Sunrise Wind LLC, owned by Norway’s Orsted, filed a complaint and motion for a preliminary injunction in US District Court in Washington DC earlier this month. The offshore wind energy company is challenging the Trump administration’s December 22nd 2025 order that suspended construction on the offshore wind project, which was said to be nearly half completed.
The Ørsted-owned subsidiary’s move came in addition to Revolution Wind LLC launching a similar legal action on January 1st. Both projects were among five major East Coast developments ordered by the federal administration to halt work immediately. The White House is saying that the decisions are federal (following previous defeats in the courts), because of classified national security concerns.
Empire Offshore Wind LLC has also filed a civil suit in the District of Columbia, challenging the order and seeking a preliminary injunction that would allow construction to continue while litigation proceeds. Norway-based Equinor, which had previously “persuaded” the White House to back off under a hint that the company could pull out of the US completely, leading to the loss of thousands of US jobs, —has called the suspension order “unlawful”. It said that the Washington decision “threatens the progress of ongoing work with significant implications for the project.”
When the December “national security” suspension was issued, Sunrise Wind was 45% complete, with 44 of its 84 monopile foundations installed and the offshore converter station in place. Onshore electrical infrastructure is largely finished, and near-shore export cables have already been laid. The project had been on track to begin producing power as early as October 2026, with full operations slated for 2027. Sunrise Wind has a 25-year contract with New York State.
Sunrise Wind said that the lease suspension order violated applicable law and was causing “substantial harm” to the project. The company also pointed out that it had secured all required local, state, and federal permits after years of environmental and technical review. These had included extensive coordination with the US Department of Defence Military Aviation and Installation Assurance Siting Clearinghouse, which was formulated to guarantee that there were no national security risks.
Sunrise Wind also noted that there existed a formal agreement between the Department of War, the Department of the Air Force, and Sunrise Wind that spelled out specific mitigation measures. It said that additional approvals were granted by the US Coast Guard, US Army Corps of Engineers, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and other federal agencies.
“Sunrise Wind has spent and committed billions of dollars in reliance upon, and has met the requests of, a thorough review process,” the company said.
Ørsted said that Sunrise Wind LLC had generated thousands of American jobs across construction, operations, shipbuilding, and manufacturing, including more than 1,000 union workers.
Supporting the “national security” line, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the pause was necessary to address “emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centres”.
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler called the White House action “irresponsible policy that threatens to take America backward.”
Sunrise Wind LLC said that the lawsuit was a necessary step to protect a project that followed every regulatory requirement and invested billions of dollars into US jobs and infrastructure.