Splash247: Trump administration halts work on $4bn offshore wind farm

The Trump administration has ordered Danish developer Ørsted to stop construction of the nearly completed Revolution Wind offshore wind farm.

The $4bn project, located off the coast of Rhode Island, has been ordered to “halt all ongoing activities” by the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), pending a review to address unspecified concerns raised by the Department of Interior.

In a very vague letter, BOEM acting director Matthew Giacona said that the government was halting the project to “address concerns related to the protection of national security interests of the United States”. The Danish firm also “may not resume activities” until the Bureau has completed a review of the project.

Construction of Revolution Wind started in 2023, and the project was supposed to start producing power for about 350,000 homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut in 2026. The project is about 80% complete, with 45 of its 65 turbines already installed.

Ørsted is currently evaluating all options at its disposal to resolve the matter. Legal action is not excluded at this point.

Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, said that any pause or uncertainty at this stage could ripple across jobs, contracts, and communities already benefiting from the project.

“Today, the US has only one fully operational large-scale offshore wind project producing power. That is not enough to meet America’s rising energy needs. We need more energy of all types, including oil and gas, wind, and new and emerging technologies,” Milito stated.

The leading men of Connecticut and Rhode Island were very vocal about the move. Governors of the two states issued statements claiming that they would “pursue every avenue to reverse the decision”.

Connecticut senator Chris Murphy went even further, claiming that the move was all based on corruption.

“When the oil industry showed up in Mar-a-Lago with a set of demands in exchange for $1bn of campaign support for Trump, this is what they were asking for: the destruction of clean energy in America. The decision to stop the Revolution Wind project, which is 80% complete and has already been approved through exhaustive reviews by multiple federal agencies, has nothing to do with energy policy or energy prices. This is a story of corruption, plain and simple,” he said.

This is the second attempt by Trump’s underlings to stop a project already in development. The first was Equinor’s Empire Wind in April. At the time, Interior secretary Doug Burgum claimed that approval of the project “was rushed through by the prior administration without sufficient analysis.” Construction on the project resumed in May after the Trump administration lifted the stop-work order.