Legal Insurrection readers may recall that on the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump signed an executive order (EO) that imposed a sweeping halt on the development of offshore wind energy projects in the United States.
The EO immediately paused all new and renewed federal leasing, permitting, and approvals for offshore wind projects on the Outer Continental Shelf and directed a comprehensive review of the federal government’s leasing and permitting practices for wind projects.
However, one Norwegian company decided to sail past that EO and continue construction on Empire Wind 1, a major offshore wind energy project being developed off the coast of New York, approximately 15–30 miles southeast of Long Island.
Norway-based Equinor, which already had all the necessary lease and permit approvals from the feds before Trump’s January 20 executive order went into effect, confirmed that it has started construction at the site — laying rock as the foundation for the giant 54 wind turbines — 15 miles off the coast of Long Beach.Equinor will deliver the power by connecting to Con Edison’s electric grid via a cable link from the ocean floor to the substation at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Sunset Park.The “Empire Wind 1″ project — which will power 500,000 homes — has the strong backing from both Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul, in part to help meet the goals of the ambitious state climate change law mandating 100% zero-emission electricity by 2040 and the phasing out of fossil fuels by 2050.
Perhaps Equinor thought the Trump administration would fail to notice their work? Maybe the firm thought they could ignore the EO and carry on with their green energy schemes?
Clearly the company hasn’t been paying attention that we are now in the Trump 2.0 era. The Trump administration has now ordered an immediate halt to the construction of the Empire Wind offshore wind project. This decision, announced by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, suspends all construction activities on the project.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Mr. Burgum said the halt would allow for “further review of information that suggests the Biden administration rushed through its approval without sufficient analysis.”…The order came two weeks after Representative Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, asked Mr. Burgum in a letter to “do everything in your power” to stop what he called an “underhanded rush” to build the wind farm. Another Republican representative from New Jersey, Jeff Van Drew, has pressed Mr. Trump to put a stop to other wind farms that were planned in the Atlantic Ocean to provide renewable power to New Jersey.Mr. Trump’s stated opposition to windmills as a source of renewable energy has been seen as a serious threat by the offshore wind industry, which already was struggling to cope with global inflation and supply chain problems. Some projects that had been proposed off the East Coast have been canceled and others have lost financial backing from their sponsors.Among the criticisms of offshore wind farms are that they are unsightly and that they harm marine mammals and the commercial fishing industry. The offshore wind industry and its supporters dispute those contentions and have pledged to take measures to ensure that whales and other mammals and fish are not endangered by their projects.
Representative Smith was one of the Republican members in the House of Representatives from the Northeast who called for a halt to offshore wind projects until their full environmental and economic impacts are assessed. Their 2023 request came in the wake of numerous dead whales washing up along the New York and New Jersey shores.
This halt is a YUGE win for the fishing industry, wildlife advocates, and local grassroots organizations that have strongly opposed offshore wind projects. Opponents contend that turning American oceans into industrial zones will severely impact marine industries, threaten wildlife such as whales, hinder military activities, and spoil scenic coastal views that are vital for tourism income in seaside communities.
“It’s the industrialization of our ocean, rubber-stamped by federal agencies and delivered by a foreign-owned corporation under the guise of climate action,” wrote Bonnie Brady, the executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association. “It is corporate welfare disguised as environmentalism, and the costs are far too high.”Brady noted that construction of the project includes dumping 3.2 billion pounds of rock into the ocean and pile-driving massive 180-foot monopoles into the seafloor, both of which she said will destroy marine habitat and threaten the fishing industry. She also said the construction will cause underwater noise and vibration that could fatally injure endangered species like the North Atlantic right whale.
And while green schemers may be unhappy, many East Coast Americans are joyfully greeting this news.
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