PROVIDENCE – The U.S. Department of the Interior has detailed its national security concerns behind last month’s shutdown of the Revolution Wind project, citing specific unresolved defense issues in a newly filed court affidavit.
In a sworn affidavit filed Sept. 12, Acting Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Adam Suess said the offshore wind project has not been properly “deconflicted” with national defense interests.
Among the issues flagged: potential interference with at-sea military operations, risks related to fiber-optic sensing and acoustic monitoring equipment, and concerns over foreign investment, according to the affidavit.
Suess pointed to "unresolved requirements" from the Department of Defense, referred to in the filing as the Department of War, as justification for the agency's actions. Revolution Wind is being developed by Orsted A/S, a company majority-owned by the Danish government.
It's the first time in three weeks that the federal government has spoken on the exact reasons behind the project's pause. The administration had issued a stop-work order on Aug. 22 for the Revolution Wind project, located in federal waters 17 miles off the Rhode Island coast.
The project had been expected to begin supplying electricity to Rhode Island and Connecticut in 2026.
On Sept. 4, Orsted, the Danish developer behind the offshore wind project, filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the stop-work order.
Orsted's complaint urged the court to lift the federal stop-work order, warning that continued delays could derail the Revolution Wind project entirely.
In legal filings, the company said it faces steep financial consequences, from idle equipment costs to canceled contracts, that could trigger a chain reaction of setbacks.
The long-term damage, Orsted argued, could include billions in losses and a lasting hit to its reputation.
But federal officials have pushed back, maintaining that the order is legally sound and grounded in national security concerns. They also dismissed Orsted’s financial warnings as hypothetical and argued that no constitutional rights have been infringed.
Also on Sept. 4, Attorney General Peter F. Neronha and Conn. Attorney General William Tong filed a federal lawsuit challenging the stop-work order for Revolution Wind.
The court has yet to rule on either motion.
Matthew McNulty is a PBN staff writer. He can be reached at McNulty@PBN.com or on X at @MattMcNultyNYC.
The objections of the Federal government as presented in this article are simply laughable.