(The Center Square) – The Trump administration paused all offshore wind projects Monday in a sweeping move that temporarily halts all construction in President Donald Trump’s least-favorite energy industry.
The Department of the Interior announced Monday that it was immediately pausing the leases for all large-scale offshore wind projects under construction in the United States due to national security risks. The move affects Vineyard Wind 1 near Martha’s Vineyard; Revolution Wind’s project for Rhode Island and Connecticut; Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind; and Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind 1 near New York.
The Department of War recently identified national security risks in classified reports, according to the Department of the Interior. Officials said the pause would give government agencies time to work with leaseholders and state partners to address the risks.
“The prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said. “Today’s action addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centers.”
He added: “The Trump administration will always prioritize the security of the American people.”
Department of Interior officials said large-scale wind projects create radar interference called “clutter.” That clutter obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets near the wind projects.
The Department of Energy in a 2024 report stated that a radar’s threshold for false alarm detection can be increased to reduce some clutter, but an increased detection threshold could cause the radar to “miss actual targets.”
Dominion Energy said pausing Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind in response to the U.S. Department of Interior’s Director’s Order for a 90-day suspension of work would threaten jobs and reliability.
“The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project is essential for American national security and meeting Virginia’s dramatically growing energy needs, the fastest growth in America. This growth is driven by the need to provide reliable power to many of America’s most important war fighting installations, the world’s largest warship manufacturer, and the largest concentration of data centers on the planet as well as the leading edge of the AI revolution,” the company said in a statement. “Stopping CVOW for any length of time will threaten grid reliability for some of the nation’s most important war fighting, AI, and civilian assets. It will also lead to energy inflation and threaten thousands of jobs.”
Dominion Energy said the rationale for the pause didn’t make sense.
“The project has been more than ten years in the works, involved close coordination with the military, and is located 27 to 44 miles offshore, so far offshore it does not raise visual impact concerns. The project’s two pilot turbines have been operating for five years without causing any impacts to national security,” the company noted.
The National Ocean Industries Association, a trade group for the offshore oil, gas and wind industries, urged the Trump administration to reconsider.
“NOIA urges the administration to move promptly, in collaboration with the industry, to end the pause on construction of offshore wind projects for potential national security concerns,” NOIA President Erik Milito said. “The regulatory process involves a rigorous framework for assessing the national security implications of proposed projects, and every project under construction has already undergone review by the Department of Defense with no objections.”
