(The Center Square) — The Trump administration has halted a massive New York offshore wind project as it conducts a financial and regulatory review of plans to erect towering turbines along the nation’s coastlines.
The Interior Department issued an order earlier this week calling for the immediate halt of construction on the Empire Wind Project “until further review,” citing new information suggesting that the Biden administration “rushed through its approval without sufficient analysis.”
“Approval for the project was rushed through by the prior administration without sufficient analysis or consultation among the relevant agencies as relates to the potential effects from the project,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum wrote in a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Management, which oversees federal offshore lease permits. “This halt is to remain in effect until further review is completed to address these serious deficiencies.”
The project’s developer, Norway-based Equinor, said Thursday that it was complying with the Trump administration’s order to halt the project but is considering a potential legal challenge.
“Upon receipt of the order, immediate steps were taken by Empire and its contractors to initiate suspension of relevant marine activities, ensuring the safety of workers and the environment, ” the company said in a statement. “Empire is engaging with relevant authorities to clarify this matter and is considering its legal remedies, including appealing the order.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul blasted the decision, saying Empire Wind 1 already employs hundreds of New Yorkers, including 1,000 “good-paying union jobs” as part of a growing sector that she claimed has “already spurred significant economic development and private investment.”
“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,” she said in a statement. “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.”
New York’s Empire Wind is one of several offshore wind projects under development off the Atlantic coastline that could be impacted by the BOEM’s review of federal leases. President Donald Trump had campaigned on a promise to end the offshore wind industry, arguing it is too expensive and hurts birds and marine animals. He previously issued an order suspending new leasing for wind projects in federal waters.
Massachusetts is working with Rhode Island on three projects totalling 2,678 megawatts of offshore wind, which, when completed, will be capable of providing enough electricity to power more than 1.4 million homes.
In August, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded $389 million to Massachusetts and several New England states for improvements to the power grid aimed at significantly increasing the region’s capacity for offshore wind.
The Power Up New England plan — a collaboration between Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont and several utilities — calls for expanding and upgrading the shared interconnection points for undersea cables that bring power from offshore wind turbines to the regional grid.
But the push to develop wind comes amid increasing turbulence in the nation’s nascent green industry. Even before the Trump administration’s scrutiny of the projects, developers were scaling back — or in some cases backing out of projects — citing supply chain disruptions, higher construction costs and a lack of tax credits from the states and federal government.
Some states, like New Jersey, have struggled to go it alone on offshore wind and have ended up scrapping some projects.
