Dominion Energy, an offshore wind developer and utility serving Virginia’s “data center alley,” sued the Trump administration this week over its decision to block federal leases for large offshore wind projects. The move halts five wind farms already under construction, including Dominion’s Coastal Virginia offshore wind project.
Complaint Dominion filed on Tuesday that the stop-work order issued Monday by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is illegal, “arbitrary and capricious,” and “violates constitutional principles that limit actions by the executive branch.” Dominion wants a federal court to block BOEM from enforcing the stop-work order.
“Virginia needs every electron we can get as demand for electricity doubles.”
The lawsuit also argues that the “sudden and unwarranted withdrawal of regulatory approvals by government officials” threatens the ability of developers to build large-scale infrastructure projects needed to meet the growing demand for energy in the United States.
“Virginia needs every electron we can get as demand for electricity doubles. These electrons will power the data centers that will win the AI race,” Dominion said Dec. 22. Press release. According to the company, Virginia has the largest number of data centers in the world.
The rush to build new data centers for AI — along with rising energy demand from manufacturing and electrifying homes and cars — has put more pressure on already strained power grids. Rising electricity costs have become a flashpoint in the Virginia election, and in communities near data center projects across the US. Dominion has warned that construction delays on a coastal Virginia offshore wind farm are driving up project costs that customers ultimately pay for.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, said the 90-day pause on offshore wind leases would allow the agency to address national security threats, which were apparently identified in recently classified reports. Also the US Department of the Interior Referred to Concerns about turbines causing radar interference.
“I want to know what changed?” A national security expert and former commander of the USS Cole Kirk Lippold told The Associated Press. “To my knowledge, nothing has changed in the threat environment that would force us to stop any wind programs.”
The Trump administration had previously halted construction on the Revolution wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island and the Empire Wind Project off the coast of New York before a federal judge and Boim lifted it. stop working Those plans are now done suspended One more time. President Donald Trump issued a presidential Memory After taking office in January, he was withdrawing areas from offshore wind leases on the Outer Continental Shelf, which A federal judge overruled “To Be” earlier this month.Arbitrary and manifest.
Dominion Energy says it has received all necessary federal, state and local approvals for its coastal Virginia offshore wind farm, which is set to break ground in 2024. The company has already spent $8.9 billion on the $11.2 billion project that was expected to start generating power next year. Fully up and running, the offshore wind farm is believed to have the potential to generate 9.5 million megawatt-hours of carbon-free electricity per year, which could be used by about 660,000 homes in the United States.