Norwegian oil super major Equinor was just starting to construct an 818-MW wind farm off New York when the Trump administration unexpectedly halted the fully permitted $5bn endeavour.

It’s the anti-wind administration’s biggest salvo yet against the US offshore wind industry after President Donald Trump on his first day ordered a halt on offshore wind auctions and permitting.

In a social media post, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the project’s Biden-era permitting had been “rushed” and lacked “sufficient analysis”. He added that the halt would allow for “further review of information.”

The next day, the developer Equinor responded: "Empire is engaging with relevant authorities to clarify this matter and is considering its legal remedies, including appealing the order."

Analysts said that Equinor’s options are unclear, since the Trump administration did not specify under what law it was relying upon to halt construction.

Equinor said it had already completed a $3.3bn financial package for the project, of which it had drawn down $1.5bn.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, quickly blasted the Trump administration’s decision: “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.”

The project is a “fully federally permitted project [which had] already put shovels in the ground before the president’s executive orders, she said in a release.

BloombergNEF, in a note, said the stop-work order would “spook” the owners of other under-construction US offshore wind farms such as Orsted, Dominion, Iberdrola and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. It puts billions of dollars of already-committed investment at risk, said BNEF analyst Harrison Sholler.

The stop-work order instructed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to continue “review of federal wind permitting practices with respect to both existing and pending permits,” Sholler noted.

According to BNEF, the project did not appear to have been rushed compared with other recently approved offshore wind projects.

The project completed the federal permitting process on November 21, 2023 – around 46 months after the submission of its construction and operations plan (COP), said BNEF. “The average time it has taken US offshore wind projects to complete the permitting process is 42 months after COP submission, according to BNEF.

“[T]he administration may be relying on a law allowing the Interior Secretary to temporarily suspend activity if there is a threat of serious harm to property, national security or life, which includes aquatic life,” Sholler suggested.