A U.S. district court judge has denied Dominion Energy’s request for an emergency injunction to block the Trump administration from halting construction of its 2.6-gigawatt (GW) Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project.
Dominion had sought a temporary restraining order that would have allowed work to resume immediately after President Donald Trump ordered construction stopped on all five offshore wind projects under development in the United States on Dec. 22.
U.S. District Court Judge Jamar Walker ruled that Dominion’s filing should be treated as a request for a preliminary injunction under procedural law, rather than an emergency restraining order. A preliminary injunction involves a longer and slower legal process.
The halt to construction at the $11.3 billion CVOW project is costing Dominion about $5 million a day in vessel-related expenses alone, the utility said in a court filing.
Dominion also warned that the financial impact of the shutdown is already being passed on to ratepayers in Virginia and will continue to rise the longer construction remains suspended.
The CVOW project is the largest offshore wind development in the United States and a central part of Virginia’s plans to expand renewable power generation.
