Trump Pauses Federal Offshore Wind Leases, Calls for Review of Wind Projects on Federal Land

Wind turbines generate electricity at the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States, in Block Island, near Rhode Island, on July 7, 2022. John Moore/Getty Images

President Donald Trump ordered a halt to new leases and permits for wind projects on his first day back in the White House.

In addition to temporarily suspending leases in the outer continental shelf, his executive order mandates a comprehensive environmental and economic review of the federal government’s leasing and permitting practices for all wind projects on federal lands and in federal waters.

Nearly all offshore wind projects are planned in federal waters.

In signing the order, the president cited “negative impacts on navigational safety interests, transportation interests, national security interests, commercial interests, and marine mammals” and the need to “maintain a robust fishing industry for future generations.”

During the pause, federal officials will review the impact of wind projects on wildlife and consider whether wind energy is viable without federal subsidies.

From 2016 to 2022, the federal government spent approximately $18.7 billion on subsidies for wind power, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 provides a 30 percent tax credit for offshore wind projects that begin construction before Jan. 1, 2026, according to the Congressional Research Service.

No leases or permits may be issued or renewed until the review is complete.

The order does not affect existing lease rights and does not apply to leasing related to oil, gas, minerals, and environmental conservation.

Blowback

Reactions from the renewable energy industry were swift.

“The American Clean Power Association (ACP) strongly opposes blanket measures to halt or impede development of domestic wind energy on federal lands and waters,” ACP CEO Jason Grumet wrote in a statement responding to the order.

The organization supports “the president’s effort to reform the permitting process to speed the development of all forms of domestic energy production,” which it hopes will include wind, Grumet added.

“Absent significant changes in energy policy, our nation will not be able to power our growth in manufacturing and achieve digital dominance that is key to national security while lowering consumer energy bills,” he said.

According to ACP, more than 73,000 wind turbines now generate 153 gigawatts of power in the United States—around 10 percent of total electricity generation—making it the largest source of renewable energy and the fourth-largest source of electricity generation behind coal, nuclear, and natural gas.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) called the president’s action “harmful” and “wrong headed.”

“Putting the brakes on homegrown wind energy is not only bad for clean air, public health, and national security—it cuts short a promising source of additional power at a time when our electricity grid needs it most,” wrote Kit Kennedy, managing director for power at NRDC.

Oceantic Network CEO Liz Burdock called the move a “blow to an American energy industry” that “will hurt hundreds of US companies and thousands of workers.”

“In the face of a national energy emergency, we must support an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy to ensure our country’s power reliability, energy security, and maintain our position in the global economy,” she wrote in a statement.

For those who oppose offshore wind, the executive order represents a huge victory.  They blame the industry for whale deaths and say that it could decimate the fishing industry and lead to “industrialization” of the oceans.

“For those of us who care about protecting our oceans and wildlife, and for hard-working Americans already struggling with rising energy costs, this is a significant victory,” Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.), a long-time critic of offshore wind who helped the president draft the order, told the Epoch Times.

“This has been a long, hard-fought battle against powerful, foreign multinational corporations that have shown zero regard for our fishing industry, our environment, our whales, national security, or the American energy consumer.”

Meghan Lapp, the fisheries liaison for Seafreeze Ltd., the largest producer and trader of sea-frozen seafood on the U.S. East Coast, and Seafreeze Shoreside, one of the largest fish houses in Point Judith, Rhode Island, expressed her gratitude to the Trump administration.

“We have fought so hard to save our fisheries from the devastation of offshore wind development and President Trump has done it for us,” she told The Epoch Times. “It’s a huge relief for the fishing industry to finally have someone to help save our fishing grounds.”

Winds of Change

Trump’s action marks a dramatic shift from the Biden administration’s aggressive four-year effort to expand wind-power leasing, which had the goal of building 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030 and another 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind by 2035.

The Biden administration leased millions of acres of federal waters to wind power developers, with large-scale wind farm projects planned along nearly the entire coastline of the United States, including the Atlantic Seaboard, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific waters off California and Oregon.

But the agenda faced serious headwinds in 2024. The U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management encountered strong opposition from tribal communities, the fishing industry, elected officials, and various coastal constituents.

Meanwhile, the industry began to flounder.

In February 2024, wind energy giant Orsted canceled a massive wind project along the Eastern Seaboard and scaled back its floating offshore wind development activities more broadly, acknowledging that the technology was not yet ready for prime time.

In July 2024, a Vineyard Wind turbine broke off and littered the ocean off Massachusetts with “debris and sharp fiberglass shards,” forcing beach closures on Nantucket Island.

On Sept. 27, 2024, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced that it would delay the planned auction of two wind energy areas offshore of Oregon because of a lack of interest.