Ben Cowan and Emily Huggins Jones, partners in Troutman Pepper Locke’s Environmental + Natural Resources Practice Group, were quoted in the April 22, 2025 Law360 article, “Wind Farm Work Stoppage Raises Energy Project Risks.”

Troutman Pepper Locke LLP partner Ben Cowan, who works on renewable energy project permitting, said that news of the DOI’s stop-work order for the Empire Wind project spawned lots of chatter last week at an annual conference hosted by clean energy industry group American Clean Power.

“I can say with certainty that it’s raised a lot of eyebrows within the broader renewables industry,” Cowan said. “Folks are concerned, they are concerned about what it means for the reliability of federal permits, specifically for renewables.”

“If something like this were to happen to another project, they’ll have to examine those agreements to see what they say about risk allocation,” Cowan of Troutman said. “Is this considered a force majeure event?”

“You can believe that folks that have a less developed project timeline right now will very much be addressing this exact sort of issue,” said Troutman partner Emily Huggins Jones, who works on offshore wind and other renewable energy projects.

“If the Trump administration can do this to renewables, then what would a future Democratic administration do to oil and gas, or coal?” Cowan of Troutman said.

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