Trump Admin. Pauses 5 U.S. Wind Projects, Cites "Security"


   
Barani Krishnan
DTN Refined Fuels Market Reporter

   SECAUCUS, NJ (DTN) -- The Trump administration announced on Monday (12/22) 
that leases for all large-scale U.S. offshore wind projects now under 
construction will be paused immediately for "security" reasons -- a decision 
that impacts at least five such projects.

    "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," Doug Burgum, secretary of the interior in President 
Donald Trump's cabinet, said in a statement.

   Under his fossil fuels-focused agenda, President Trump has dismantled 
renewable energy infrastructure such as wind and solar through moratoriums and 
funding cuts, often enforced through national emergency declarations and 
deregulatory orders.

   The statement issued by Burgum said unclassified U.S. government reports had 
long found that the movement of massive turbine blades and highly reflective 
towers create a radar interference identified as "clutter."

   The security risk of clutter from offshore wind projects is that they 
obscure legitimate moving targets and generate false targets in their vicinity, 
the statement said, adding that all large-scale U.S. offshore wind projects had 
been identified by the Department of War as national security risk.

   The suspension of the projects will give the departments of interior and 
war, along with other relevant government agencies, time to work with 
leaseholders and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the 
security risks posed by the projects, the statement said.

   The five wind projects impacted by Monday's order were Vineyard Wind 1, 
which will serve Massachusetts; Revolution Wind (Rhode Island and Connecticut); 
CVOW (Virginia); Sunrise Wind (New York) and Empire Wind 1 (New York).

   Dominion Energy, operator of the 2,600 megawatts CVOW project, said wind 
energy was essential in itself for American national security and to meeting 
Virginia's energy needs.

   "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 in a statement.




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