Driven by an overreliance on fossil fuels, Connecticut has for years been stuck on a gas-powered roller coaster of high energy bills and polluting energy generation. Our communities are shouldering the burden of poor air quality, high asthma rates, and sky-rocketing, unmanageable bill increases.
As representatives of health, faith, labor, business and environmental groups in Connecticut, we advocate for cleaner, more affordable energy that addresses the gas-reliant root of these problems and moves us toward a sustainable future for our state. Offshore wind is a solution, ready to save local families money, reduce pollution from our energy sources, and create good paying jobs.
Now, we stand united against the efforts of the federal administration to disrupt Connecticut’s first offshore wind project. Despite having secured all required federal and state permits, Revolution Wind was ordered to stop work with no notice or clear rationale. The project is already 80 percent complete. Forty-five constructed wind turbines – capable of harnessing clean, local, affordable energy – now stand idle off our coast.
On the job front, Revolution Wind has already created more than 1,000 good paying local jobs, with hundreds more workers slated to begin work later this year. Construction of offshore wind farms has given new life to the State Pier in New London, and engaged more than 50 Connecticut companies in the project supply chain. Trump’s stop-work order is a senseless and heartless attack on Connecticut workers and businesses.
The strong and constantly blowing wind off our coast is a treasure trove of homegrown energy. Once construction is completed, Revolution Wind will power over 350,000 homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Prior to the stop work order, the project was anticipated to go online in late 2026. Our power grid operator, ISO-New England, is already expecting offshore wind to supply the power our region needs and has warned of disruptions to grid reliability in the absence of offshore wind power. Derailing the development of Revolution Wind is unnecessary and dangerous.
While natural gas prices are on the rise and expected to increase further, resulting in higher energy bills, offshore wind is a route to affordability. According to a 2024 Sierra Club Report, plugging in 9 GWs of offshore wind by 2030 would save New England an average of $630 million annually on electricity costs, with net savings in some years surpassing $1.3 billion. A July 2025 report by Daymark Energy Advisors determined that if the 3.5 GW of offshore wind currently under development in New England had been operational last winter it would have saved ratepayers $400 million on their bills by offsetting high natural gas prices.
The air we breathe and our climate are also in dire need of the environmental benefits that offshore wind brings. The gas industry has made Connecticut a hub of dirty power, and our communities are left to bear the health and climate harming pollution that comes with it. Just last week, Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) reported that emissions from power plants increased in 2023. With 9 GWs of offshore wind, the New England states could cut 42 percent of annual CO2 emissions from the New England power sector and provide $362 million in annual public health benefits by avoiding 3,700 short tons of NOX emissions, 824 tons of SO2 emissions, and 641 tons of PM2.5 emissions annually.
For all these reasons, we stand behind Attorney General William Tong and Gov. Ned Lamont in fighting this stop work order, and we stand together in defense of offshore wind and the right of Connecticut residents to a sustainable, breathable, and affordable energy future.
Samantha Dynowski, State Director, Sierra Club Connecticut Chapter; Terri Eickel, Executive Director, Interreligious Eco-Justice Network; Charles Rothenberger, Director of Government Relations, Save the Sound; Aziz Dehkan, Executive Director, Connecticut Roundtable on Climate and Jobs; Mike Urgo, President, Connecticut League of Conservation Voters; Mark Scully, President, People’s Action for Clean Energy; Heather Burns, Founder & CEO, CT Sustainable Business Council; Anne Hulick, RN, MS, JD, Steering Committee, Connecticut Health Professionals for Climate Action; Mark A. Mitchell MD, MPH, Mitchell Environmental Health Associates