Trump administration issues order to stop construction on New York offshore wind project

The Trump medication issued an bid Wednesday to halt operation connected a large offshore upwind task to powerfulness much than 500,000 New York homes, the latest successful a bid of moves targeting the industry.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to halt operation connected Empire Wind, a fully-permitted project. He said it needs further review due to the fact that it appears the Biden medication rushed the approval.

The Norwegian institution Equinor is gathering Empire Wind to commencement providing powerfulness successful 2026. Equinor finalized the national lease for Empire Wind successful March 2017, aboriginal successful President Donald Trump's archetypal term. BOEM approved the operation and operations program successful February 2024 and operation began that year.

Trump has been hostile to renewable energy, peculiarly offshore wind. His archetypal time successful office, Trump signed an enforcement order temporarily halting offshore upwind lease income successful national waters and pausing the issuance of approvals, permits and loans for each upwind projects. Last month, the medication revoked the Clean Air Permit for an offshore upwind task disconnected the seashore of New Jersey, Atlantic Shores. Construction connected that upwind workplace had not yet begun.

Equinor said Wednesday it had conscionable received a notification from BOEM and it volition prosecute straight with the bureau and the Interior Department to recognize the questions raised astir the permits. A spokesperson declined to remark connected the destiny of the project, which is located southeast of Long Island, New York.

The vigor institution has implicit $60 cardinal successful investments crossed the U.S., including important oil, state and renewable projects.

While Trump is focused connected vigor abundance, the American Clean Power manufacture relation said halting operation of fully-permitted vigor projects is the “literal opposite" of that agenda, and it sends a “chilling signal” to each vigor companies. Climate Jobs New York, a conjugation of labour unions, said New York needs offshore upwind and different cleanable vigor projects to assistance code rising vigor costs and make jobs.

“It is retired of interaction to suggest that sidesplitting bully jobs and vigor sources is simply a bully thought erstwhile moving New Yorkers are struggling with rising costs of surviving and our grid needs stability,” the conjugation said successful a statement. The United States can't beryllium vigor autarkic without offshore wind, it added.

The Biden medication sought to ramp up offshore upwind arsenic a clime alteration solution, setting nationalist goals to deploy offshore upwind energy, holding lease sales and approving astir a twelve commercial-scale offshore upwind vigor projects. The nation’s archetypal commercial-scale offshore upwind workplace opened a twelvemonth ago, a 12-turbine upwind workplace called South Fork Wind 35 miles (56 kilometers) eastbound of Montauk Point, New York.

Trump began reversing the country’s vigor policies his archetypal time successful bureau with a spate of enforcement orders aimed astatine boosting oil, state and coal. The medication is reviewing each existing and pending offshore upwind permits.

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