Trump Targets $6.2 Billion Offshore Wind Project Nearing Completion

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Trump Targets $6.2 Billion Offshore Wind Project Nearing Completion

United States President Donald Trump has repeatedly targeted offshore wind since coming into office last year, as he strives to expand the country’s fossil fuel sector and shift the focus away from renewable energy. Trump has sought to halt the development of several offshore wind projects and has even resorted to paying companies to relinquish their leases on areas off the U.S. coast to instead invest in oil and gas projects. Now, Trump is looking to rescind approval for Connecticut’s first offshore wind project, Revolution Wind, as it nears completion.

The Trump administration is aiming to halt the $6.2 billion development, having filed a motion in an ongoing federal lawsuit. The U.S. Department of the Interior (DoI) hopes to win the right to rescind the agency’s three-year-old approval of the Revolution Wind project, which is located off the coast of Rhode Island. The original suit was filed by the anti-wind-energy group Green Oceans in 2024, challenging the approval of the project and its sister project, South Fork Wind.

The recent filing states, “The Department of the Interior agrees that remand of its prior approval of the construction and operations plan (COP) for the Revolution Wind Project is warranted so that the agency can reevaluate its compliance with the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.” And “Given that remand, the Court need not reach Plaintiffs’ other claims challenging Interior’s COP approval.”

The developer of the Revolution Wind project, Denmark’s energy major Ørsted, has not yet commented on the filing. However, the 704-MW project has been delivering power to New England since March and is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year, when it will begin supplying electricity to around 350,000 homes and businesses.

The DoI issued a statement in which it said, “The Department of the Interior is complying with a briefing schedule, not announcing a policy change. Our position has remained consistent throughout this administration, and this filing should not be misconstrued as a shift in the Department’s approach to offshore wind.”

While the DoI filing did not mention any specific concerns that warranted the reversal of its original stance on the project, it did criticise the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) 2023 record of decision for failing to “adequately explain” how the potential impact fits within the agency’s mission to provide for other uses within U.S. waters, including fishing and recreation. The DoI has previously expressed concerns that wind turbines negatively affect military radar operations.

However, in January, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that evidence provided by the federal government about the impact on military radar was insufficient to justify its decision to halt work on a project that was so far advanced and had undergone extensive reviews by defence officials and the BOEM.

In response to the recent filing, Erik Milito, President of the National Ocean Industries Association, released a statement calling for a decision on the project. “Predictable regulatory processes and timely decisions are important for offshore energy development of all kinds… We recognise the federal government’s responsibility to review projects and ensure compliance with applicable requirements, and we hope the remaining process can move forward efficiently while Revolution Wind continues progressing toward full operations,” said Milito.

“The second-guessing of federal approvals that have already gone through a lengthy review process is precisely why Congress must pass comprehensive permitting reform legislation, specifically the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act,” he added.

There has been broader criticism of the move for undermining the licensing of offshore wind projects and potentially deterring future investment in wind and other energy sectors. If the Trump administration succeeds in cancelling a major energy project that is almost 95 per cent complete, it could make investors think twice before funding other renewable energy projects in the United States.

Hillary Bright, executive director of the offshore wind advocacy group Turn Forward, stated that the new filing “injects uncertainty into a nearly completed offshore wind project that electricity planners and consumers in the Northeast are counting on.”

The filing follows the recent unveiling of a deal to overhaul federal energy permitting rules by a bipartisan group of U.S. senators. Senator Martin Heinrich, one of the negotiators on the agreement, issued a joint statement in response to the recent DoI filing, in which he said, “Frankly, we need to get permitting certainty in law, and this proves it. In the meantime, the administration needs to start showing good faith progress on wind permits.”

It seems that the Trump administration will not stop its efforts to halt offshore wind energy development in the United States, even after several court rulings supporting continued construction. The recent attack on Revolution Wind undermines the government’s 2023 approval of the project and, if the DoI wins the lawsuit, it could further undermine investment confidence in the country’s renewable energy sector.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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