Federal court grants Dominion injunction, allowing offshore wind construction to proceed

Dominion Energy won a preliminary injunction Friday in federal court, allowing construction to resume on the $11.2 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project off Virginia Beach’s coast. In December 2025, the U.S. Department of the Interior paused the project for 90 days, leading the Richmond Fortune 500 utility to sue the government.

Dominion said in a news release Friday that it will continue its legal challenge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Department of the Interior, which issued stop-work orders on five wind farms under construction on the East Coast.

“Our team will now focus on safely restarting work to ensure CVOW begins delivery of critical energy in just weeks,” Dominion’s statement says. “While our legal challenge proceeds, we will continue seeking a durable resolution of this matter through cooperation with the federal government.”

Earlier this week, offshore wind developers Orsted and Equinor won similar rulings from a U.S. court in Washington, D.C., in their litigation over the Interior Department’s Dec. 22, 2025, suspension of five projects under construction in federal waters.

The five wind farms include Orsted’s Revolution Wind off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut, Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts, and Sunrise Wind and Equinor’s Empire Wind off New York, in addition to CVOW.

The government paused the projects due to what it said was new, classified information on risks to national security from radar interference.

At Friday’s hearing in Norfolk, U.S. District Court Judge Jamar Walker said Interior’s stop-work order was too broad to address Dominion’s specific project and noted that the risks cited by the government pertained to wind farm operations and not construction.

The Interior Department and BOEM did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers issued the following statement Friday: “President Trump has been clear: Wind energy is the scam of the century. For years, Americans have been forced to pay billions more for the least reliable source of energy. The Trump administration has paused the construction of all large-scale offshore wind projects because our No. 1 priority is to put America first and protect the national security of the American people. The administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”

Dominion and OSW Project, a limited liability corporation, are suing Secretary of the Interior Douglas Burgum and BOEM’s acting director, Matthew Giacona, along with the departments they head.

In 2025, Dominion said that the wind farm was expected to be in operation in late 2026. The 2.6-gigawatt project is expected to power 660,000 homes, and onshore and offshore cables were set to be installed in early 2026, the Fortune 500 utility said in August.

Dominion argues in the lawsuit that the order is “the latest in a series of irrational agency actions attacking offshore wind and then doubling down when those actions are found unlawful.”

President Donald Trump has long excoriated wind energy projects, calling them ugly, costly and inefficient. Since taking office, his administration has placed stops on offshore wind projects approved under the Biden administration and already under construction, including Revolution Wind and Empire Wind.

Dominion argues that the federal order is causing “serious, irreparable harm to [Dominion Energy Virginia] and its customers,” the lawsuit says. “All of CVOW’s offshore wind turbine and substation foundations are already in place, construction of other offshore and onshore components is ongoing or complete. There is a strict timeline for remaining CVOW construction activities, and any delay will affect the availability of specialized vessels, equipment and labor.”

Virginia Democratic U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, along with U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, submitted a “friend of the court” brief this week, supporting Dominion’s request for an injunction.

They argued that Virginia customers could be penalized financially, “not just losing the benefits that the project will provide, but also bearing the cost of delay,” and that the government’s stop-work order “endangers Virginia’s energy security and its status as a global leader in clean, reliable electricity.”

Reuters reporters Blake Brittain and Nichola Groom contributed to this story.