Why did President Donald J. Trump Stop Work on the Empire Wind 1 Offshore Project? An Environmental Review of the BOEM and the Government Accountability Office
Liz Burdock, the president and CEO of Oceantic Network, said in an email that stopping work on the Empire Wind 1 offshore project should send chills across all industries that have contracts with the US Government. The message of preventing a permitted and financed energy project from moving forward was loud and clear, and all businesses that invest in the US should know that.
On his first day in office, Trump stopped lease and permitting for new offshore wind projects. Empire Wind has had state and federal permits, as well as a federal lease.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the lead federal agency for permitting offshore wind projects, approved the project without enough analysis, Burgum wrote in a letter.
The letter did not give details about the alleged rush. The Interior Department did not respond to NPR’s request for comment. Matthew Eisenson is the senior fellow at Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and he says that there isn’t evidence for the idea of the wind project being rushed.
The BOEM took two and a half years to conduct an environmental review. The final product of the environmental review is an over 3000 page statement that’s thorough, Eisenson says. “ This rationale, it’s very suspect.”
Two years ago after a request from Congressional opponents of wind energy, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) began investigating whether the offshore wind industry kills whales. On Monday they issued their report. The GAO cites the expertise of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which says it “does not anticipate any death or serious injury to whales from offshore wind related actions.”
“So there’s no universe in which the GAO report would be used to substantiate the stop work order for Empire Wind 1,” says Kris Ohleth, executive director of the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind, a wind policy think tank.
Energy Dominance in the U.S. Offshore Wind Industry: Projects That Are Out Of Disagreement or Who Needs It?
The US clean energy industry is on track for growth this year. Wind energy makes up about 10% of the U.S. electricity mix — the largest single source of renewable energy.
But while the offshore wind industry was expecting to see important new projects this year like the Vineyard Wind 1 project in Massachusetts and the Revolution Wind project in Rhode Island, Ohleth says all offshore wind projects are now in jeopardy.
Kit Kennedy, managing director for power at the Natural Resources Defense Council said that the halt of Empire Wind 1 disrupted a much needed electricity supply to a region due to growing power demands. “ This is the kind of energy dominance that the U.S. needs. She says that the Trump administration should support it.
The goal of New York is for 9000megawatt of offshore wind energy to be developed by the year 2035. Eisenson says that goal is at risk. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said that Burgum’s order would threaten 1,000 union worker jobs.
is a senior science reporter covering energy and the environment with more than a decade of experience. She is also the host of Hell or High Water: When Disaster Hits Home , a podcast from Vox Media and Audible Originals.
Empire Wind: Construction and Construction, and Why Trump is Heavier than He He is Trying to Make America Pay The Wall: The Case of Big Fossil Fuel
Empire Wind, which Equinor says had a gross book value of over 2.5 billion, began construction this month and was slated to be finished in seven years. It was supposed to be able to provide electricity for half a million New York homes. The construction employed 1,500 people, according to Equinor. A staging hub at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal was anticipated to create around 1,000 union construction jobs.
“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,” Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said in an opinion published in the New York Post last week.
“If Trump had any ounce of compassion or care for the American people, he would be bolstering renewable energy projects like Empire that create stable jobs, allow families to breathe easier, and save more on electricity,” Sierra Club deputy legislative director for clean energy and electrification Xavier Boatright said in an emailed statement. “Instead, Trump is yet again prioritizing the interests of Big Fossil Fuel, and making Americans pay the price.”
Oil and gas interests donated more than 75 million dollars to get Donald Trump elected. Trump said in January that there will be no new windmills built while he is in office.
