On Monday, the Interior Department abruptly suspended leases for five of the nation's largest offshore wind projects. This effectively halts all ongoing offshore wind development in the United States.
The moves come as U.S. power demand rises for the first time in years, thanks in large part to the data centers needed to fuel the artificial intelligence boom. The Biden administration has signed leases to help meet that demand and as part of its goal of moving the country away from fossil fuels and toward more renewable energy sources.
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“This so-called ‘pause’ on offshore wind makes no sense and is an escalation of the administration’s ongoing, unfounded attacks on clean energy,” said Pasha Feinberg, offshore wind strategist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). in the statement. “In its ongoing effort to prop up flagging fossil fuel interests, the administration is making increasingly dramatic pivots on the clean energy projects this economy needs.”
The order suspended five leases: Vineyard Wind 1, Revolution Wind, CVOW, Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind. They stretch across coastal waters from Massachusetts to Virginia and are expected to create hundreds of new jobs. The New York Times reported that the projects worth 25 billion dollars and will eliminate sufficient power generation for maintenance 2.5 million homes and enterprises. The order will leave only two operating offshore wind farms in the United States: one off the coast of Rhode Island and the other in New York waters, the Times notes.
In a press release announcing the construction halt, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum cited “national security risks,” including technological vulnerabilities and the projects' proximity to the East Coast. The department also said unclassified government reports have “long established” that offshore wind projects create radar interference, called “jamming.” The clutter obscures legitimate moving targets and creates decoys near wind objects, he said.
“Turbines can interfere with radar—this is absolutely nothing new,” Feinberg told Grist via email. “All developers are required to work with [the Department of Defense] during design and construction to assess potential impacts and avoid or mitigate them.”
Kirk Lippold, national security expert and former commander of the USS Cole, told the Associated Press that records show the Defense Department “We were consulted at every stage of the permitting process.” He said these projects would actually be a boon to national security as they would diversify the country's energy supply. Experts say increased wind energy production will also benefit consumers.
Recent study Daymark Energy Advisors found that if contracted wind projects had operated off the coast of New England last winter, ratepayers could have saved $400 million. “Those extra costs will be reflected in utility bills, there's no doubt about it. If the goal is ultimately cheap and accessible electricity, this is not the best way to achieve it,” Alexander Hale, senior economist at the business think tank The Conference Board. told Grist.
However, President Donald Trump has long hated wind energy. I called there recently “So pathetic and so bad, so expensive to operate.” On his first day in office, he suspended wind energy leasing and permitting on federal lands. In September, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued a stop-work order on the Revolution Wind project, one of the projects mentioned in today's announcement. But the latest changes represent the administration's most aggressive blow yet.
“Trump’s obsession with eliminating offshore wind projects is insane, irrational and unjustified,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat. in the statement. He said New York will “continue to fight” the administration's stop-work orders at Empire and other offshore wind projects. Jenny Slayton, a spokeswoman for Dominion Energy, which is developing an offshore wind project in coastal Virginia, told the New York Times in a statement that “we are prepared to do whatever it takes to keep those vital electrons flowing as quickly as possible.”
