Empire Wind granted preliminary injunction allowing construction to resume

January 19, 2026

Empire Wind is more than 60 percent complete Photo: Edison Chouest/©Equinor credit:Equinor

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today granted Empire Offshore Wind LLC a preliminary injunction that allows construction activities to resume on the Outer Continental Shelf for the Empire Wind project.

The underlying lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s December 22, 2025 suspension order will continue to proceed.

Empire Wind will now focus on safely restarting construction activities that were halted during the suspension period. In addition, the project will continue to engage with the U.S. government to ensure the safe, secure and responsible execution of its operations.

Empire Wind is being developed under contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to deliver a critical new, near-term source of electricity for New York and bolster grid reliability at a time of rapidly growing demand. Once completed, the project would provide enough power to electrify approximately 500,000 homes in New York.