Virginia's $11B Offshore Wind Farm Wins Court Victory

A federal court just handed Virginia's clean energy future a major win, allowing the nation's largest offshore wind project to resume construction after a month-long government shutdown.

U.S. District Court Judge Jamar K. Walker granted Dominion Energy permission Friday to continue building its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. The $11 billion project was 70 percent complete when the Interior Department issued a sudden stop work order last month, citing vague national security concerns without providing details.

Dominion's legal team argued that the utility had worked closely with multiple federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, throughout the entire permit process to address any security issues. The company even operated two pilot turbines for years specifically to learn how to avoid conflicts with military operations.

"This was a total surprise," said Dominion attorney James Auslander in court, noting that federal officials met with the company in December but refused to share specific security concerns. Judge Walker agreed, finding inconsistencies in the government's classified security claims and ruling that Dominion had demonstrated it could win the case.

The victory extends beyond Virginia. Developers of two other offshore wind projects, Revolution Wind in Rhode Island and Empire Wind in New York, also won similar court battles this week to resume construction.

The Ripple Effect

When complete by the end of 2026, the 176-turbine project will generate 2.6 gigawatts of clean electricity. That's enough power for 660,000 homes while preventing pollution equivalent to removing a million cars from roads annually.

The timing couldn't be better for America's growing energy needs. As the country races to power energy-hungry artificial intelligence data centers and other advanced technologies, clean energy sources like offshore wind provide crucial electricity without the greenhouse gas emissions that warm our planet.

Virginia customers had already begun paying for the project through their utility bills, and some electricity was scheduled to flow to homes within weeks. Now that timeline can continue.

"Our team will now focus on safely restarting work to ensure CVOW begins delivery of critical energy in just weeks," Dominion said in a statement after the ruling.

The decision shows that even amid political headwinds, America's clean energy transition has strong legal foundations and continues moving forward, bringing jobs, clean power, and healthier air to communities along the East Coast.