The Trump administration has halted construction of Empire Wind 1, a large wind farm off the coast of New York. Interior secretary Doug Burgum claimed that the Biden administration had ‘rushed through’ the approval of the project ‘without sufficient analysis’.
Equinor acquired a lease of the site from the federal government in 2017, but on 16 April received a notice from the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management ordering the company to halt all activities on the outer continental shelf until the agency ‘completed its review’.
The halt work order is a major blow to the US wind industry, which was championed by former president Joe Biden, but has been targeted by president Trump along with other climate change proposals established under the Biden administration. Before Trump became president, he campaigned – and ultimately failed – to stop the construction of a wind farm off the coast of his golf course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
In the days after his return to office, Trump signed a series of executive orders aimed at the industry – including a temporary freeze on federal permits and loans for offshore and onshore wind projects.
“We’re not going to do the wind thing,” Trump said at the time, calling them “big, ugly windmills” that were dangerous to wildlife. He has claimed, without evidence, that marine energy measures were dangerous to whales. He had campaigned on a promise to end the offshore wind industry, arguing it is too expensive, and hurts whales and birds. He issued an executive order suspending new leasing for such projects in federal waters on his first day in office.
New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, described the halt of Empire Wind 1 as “federal overreach” and said she would fight it “every step of the way”. “This fully federally permitted project has already put shovels in the ground before the president’s executive orders – it’s exactly the type of bipartisan energy solution we should be working on. As governor, I will not allow this federal overreach to stand. I will fight this every step of the way to protect union jobs, affordable energy and New York’s economic future.”
Equinor, the Norwegian company that is leading the Empire Wind project, said in a company statement: “We have decided to stop offshore construction of the project following the order. We will engage with the administration to find out why the order was issued after we had received all the permits previously.”
The project is being developed under contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to provide a significant new source of electricity for the state. The construction phase has put more than 1500 people to work in the USA.
