A timeline of Trump’s failed attempt to kill Empire Wind

A massive wind farm will soon resume construction near New York City after the Trump administration lifted a federal block late Monday, bringing an end to a high-stakes, monthslong saga that threatened to tank the project.

Before its stunning reversal, the stop-work order on Empire Wind 1 sent chills through the burgeoning U.S. offshore wind industry. Many feared it marked the death of the installation, which is the nation’s first offshore wind farm to begin at-sea construction since President Donald Trump took office in January. In the weeks leading up to his inauguration, Trump said ​“no new windmills” would be built in the U.S. during his presidency.

Empire Wind 1 is eight years in the making and when complete will feature 54 turbines capable of producing 810 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 500,000 homes. It will be the first offshore wind project to feed directly into New York City’s power grid. Its onshore terminal in South Brooklyn is halfway finished, and at-sea construction started in early April.

The unprecedented pause on the $5 billion energy infrastructure project — New York state’s largest in 50 years — came about two weeks into at-sea construction. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, a branch of Interior, to stop offshore work on the wind farm based on information that its approvals were ​“rushed.”

That same day, on April 16, BOEM sent a letter to Equinor, the project’s developer, explaining that the basis of the stop-work order was feedback from NOAA about Empire Wind’s environmental impact and that the branch needed time to ​“address” the information. ​“You may not resume activities until BOEM informs you that BOEM has completed its necessary review,” said the letter.

On Monday evening, BOEM sent Equinor a three-sentence letter saying the review is ​“ongoing” but that the construction halt is — officially — lifted.

Equinor, working with New York lawmakers and possibly Norwegian diplomats, seems to have reached a deal yesterday with Trump officials, though the specifics are still coming to light.

In a Monday evening social media post, Burgum thanked New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, for her ​“willingness to move forward on critical pipeline capacity,” raising alarm among environmental advocates that a potential deal had been reached to build a fossil-gas pipeline in the state in exchange for Empire Wind moving forward.

“New York will work with the Administration and private entities on new energy projects that meet the legal requirements under New York law,” said Hochul in a statement released Monday. A spokesperson for her office clarified to Canary Media on Tuesday that ​“no deal on any natural gas pipeline was reached.”

Here’s a timeline of the Trump administration’s attempts to stop Empire Wind, which almost derailed a project crucial to the grid reliability and clean-energy goals of New York state.

Jan. 20: Trump issues an executive order that initiates a federal review of offshore wind activities during the Biden administration and pauses all new offshore wind permitting and leasing. Nine projects that already have federal permits in hand, including Empire Wind, appear safe to proceed.

Feb. 11: Anti-offshore wind groups send a letter to Burgum pushing the Interior Department to issue a stop-work order for the offshore wind projects with all permits in hand, including Empire Wind 1.

Feb. 14: Trump officials cut eight employees from BOEM’s renewables office, the group that oversees Empire Wind’s construction and operations permits. This kicks off a wave of layoffs and retirements that shrinks the office from 80 to 60 total employees by early May, according to an Interior Department employee granted anonymity for fear of retribution.

March 24: An Equinor-run Listserv catering to boat captains and local residents posts a notice that underwater ​“rock installation” around the sites of Empire Wind’s future turbine bases will begin in April.

March 26: U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican and longtime offshore wind opponent, pens a letter to Secretary Burgum in response to the ​“alarming development” of the project starting at-sea work. He advises Burgum to ​“block construction” of Empire Wind using ​“everything in your power.” Smith cites the president’s anti-wind executive order alongside other unsubstantiated claims that Empire Wind could ​“blind” military radar or break apart during hurricanes.

April 1: Empire Wind’s at-sea construction begins. In the first step toward erecting turbines, Equinor lays rock on the seabed that will eventually protect its turbine bases. The developer issues no press releases and holds no public ceremonies.

April 9: Canary Media reports that Empire Wind’s first steel monopile — the subsea part of a wind tower — will be driven into the seafloor on May 1. Undersea cable laying is scheduled for June, according to Canary Media’s sources.

April 16: Secretary Burgum issues the stop-work order that halts all offshore construction of Empire Wind 1. The order does not impact work on the massive 73-acre wind terminal being built by about 1,500 people along a South Brooklyn waterfront to support the installation.

April 17: Offshore work subcontractors are grounded. Gordon Videll, CEO of Sea Services North America, a subcontractor for Empire Wind 1, tells Canary Media that its workers are idle. The company, which utilizes locally sourced fishing vessels and crews to provide scout and safety services, had been working on Empire Wind’s underwater rock installation.

April 21: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum posts to X that ​“scientists at NOAA have revealed that the Biden administration’s rushed approval of the Empire Wind project was built on bad & flawed science.” His social media posts imply that findings from federal scientists at NOAA are the basis for the unusual move. His office does not publicly release the NOAA report. (As of May 20, it still hasn’t.)

April 22: About 100 union workers and local residents rally in support of Empire Wind 1 on the steps of the Nassau County Executive and Legislative Building in New York, calling for a lift of the stop-work order. Supporters say the project is central to the climate goals of New York, the economic development plans of South Brooklyn, and public health concerns of residents who lived for decades in the shadow of air-polluting industries.

April 24: Trump holds an Oval Office meeting with the prime minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre. The Norwegian government owns 67% of Equinor. The Empire Wind project is not mentioned in Trump’s public remarks on the bilateral meeting. Støre reiterates to reporters that ​“we are allies,” while sitting next to the president.

April 28: Equinor staff are conspicuously absent from a popular offshore wind industry conference attended by Canary Media in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The organizer, Oceantic Network, had recently removed Equinor representatives from its program of live speaking events.

May 9: Molly Morris, president of Equinor Renewables Americas, tells the Associated Press that the federal delays have created an ​“urgent, unsustainable situation.” The costs of idle boats and grounded workers are bleeding the company of up to $50 million each week, she says.

May 12: Morris tells Bloomberg that ​“if no progress is made within days, Equinor will be forced to terminate the project. … We are still fighting every day to find a resolution.”

May 14: Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, delivers an impassioned speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate chamber comparing the halt of Empire Wind to a ​“dictatorship.” He previously called the halt ​“illegal” and urged Equinor to sue the Trump administration — and pressed for the release of the elusive NOAA report Burgum cited in April to justify the halt.

May 16: Canary Media reports that key staffers in BOEM’s Office of Renewable Energy Programs (OREP) have been denied access to the NOAA report. An Interior staffer tells Canary Media that, to their knowledge, no one at OREP has been explicitly asked to help with the ongoing review of Empire Wind’s approval. However, email correspondence obtained by Canary Media indicates that the office had been tapped in late April to complete a post-hoc summary of all ​“concerns” raised by the public and other federal agencies about Empire Wind 1.

May 19: BOEM lifts the halt.

Equinor President and CEO Anders Opedal releases a statement about the order being lifted. He thanks Trump for ​“finding a solution” and expresses gratitude to Hochul, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York Congressman Daniel Goldman, and the state’s two U.S. senators for ​“steadfast support.” Opedal indicates that Norwegian Minister of Finance Jens Stoltenberg ​“raised the situation with the U.S. administration.”

A spokesperson for Equinor said the project will resume construction promptly, though no date has been set. But even with the delay from the stop-work order, Equinor says it plans to reach its goal of bringing the project online in 2027.