Aug 26 (Reuters) – A group of U.S. federal agencies, including the departments of defense, energy and commerce, are working together to review offshore wind farms approved by the Biden administration along the Atlantic coast, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Tuesday.
The revelation, during a meeting of President Donald Trump’s cabinet, demonstrates a full-throated effort by his administration to undermine an industry that was central to former President Joe Biden’s climate and energy agendas.
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In just the last week, the administration has issued a stop-work order on a nearly completed project off the coast of Rhode Island, and said it would move to cancel the approval of a planned facility off the coast of Maryland.
“We now have an inter-departmental coalition, a team, which is (Interior Secretary) Doug Burgum and (Commerce Secretary) Howard Lutnick and (Energy Secretary) Chris Wright and (Defense Secretary) Pete Hegseth are all working on this. We’re all working together on this issue,” Kennedy said.
He then raised the high-profile blade failure a year ago at an offshore wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts, which sent pieces of debris into the ocean that washed ashore on nearby beaches. Kennedy also said offshore wind was expensive and harmful to both the fishing industry and whales.
His remarks came after Trump criticized the wind industry earlier in the meeting.
“We don’t allow windmills,” Trump said. “We’re not allowing any windmills to go up unless there’s a legal situation where somebody committed to it a long time ago.”
Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington and Nichola Groom in San Marino, California, Editing by Nick Zieminski
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