The US president tried to kill offshore wind projects – now four are back under construction
The US president tried to kill offshore wind projects – now four are back under construction
Construction has resumed on four offshore wind mega-projects after they survived a near fatal attack by Donald Trump’s administration thanks to rulings by federal judges. These are being seen as victories for clean energy amid a wider war being waged on it by the Trump administration.
The wind farms are considered critical by grid planners as America faces an energy affordability crisis. Together, the four projects will contribute nearly five gigawatts of energy to the east coast, enough to power 3.5 million homes.
In December, the Trump administration issued an order halting the construction of five offshore wind projects along the east coast, citing “reasons of national security”. On 9 January, during a White House meeting with oil and gas executives, the president said: “My goal is to not let any windmill be built. They’re losers.”
But in mid-January, federal judges rejected the administration’s claims and allowed construction to resume on four of the five projects. Work began immediately on Vineyard Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Empire Wind 1 and Revolution Wind. A fifth project, Sunrise Wind, is also fighting the stop work order and has a court hearing on Monday that industry experts believe will have a positive outcome.
Judges across different jurisdictions ruled against the Trump administration. “This is a broad rejection of the administration’s arguments,” said John Carlson, the senior north-east regional policy manager for the climate nonprofit Clean Air Task Force.
The stop-work order argued that wind turbines could interfere with military radar, but Carlson said it was a pretext to undermine wind power. “All these projects already went through very significant national security reviews,” he said.
