Virginia Electric & Power Co. v. U.S. Department of the Interior

The public utility developing the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Commercial Project and a subsidiary that leases the offshore commercial lease area for the project filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the Eastern District of Virginia challenging the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM’s) December 22, 2025 order directing the utility to immediately stop work on the project. The plaintiffs alleged that the BOEM order—which cited “national security threats” as the rationale for the stop-work order—was inconsistent with BOEM’s regulations, with lease terms, with construction and operations plan approvals, and with the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). The plaintiffs also asserted that the order was arbitrary and capricious, contending that the national security rationale was “not plausible.” They also asserted that the order violated OCSLA, that the order deprived the utility of a property interest without due process in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, and that the order violated the Constitution’s Property Clause. The plaintiffs alleged that the order was causing immediate and irreparable harm, including because the wind project was critical to Virginia’s legislative clean energy directive and the utility’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions.