- Three
developers challenge Trump’s offshore wind freeze in court. - Lawsuit
targets halt on their wind energy projects this week. - Trump
vows to block all new windmill construction nationwide.
The administration’s Dec. 22 order to halt five major
projects on the East Coast due to national security concerns was challenged in
court by the Danish energy business Orsted, the Norwegian company Equinor, and
Dominion Energy Virginia. The first hearing on Orsted’s Revolution Wind project
is set for Monday. With partner Skyborn Renewables, Orsted is constructing
Revolution Wind to supply electricity to Connecticut and Rhode Island.
While discussing investments in Venezuela with executives
from the oil industry on Friday, Trump declared that wind farms are
“losers.” The administration did not provide details about its
national security concerns. He claimed that they kill birds, ruin the
environment, and lose money.
“I’ve told my people we will not approve windmills,”
Trump
said.
“Maybe we get forced to do something because some stupid person in the
Biden administration agreed to do something years ago. We will not approve any
windmills in this country.”
In an effort to combat climate change, the Biden
administration aimed to increase offshore wind. On his first day in office,
Trump started overturning the nation’s energy policies by issuing a number of
executive orders that increased the use of coal, oil, and gas.
Leases for the Vineyard Wind project
in Massachusetts, Revolution Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, and two
projects in New York, Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind, were put on hold by the
Trump administration. On Friday, the attorney general of New York filed a
lawsuit against the Trump administration about Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind.
Orsted has two significant offshore wind projects:
Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind. In an effort to preserve Revolution Wind,
Rhode Island and Connecticut submitted their own court requests.
Empire Wind is owned by Equinor. Because the decision
interferes with a carefully planned construction schedule that depends on
vessels with extremely limited availability, Empire Wind LLC, the project’s
limited liability corporation, stated that the project faces “likely
termination” if development cannot restart by this Friday. On Wednesday,
it will be heard.
Equinor’s senior vice president in charge of Empire Wind,
Molly Morris, stated that the company wants to create this project, that
construction is underway, and that it will provide New York with a significant
new and vital source of electricity. Morris claimed that they had not received
an explanation from federal officials about the national security issues.
“I would like to think that offshore wind is, and will
continue to be, part of an all-of-the-above energy solution, which our country
desperately needs,”
she said.
The first to file a lawsuit was Dominion Energy Virginia,
which is building Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind. Calling the order
“arbitrary and capricious” and unlawful, it is requesting that a
judge overturn it.
