New York Governor to Fight US Federal Decision to Halt Empire Wind Project
April 17, 2025
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has said she would fight the federal decision to halt all construction for the Empire Wind 1 offshore wind project made by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI).
The U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered a halt to construction on Equinor's Empire Wind project off the coast of New York, citing inadequate environmental analysis conducted by the Biden Information.
Empire Wind was approved by the Biden administration in November of 2023 and began construction in 2024.
At the end of December 2025, the developer Equinor reached financial close for the project, securing a financing package of over $3 billion.
“Every single day, I’m working to make energy more affordable, reliable and abundant in New York and the federal government should be supporting those efforts rather than undermining them. Empire Wind 1 is already employing hundreds of New Yorkers, including 1,000 good-paying union jobs as part of a growing sector that has already spurred significant economic development and private investment throughout the state and beyond.
“This fully federally permitted project has already put shovels in the ground before the President’s executive orders—it’s exactly the type of bipartisan energy solution we should be working on.
“As Governor, I will not allow this federal overreach to stand. I will fight this every step of the way to protect union jobs, affordable energy and New York’s economic future,” Governor Hochul said.
The Empire Wind lease was awarded to Equinor in 2017. It is being developed in two phases, Empire Wind 1, with a contracted capacity of 810 MW, and Empire Wind 2, with a potential capacity of more than 1,200 MW.
In June 2024, Equinor announced the execution of the Purchase and Sale Agreement (PSA) with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority for Empire Wind 1 power for 25 years at a strike price of $155.00/MWh.
The American Clean Power Association (ACP) has issued the statement in response to the U.S. DOI decision, deeming it as ‘bad policy’.
“Halting construction of fully permitted energy projects is the literal opposite of an energy abundance agenda. With skyrocketing energy demand and increasing consumer prices, we need streamlined permitting for all domestic energy resources. Doubling back to reconsider permits after projects are under construction sends a chilling signal to all energy investment.
“These political reversals are bad policy, whether applied to pipelines or wind farms. We encourage the Administration to quickly address perceived inadequacies in the prior permit approvals so that this project can complete construction and bring much needed power to the grid. At the end of the day, reliable energy systems depend on reliable political systems,” said Jason Grumet, ACP’s CEO.
Empire Wind 1 is located 15-30 miles southeast of Long Island and spans 80,000 acres. With a contracted capacity of 810 MW, Empire Wind 1 will be the first offshore wind project to connect into the New York City grid.
To support the project, an agreement was signed to transform the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT) into a world-class offshore wind hub in 2022.
SBMT is set to become the nation’s largest dedicated port facilities for offshore wind in the U.S. It will serve as the operations and maintenance (O&M) hub for Empire Wind 1 and will be the site of the project’s onshore substation.
