President Trump has suspended all large offshore wind farms under construction. He announced it on Monday. He cited unspecified national security risks.
This will impact billions of dollars of investment and stall nearly 6 gigawatts of new electricity expected to come online in the next few years.
Five projects being built in the Atlantic Ocean are being shut down. It includes a massive Virginia offshore wind farm to be completed in 2026, along with others on the coast of New England.
He cited national security risks identified by the Department of War in recently completed classified reports. The White House release also noted the potential for wind turbine movement and light reflectivity to interfere with radar.
In a Monday Fox Business interview, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the Department of Defense has “conclusively” determined that large offshore wind farms “have created radar interference that creates a genuine risk for the US,” especially “our east coast population centers.”
In his Fox Business interview, Burgum said radar interference can “create real issues for trying to determine what’s friend or what’s foe in our airspace for our country” and suggested they could also create issues for commercial aircraft, given the proximity to all the large airports” on the East Coast.
The Trump administration’s move drew critiques from clean energy and fossil fuel groups alike.
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