Feds Halt Wind Power Projects Over 'National Security'

The Trump administration has struck another blow against wind power. The Interior Department on Monday ordered construction halted on all five large offshore wind farms currently being built in US waters, citing "national security concerns" flagged in classified Pentagon assessments. The order applies immediately to Vineyard Wind 1, Revolution Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Sunrise Wind, and Empire Wind 1, and includes a freeze on leases for large-scale projects already underway, Politico reports. Billions of dollars have already been invested in the projects.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the move is meant to address "emerging national security risks," including "vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our East Coast population centers." The department pointed specifically to radar "clutter" created by turbines, noting that while raising the radar's detection threshold can reduce false alarms, it can also mean missing real targets. Proponents of wind power say the concerns "are overblown and ignore ways to mitigate radar interference," Politico notes.

The decision marks a sharp escalation in the Trump administration's long-running hostility toward offshore wind, an industry championed by the Biden administration. Trump has repeatedly derided wind turbines and vowed his administration would not sign off on projects. Two of the affected farms, Empire Wind off New York and Revolution Wind off Rhode Island, had already been stopped once this year, only to see those earlier pauses lifted after a federal judge intervened in one case and Trump claimed a deal with New York in the other. The New York Times reports that the Virginia project, backed by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, wasn't targeted by the administration until a Democrat, Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, was elected to replace Youngkin.

The projects were intended to power more than 2.5 million homes and businesses, the Times reports. Vineyard 1 off Massachusetts was already sending power to the grid, with about half of its 62 turbines operational. William Tong, Connecticut's Democratic attorney general, said the latest order is even "more lawless and erratic" than the first attempt to halt the Revolution Wind project. "Every day this project is stalled is another day of lost work, another day of unaffordable energy costs, and other day burning fossil fuels when American-made clean energy is within reach," he said.