ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — Federal regulators halted work on the Empire Wind 1 offshore wind farm in New York waters, according to state and federal officials on Wednesday. Governor Kathy Hochul vowed to fight the move, saying it will cost thousands of union jobs and drive up energy costs for New Yorkers.

Offshore wind projects place turbines in the ocean that transform wind power into electricity. Empire Wind 1, an 810-megawatt project planned 14 miles south of Long Island, already had full federal approval and the goal of powering 500,000 homes and offering at least 1,000 union jobs. The project represents just one prong of a state plan to develop 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035 under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum tweeted that he’d directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management “to immediately halt all construction activities on the Empire Wind Project until further review of information that suggests the Biden administration rushed through its approval without sufficient analysis.” BOEM holds leases under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which covers federal seabed beyond state waters.

The pause followed an inauguration-day executive order from President Donald Trump that withdrew all areas of the federal Outer Continental Shelf—ocean waters beyond three nautical miles from shore—from new wind energy leasing and ordered a review of onshore and offshore wind permitting. Burgum added, “On day one, @POTUS called for comprehensive reviews of federal wind projects and wind leasing, and at Interior, we are doing our part to make sure these instructions are followed.”

“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,” Hochul said in a statement on Wednesday, noting that Empire Wind 1 already employed hundreds and spurred investment statewide. “I will fight this every step of the way to protect union jobs, affordable energy, and New York’s economic future.”

Democratic State Senator Andrew Gounardes, whose Brooklyn district includes Sunset Park, called the decision “a slap in the face.” He said the project already had shovels in the ground, offering apprenticeships for young New Yorkers and billions in local investment, adding: “This is an attack on New York’s energy sovereignty by a Trump administration hell-bent on stopping the progress we’ve made toward energy independence.”

New York’s Department of Public Service called the federal action “both hypocritical and harmful,” saying federal permits for the project arrived more than a year ago, after years of scrutiny. The agency—responsible for setting permits, regulations, and rates for electric, natural gas, steam, telecommunications, cable, and water utilities—said in a statement on Thursday: “Preventing the construction and operation of this thoroughly and carefully reviewed offshore wind project runs counter to” the national emergency the President declared on inauguration day.

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority President and CEO Doreen Harris agreed that the stop-work order “goes against the Trump administration’s own prioritization of independent and locally produced energy” and warned it could scare off investors. Echoing statistics about investments, jobs, and environmental review, the New York Offshore Wind Alliance, a coalition of clean energy advocates, also criticized the stop-work order. They called it “antithetical to the Trump Administration’s goal of expanding American energy production.”

According to NYSERDA, Empire Wind 1 is in a 79,350-acre zone regulated by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. The multinational energy company Equinor acquired the lease in March 2017 and won Article VII approval from New York in December 2023. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management granted final approval of its construction and operations plan—a detailed blueprint for building and running the wind farm—in February 2024.

Onshore work began at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in June 2024 under a project labor agreement. Offshore construction resumed in spring 2025 with rock installation to stabilize turbine foundations. Engineers planned to install 54 turbines, each up to 951 feet tall and rated at 15 megawatts. Two 40‑nautical‑mile-long cables would carry power to an onshore substation in Sunset Park—represented by Gounardes—then to the Gowanus Substation in Brooklyn.

First energy deliveries were slated to arrive by late 2026, with full operation expected by the end of 2027. Empire Wind 1 would have marked the first offshore wind farm to feed power directly into New York City’s grid. The project is also supposed to fund a $5 million Offshore Wind Ecosystem Fund, an Innovation Hub in Industry City, and community grants of up to $30,000.

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