For the second time this year, the Trump administration has halted all offshore wind farm development in the United States. The decision, announced Monday by U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, affects projects under construction and those already in operation, including Empire Wind located 19 miles off Long Branch, New Jersey.
The order pauses leases for large-scale offshore wind projects across the country. This includes shutting down existing wind farms such as Vineyard Wind off Martha’s Vineyard and Sunrise Wind off Rhode Island, as well as stopping work on projects like Empire Wind, which was reported to be 40 percent complete in August.
Empire Wind is owned by Equinor, a Norwegian renewable energy company. The Kingdom of Norway holds a majority share in Equinor.
Burgum stated that national security risks identified by the Department of War were behind his decision. According to reports from the department, movement of turbine blades and reflective towers can cause radar interference known as “clutter,” which may obscure legitimate moving targets and generate false targets near wind farms.
“This pause will 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,” said the Department of the Interior on Monday.
The following five wind farms are affected by this new order: Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts; Revolution Wind off Rhode Island and Connecticut; CVOW – Commercial off Virginia; Sunrise Wind off Block Island, Rhode Island; and Empire Wind 1 off New Jersey.
An Equinor spokesperson responded: “We are aware of the stop-work order announced by the Department of Interior involving five wind projects under offshore construction in the U.S. We are evaluating the order and seeking further information from the federal government.”
Congressman Chris Smith (R-Toms River), who represents New Jersey’s 4th district and has long opposed offshore wind farms, commented on Monday:
“They will sue (referring to the wind companies), but it’s done. This is the nail in the coffin. This is more than a pause. It’s stopped. When you get into issues of national security, the courts will err on the side of national defense and the Department of Defense, or Department of War rather, as it’s now called … Offshore wind farms disrupt radar; the military has been saying this for years. You really could have planes flying into planes.”
President Trump had previously issued an executive order pausing all U.S. wind farm development at the start of his current term in January. However, that order did not apply to existing leases approved during President Biden’s administration. In May, after intervention from New York Governor Kathy Hochul—since Empire Wind supplies power only to New York—the federal government lifted its earlier stop-work order for that project.
Empire Wind remains unique among New Jersey offshore projects for having begun construction with installation work underway since mid-August.
Chris Smith has represented New Jersey’s 4th district in Congress since 1981 after replacing Frank Thompson (https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/S000522). He was born in Rahway in 1953 and lives in Manchester Township. Smith graduated from The College of New Jersey with a BS degree in 1975.
