Wedoany.com Report-Jan 21, President Donald Trump ordered a broad assault on US offshore wind development Monday, including a freeze in permitting the massive renewable power projects despite warnings from developers it imperiled jobs from coast to coast.
Trump also ruled out the sale of new wind leases across all of the nation’s coastal waters, invoking the same legal authority predecessors have used to thwart offshore oil drilling.
The actions — part of a memorandum Trump signed hours after his inauguration — herald a shift in US government treatment of the fledgling US offshore wind industry, as the new president seeks to propel fossil fuel development nationwide.
The US is blessed with oil and gas — “and we’re going to use it. We’re not going to do the wind thing,” Trump said to supporters at Capital One Arena in Washington on Monday. “Big ugly windmills” harm whales, ruin landscapes and kill birds, Trump added.
While offshore wind developers were bracing for the changes, the announcement underscores how quickly the new president is willing to move to punish industries he scorns. And it raises the specter of prolonged uncertainty for New York, New Jersey and other states counting on offshore wind projects to meet surging electricity demand in the years ahead.
Renewable energy advocates called the move misguided, arguing that surging energy demand warrants the development of more wind power, not strikes against it.
“This vast domestic resource is instrumental to achieving American energy dominance,” said Hillary Bright, executive director of the offshore wind advocacy group Turn Forward. “One offshore wind project alone can power half a million American homes in populated coastal locations — and boost electrical grids already strained by energy-hungry data centers and brutally cold winter weather.”
Industry advocates argue wind development is also creating jobs across the nation, helping support investments in building ships and milling steel. Blunt moves against the industry jeopardize that investment, they warned.
“Donald Trump is the first president to celebrate killing American jobs,” said Xavier Boatright, a deputy legislative director for the Sierra Club. “By banning offshore wind, Trump will kneecap a critical contributor to our grid.”
Trump’s planned move echoes the moratorium on oil and gas leasing former President Joe Biden ordered his first year in office, and, later, his ban on authorizations to widely export natural gas around the world. While Biden took aim at fossil fuels, Trump is targeting renewable power.
Trump’s wind permitting and leasing pause extends to onshore as well as offshore projects. In all cases, he’s ordering an indefinite halt, “pending the completion of a comprehensive assessment and review of federal wind leasing and permitting practices,” to be led by the Interior Department, according to the memorandum.
The president also ordered a halt to work on the Lava Ridge Wind Project in Idaho, a 241-turbine venture that’s drawn criticism in part because of its placement near a site used to inter Japanese Americans during World War II.
Onshore, Offshore Differences
The moratorium on the sale of new wind leases is expected to cut differently on and offshore. Where the industry for developing wind farms onshore is relatively mature and stable, the offshore sector is just beginning to take off in the US.
Still, 11 offshore wind projects have already won final approvals from the federal government, the last one coming on Friday. While they would be immune from any ban squarely targeting the sale of new leases, many still face legal risk from lawsuits. Rulings against the authorizations — or settlements with the US government — could reopen previously approved projects for new review.
Trump’s move comes at a vulnerable time for offshore wind developers already reeling from higher financing and equipment costs. The industry is particularly exposed to political changes in Washington, since offshore wind farms are built in federal waters managed by the US government. Additionally, US animal protection laws pose a risk for projects along migration routes for North Atlantic right whales and other threatened species.
“In any emerging industry, even minor delays can lead to multi-year setbacks, resulting in bottlenecks and higher costs that ultimately impact energy consumers,” Erik Milito, head of the National Ocean Industries Association, said in a statement. “Our Gulf Coast ports, shipyards, vessel companies, manufacturers and fabricators are hard at work on Atlantic coast projects that allow us to compete internationally with China and other global powers.”
Trump has made no secret of his animus toward wind power, having battled one project within view of his golf course in Aberdeen, Scotland, and frequently criticizing turbines as eyesores that can puree birds and kill whales. He’s also falsely claimed they cause cancer.
Yet Trump took a relatively hands-off approach to the industry during his first term. The Interior Department continued reviewing proposed offshore wind farms and selling leases to build them, even celebrating a then-record-setting 2018 auction as a “bidding bonanza” that would contribute to American “energy dominance.”
Developers now planning projects on tracts sold during that same 2018 auction, include Avangrid Inc., Orsted AS, EDP Renewables, Engie SA and TotalEnergies Renewables.
