Hundreds of New Yorkers return to work at SBMT

Kami Nguyen

Hundreds of New Yorkers return to work at SBMT
SBMT is being rebuilt as a staging and pre-assembly hub for Empire Wind turbine components and a connection point to NYC’s grid. Photo by Brian Dentz

On Dec. 22, 2025, the Trump administration issued a stop-work order affecting several offshore wind projects, including Empire Wind south of Long Island, which is connected to an energy center in Sunset Park’s South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT). However, on Jan. 15, a federal judge ruled against this attempt, allowing the $5 billion project to resume.

The Trump administration has long been opposed to the construction of new offshore wind farms, with this being the second time that Empire Wind has been issued a stop-work order. In April 2025, Gov. Kathy Hochul fought to lift a prior pause on the project.

This time around, however, the administration cited national security risks as being the reason for the decision, affecting four other major ongoing projects as well. U.S. District Court judge Carl J. Nichols, who was nominated to the bench by Trump himself, was not convinced and found that if paused, New York’s Empire Wind project would lose millions of dollars in contracts and suffer irreparable harm.

In a joint letter with governors from New England states, Gov. Hochul wrote to the U.S. Department of Interior: “You are creating both a national security and economic disaster. By obstructing domestic power generation, you are inviting grid failure, surrendering the industries of the future, and threatening the economy and national security.”

They also added that the Trump administration’s orders contradicted the President’s supposed “energy independence” goals. The five offshore wind projects that were halted had been approved during the Biden administration, as part of their attempt to move away from fossil fuels to clean energy alternatives.

Two of the other wind projects, off the coasts of Massachusetts and Virginia, have also resumed construction, after winning their federal court appeals as well. The next hearing will be held on Feb. 2 for another New York wind farm, Sunrise Wind, which is planned to be located around 30 miles from Montauk Point.

Equinor, the Norwegian energy company in charge of building Empire Wind and SBMT said in a statement that it “will now focus on safely restarting construction activities that were halted during the suspension period. In addition, the project will continue to engage with the U.S. government to ensure the safe, secure and responsible execution of its operations.”

SBMT will serve as a port for breakbulk cargo and maritime logistics, in order to assemble and ship wind turbine components. It will also contain an onshore energy substation, delivering power from the Empire Wind farm to the New York City power grid at ConEdison substation in Gowanus.

Construction at SBMT began in 2024 and has since employed over 3,500 people, including over 2,000 New Yorkers and over 100 Sunset Park and local residents, according to Equinor’s Senior Communications Manager David Schoetz. The project is covered by project labor agreements and largely uses union trade workers.

In 2022, Equinor created the Offshore Wind Ecosystem Fund in partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the Sunset Park Task Force, a $5 million community grant that helped provide career opportunities in the offshore wind industry to those from underserved areas.

Equinor also has an educational center called WindScape and a staff office in Industry City, where they plan to add operations, maintenance and administrative roles.

The expected date for commercial operations is in 2027. Once completed, Empire Wind and SBMT will provide electricity to approximately 500,000 New York homes.