The Trump administration has allowed the restart of the $5bn Empire Wind project off the coast of Long Island, allowing construction activities to resume.
The project was halted with a stop work order issued in April 2025 by Interior secretary Doug Burgum, initially stating that more time was needed to assess the project’s previous approvals.
He later said on social media that scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration “have revealed that the Biden administration’s rushed approval of the Empire Wind project was built on bad and flawed science.”
This move got mixed reviews, even from Republican Party members like Leslie Beyer, who was Donald Trump’s nominee for the assistant secretary role in the Department of the Interior. She said during her confirmation hearing that the order to stop work on the Empire Wind project sent “a dangerous message” as companies needed certainty in the permitting system so they could make financial investment decisions.
By the time the stop order was issued, Equinor had already invested over $2.5bn in the project. The stoppage was costing the company up to $50m per week, including 11 vessels on standby. Equinor revealed last week that it was considering terminating the project if no progress was made towards a resolution “within days”.
However, Equinor said on Monday that following dialogue with regulators and federal, state, and city officials, the stop work order was lifted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and construction activities will resume.
Equinor will perform an updated assessment of the 816MW project economics in the second quarter. The company aims to execute planned activities in the offshore installation window in 2025 and reach its planned commercial operation date in 2027. The project is currently more than 30% complete. When fully operational, it is expected to deliver enough electricity to power 500,000 New York homes.
The main facilitator for the lifting of the stop order was New York governor Kathy Hochul, who vowed that she would not give up on the project. According to her statement, she spent weeks pressing president Trump to lift the government’s hold on the wind farm.
“After countless conversations with Equinor and White House officials, bringing labour and business to the table to emphasise the importance of this project, I’m pleased that President Trump and Secretary Burgum have agreed to lift the stop work order and allow this project to move forward,” Hochul said.
She also noted that the restart of the project saved 1,500 “good-paying union jobs that were on the line”.
The United States is a core country in Equinor’s portfolio. Since the early 2000s, Equinor has invested approximately $60bn in energy projects in the country.
“I would like to thank president Trump for finding a solution that saves thousands of American jobs and provides for continued investments in energy infrastructure in the US. I am grateful to Governor Hochul for her constructive collaboration with the Trump administration, without which we would not have been able to advance this project,” said Anders Opedal, president and CEO of Equinor.
