Rhode Island v. U.S. Department of the Interior

After the federal district court for the District of Columbia granted a motion for preliminary injunction lifting the Stop Work Order in a case brought by the project’s developer, the federal defendants asked the Rhode Island court to hold the preliminary injunction motion in the states’ case in abeyance.

Green Oceans, a nonprofit organization that is a plaintiff in <a href="https://www.climatecasechart.com/collections/green-oceans-v-u-s-department-of-the-interior_d5e99b">litigation</a> challenging federal approval of Revolution Wind, moved to intervene as a defendant.

The federal defendants asked the court to transfer the states’ case to the District of Columbia, where a lawsuit brought by the project developer was pending.

The states filed a motion for a preliminary injunction lifting the Stop Work Order.

On September 4, 2025, Rhode Island and Connecticut filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Rhode Island challenging the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM’s) August 22, 2025 issuance of a Stop Work Order requiring the developer of the Revolution Wind offshore wind project to cease construction. The two states asserted that BOEM’s action violated both the Administrative Procedure Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which the states said “demand reasoned decision-making, fidelity to statutory limits, and respect for the settled expectations of sovereign States and regulated parties.” The states alleged that the Stop Work Order harmed them by jeopardizing a project that is “critical to the States’ economic vitality, energy mix, and climate goals.” The complaint identified state-level statutory requirements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and diversify the energy supply and alleged that the Stop Work Order would imperil compliance with such mandates.