Dominion Energy, a developer of offshore wind and a utility provider for Virginia’s “data center alley,” has initiated legal action against the Trump administration over its recent decision to halt federal leases for large offshore wind projects. This pause halts progress on five wind farms currently in construction, including Dominion’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, claims that a stop work order issued by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on Monday is unlawful, “arbitrary and capricious,” and violates constitutional principles aimed at limiting executive power. Dominion seeks a federal court ruling to block the enforcement of this stop work order.
“Virginia needs every electron we can get as our demand for electricity doubles,” the company stated. The filing asserts that the “sudden and baseless withdrawal of regulatory approvals by government officials” jeopardizes the construction of large infrastructure projects essential for meeting the growing energy needs in the U.S. Dominion underscored the importance of meeting this demand by emphasizing that the electrons generated will power data centers crucial for maintaining a competitive edge in the AI sector. Virginia hosts the largest concentration of data centers in the world, as reported by the company.
The urgent need to expand data centers for AI, coupled with increasing energy demands from manufacturing and the electrification of homes and vehicles, has placed additional strain on already overburdened power grids. Rising electricity costs have become a contentious issue in Virginia elections and in communities near data center projects nationwide. Delaying the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farm’s construction translates to higher costs for consumers, as warned by Dominion.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, named as one of the defendants in the case, articulated that the 90-day suspension of offshore wind leases would provide the agency with the opportunity to address national security risks recently identified in classified reports. The Department of Interior also raised concerns regarding radar interference caused by wind turbines.
“I want to know what’s changed?” national security expert and former Commander of the USS Cole Kirk Lippold stated to the Associated Press. “To my knowledge, nothing has changed in the threat environment that would drive us to stop any offshore wind programs.”
Previously, the Trump administration had halted construction on the Revolution Wind farm off Rhode Island and the Empire Wind project off New York, but federal judges and BOEM later lifted those stop work orders. However, those projects have once again been put on hold. Upon his inauguration in January, President Donald Trump issued a memorandum withdrawing areas of the outer continental shelf from offshore wind leasing, which was recently deemed “arbitrary and capricious” by a federal judge.
Dominion Energy asserts that it had already secured all necessary federal, state, and local approvals for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farm, which commenced construction in 2024. The company has invested $8.9 billion to date in the $11.2 billion project, which was set to begin generating power next year. Once fully operational, the offshore wind farm is expected to produce 9.5 million megawatt-hours per year of carbon pollution-free electricity, equivalent to the consumption of approximately 660,000 homes in the U.S.
