U.S. Wind Power Faces Huge Challenges After Trump Orders a Crackdown
President Trump launched a broad attack on the wind power industry in the United States, with a sweeping executive order that could block not just new offshore wind farms in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans but potentially many smaller wind farms on federal land and even on private property across the country.
The order, which Mr. Trump signed in the Oval Office on Monday night, would halt all leasing of federal lands and waters for new wind farms pending a fresh government review of the industry. It also directs federal agencies to stop issuing permits for all wind farms anywhere in the country for the time being, a move that could disrupt projects on private land, which sometimes need federal wildlife or other environmental permits.
While the order does not call for a freeze on wind projects that are already under construction, Mr. Trump directed the U.S. Attorney General and secretary of the interior to explore the possibility of “terminating or amending” any leases that have already been issued. That means projects that have already received federal approvals could face new hurdles.
Taken together, the moves could prove crippling for the U.S. wind industry, which provides 10 percent of the nation’s electricity and is a major source of power in Republican-led states like Iowa, Oklahoma and Texas. The wind industry currently has nearly 40 gigawatts worth of projects — enough to power tens of millions of homes — under development in the Atlantic Ocean and in states like Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota.
The Biden administration approved permits for 11 commercial-scale wind farms along the Atlantic Coast. Five of those are under construction and one has been completed. But Eastern states like New York and Massachusetts were hoping to build even more offshore wind projects to meet their renewable energy targets. Those goals are now in peril.
The wind industry sharply criticized Mr. Trump’s order, saying that it ran counter to another declaration the president made on Monday that the nation was in an “energy emergency” and needed all the electricity it could get to power new data centers and factories.
“Wind power is an essential element of our ability to serve soaring electricity demand for manufacturing and data centers that are key to national security,” said Jason Grumet, chief executive of the American Clean Power Association, a renewable industry trade group. “The possibility that the federal government could seek to actively oppose energy production by American companies on private land is at odds with our nation’s character as well as our national interests.”
Wind Power in U.S. Faces Hit From Trump’s Executive Order - The New York Times