The Trump administration issued an order Wednesday to stop construction on a major offshore wind project to power more than 500,000 New York homes, the latest in a series of moves targeting the industry.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to halt construction on Empire Wind, a fully-permitted project. He said it needs further review because it appears the Biden administration rushed the approval.
The Norwegian company Equinor is building Empire Wind to start providing power in 2026. Equinor finalized the federal lease for Empire Wind in March 2017, early in President Donald Trump’s first term. BOEM approved the construction and operations plan in February 2024 and construction began that year.
Trump has been hostile to renewable energy, particularly offshore wind. His first day in office, Trump signed an executive order temporarily halting offshore wind lease sales in federal waters and pausing the issuance of approvals, permits and loans for all wind projects. Last month, the administration revoked the Clean Air Permit for an offshore wind project off the coast of New Jersey, Atlantic Shores. Construction on that wind farm had not yet begun.
Equinor said Wednesday it had just received a notification from BOEM and it will engage directly with the agency and the Interior Department to understand the questions raised about the permits. A spokesperson declined to comment on the fate of the project, which is located southeast of Long Island, New York.
The energy company has over $60 billion in investments across the U.S., including substantial oil, gas and renewable projects.
While Trump is focused on energy abundance, the American Clean Power industry association said halting construction of fully-permitted energy projects is the “literal opposite” of that agenda, and it sends a “chilling signal” to all energy companies. Climate Jobs New York, a coalition of labor unions, said New York needs offshore wind and other clean energy projects to help address rising energy costs and create jobs.
“It is out of touch to suggest that killing good jobs and energy sources is a good idea when working New Yorkers are struggling with rising costs of living and our grid needs stability,” the coalition said in a statement. The United States can’t be energy independent without offshore wind, it added.
The Biden administration sought to ramp up offshore wind as a climate change solution, setting national goals to deploy offshore wind energy, holding lease sales and approving nearly a dozen commercial-scale offshore wind energy projects. The nation’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm opened a year ago, a 12-turbine wind farm called South Fork Wind 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Montauk Point, New York.
Trump began reversing the country’s energy policies his first day in office with a spate of executive orders aimed at boosting oil, gas and coal. The administration is reviewing all existing and pending offshore wind permits.
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