedure Act and the government’s authority under OCSLA. Both laws “demand reasoned decision-making, fidelity to statutory limits, and respect for the settled expectations of sovereign States and regulated parties.”
The Complaint further states that Rhode Island and Connecticut “seek to restore the rule of law, protect their energy and economic interests, and ensure that the federal government honors its commitments.”
The complaint asks that the court declare the stop work order unlawful and block the Trump Administration from halting Revolution Wind’s development.
Today’s action follows a multistate lawsuit filed by a coalition of 18 attorneys general against the Trump Administration over its unlawful attempt to freeze the development of wind energy by executive order. The states will argue for a motion for summary judgment in this case today in Federal District Court in Massachusetts.
Assistant Attorney General Sarah Rice, Solicitor General Katherine Sadeck, and Special Assistant Attorneys General Nicholas Vaz, Alex Carnevale, and Leonard Giarrano are staffing this litigation for the Attorney General.
To learn more about the Office’s federal accountability work, please visit our website.
###