The Trump administration dealt a significant blow to the fledgling US offshore wind business yesterday by ordering a significant wind challenge off the coast of New York to cease development.
US Inside Secretary Doug Burgum announced the move on X yesterday, which ordered a cease on all development on the Empire Wind challenge pending “additional assessment of knowledge that implies the Biden administration rushed by way of its approval with out ample evaluation.”
President Donald Trump has painted offshore wind as an environmental bogeyman because the marketing campaign path, falsely linking proposed tasks to whale deaths without evidence whereas promising to “drill, baby, drill” for oil and fuel on the similar time. Now, his administration is making an attempt to cease offshore wind farms from being constructed, even people who have already gained federal approvals.
President Donald Trump has painted offshore wind as an environmental bogeyman
Trump issued an executive order on his first day in workplace that stopped leasing and allowing for brand new offshore wind tasks. Empire Wind, nonetheless, has had a federal lease since 2017 and already had state and federal permits in place.
Equinor, the Norwegian firm creating the challenge, confirmed in a press launch right this moment that it had suspended development to adjust to a discover it obtained from the Bureau of Ocean Power Administration. “Empire is participating with related authorities to make clear this matter and is contemplating its authorized cures, together with interesting the order,” the release says.
Building on Empire Wind, which Equinor says had a gross e-book worth of roughly $2.5 billion, started this month and was slated to complete in 2027. As soon as full, it was supposed to supply sufficient carbon pollution-free electrical energy for 500,000 properties in New York. The development employed 1,500 individuals, in line with Equinor. The challenge included an onshore staging hub on the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, which was anticipated to create around 1,000 union construction jobs.
“Stopping work on the absolutely federally permitted Empire Wind 1 offshore challenge ought to ship chills throughout all industries investing in and holding contracts with the USA Authorities,” Liz Burdock, president and CEO of offshore power commerce group Oceantic Community, mentioned in an emailed assertion. “Stopping a permitted and financed power challenge from transferring ahead sends a loud and clear message to all companies — past these within the offshore wind business — that their funding within the US shouldn’t be protected.”
The US lags far behind Europe and China in deploying offshore wind, though it has more potential than many other nations to harness the useful resource from its huge coastlines. Offshore wind could meet up to a quarter of the nation’s power needs by 2050, and it may pair well with energy-hungry data centers which can be pushing up energy demand within the US.
However on high of financial woes brought on by tangled supply chains and rising project costs, offshore wind has confronted stiff opposition from the commercial fishing industry and residents involved about generators affecting ocean views. A turbine failure off the coast of Massachusetts that led to a blade breaking off and plummeting into the ocean fomented fears concerning the potential environmental influence of wind farms, though necropsies point to vessel strikes and fishing gear because the main causes of whale deaths.
“Stopping work on the absolutely federally permitted Empire Wind 1 offshore challenge ought to ship chills throughout all industries investing in and holding contracts with the USA Authorities.”
“It’s the industrialization of our ocean, rubber-stamped by federal companies and delivered by a foreign-owned company underneath the guise of local weather motion,” Bonnie Brady, govt director of the Lengthy Island Industrial Fishing Affiliation, mentioned in an opinion printed within the New York Post final week.
Former President Joe Biden had set a aim of rising US offshore wind capability from 42 to 30,000 megawatts by 2030. Since winds are sometimes stronger over the ocean than on land, offshore generators had been seen as an plentiful supply of renewable power that might assist the US get rid of air pollution from energy crops and battle the local weather disaster. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed to battle the Trump administration’s efforts to cease Empire Wind “each step of the best way” in a statement launched yesterday.
“If Trump had any ounce of compassion or look after the American individuals, he could be bolstering renewable power tasks like Empire that create steady jobs, enable households to breathe simpler, and save extra on electrical energy,” Xavier Boatright, Sierra Membership deputy legislative director for clear power and electrification, mentioned in an emailed assertion. “As an alternative, Trump is but once more prioritizing the pursuits of Large Fossil Gas, and making Individuals pay the value.”
Oil and fuel pursuits spent more than $75 million in marketing campaign donations to get Trump elected final yr. In January, Trump claimed “no new windmills” would be built whereas he’s in workplace, saying they “litter” the US like “rubbish in a area.”
