The U.S. Department of the Interior is pausing leases for five offshore wind projects, due to national security concerns, Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, said on Monday.
Due to national security concerns identified by the Department of War, the Department of the Interior “is PAUSING leases for 5 expensive, unreliable, heavily subsidized offshore wind farms!” Secretary Burgum posted on X today.
“ONE natural gas pipeline supplies as much energy as these 5 projects COMBINED. @POTUS is bringing common sense back to energy policy & putting security FIRST!” he added in the post.
The Trump Administration has already expressed its hostility toward clean energy projects, especially offshore wind, with attempts to block the ongoing construction of several projects offshore the East Coast.
The most notorious of these became a stop-work order on a nearly completed project being developed by Ørsted, the world’s biggest offshore wind project developer. Ørsted and its joint venture partner Skyborn Renewables were progressing the construction of the Revolution Wind off the Rhode Island coast when the Trump Administration issued a stop-work order in August, throwing the project – which is 80% completed – and Ørsted’s operational and financial targets in doubt.
Ørsted and Skyborn Renewables sued to have the order lifted, and a U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia cleared Revolution Wind to restart activities while the underlying lawsuit challenging the stop-work order progresses.
The U.S. DOI today said the pause would “give the Department, along with the Department of War and other relevant government agencies, time to work with leaseholders and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these 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,” said the press release quoted by Fox News in an article whose link was shared by Burgum on X.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com
- Global Coal Demand Hits All-Time High
- $60 Oil Is No Longer a Floor
- U.S. Blockade Threatens Venezuela’s Crucial Russian Naphtha Supply
