On Friday August 22nd, the Trump administration issued a stop work order for the 80% built Revolution Wind farm. The developer, Ørsted, was ordered by the BOEM to halt all ongoing activities of the $4 billon project, with their given reason being “unspecified issues.”
“Revolution Wind is essential not only for our fight against the climate crisis, but also for Rhode Island’s energy security and economic future. This represents the Trump Administration throwing the people of Rhode Island under the bus in the service of the oil and gas industry.
The Trump Administration’s attempt to claw back permits on a project that has already obtained every state and federal approval necessary, and is nearly 80% complete, is un-American. It risks putting hard-working men and women out of a job and sabotaging our ability to contain sky-high energy costs. Rhode Islanders want this project to succeed because it means good-paying jobs, lower energy bills, and a cleaner, more resilient future. We stand with Ørsted and the workers who are making this critical project a reality,” said Christian Roselund, the Campaign Lead for CARI’s Yes to Wind in response to this stop work order.
The day after CARI’s Yes to Wind team heard the news, we immediately began mobilizing.
Our response was clear: Rhode Island stands with workers, communities, and clean energy future. To show this we delivered a strong, visible rebuke of the stop work order in the form of a rally in Newport on Tuesday August 26th.
The Yes to Wind Rally, held in Queen Anne’s Square, featured remarks from Rhode Island elected officials and community leaders, highlighting the project’s importance for lowering energy costs, creating good jobs, and securing Rhode Island’s energy future with offshore wind. After opening remarks from CARI’s Executive Director Jeff Migneault, our lineup of speakers was:
- Peter Neronha, Rhode Island Attorney General
- Christian Roselund, Clean Energy Policy Analyst and CARI Yes to Wind team lead.
- Dawn Euer, Rhode Island State Senator
- Dr Stephen Porder, Acacia Professor of Ecology, Evolutionary and Organismal Biology and Environment and Society at Brown University.
- Lauren Carson, Rhode Island State House Representative
- Amanda Barker, Clean Energy Program Manager at Green Energy Consumers Alliance
Watch the full video of the speaking program recorded by Steve Ahlquist.
This rally turned out between 100 and 150 people, with less than 48 hours notice. With T-shirts, signs, and their presence, people showed their support for offshore wind as essential to jobs, affordable energy, and resilience.
During this rally, Attorney General Neronha indicated his course of action in response, “This is energy that works. This is energy that we need. This is energy that Rhode Islanders are relying on, and as a legal matter, that reliance matters. So you can expect from us – if there’s any way possible, and I believe that there is – yet another lawsuit against his president for violating the law and harming Rhode Islanders.”
Days later, on August 25th, AG Neronha announced that he and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong plan to file the suit in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, suing the Trump administration for this stop work order. CARI was invited to attend the press conference, with Executive Director Jeff Migneault giving a statement to WJAR “It’s part of establishing a robust offshore wind industry, Wind energy and solar energy are now the cheapest ways to produce electricity and a lot cheaper than fossil fuels.”
See more coverage of the event:
“Climate Action Rhode Island’s “Yes to Wind” rally draws big crowd in rebuke to Trump” by Steve Ahlquist
“Activists Protest Order Stopping Offshore Wind” by Zane Wolfang, Newport This Week