The Trump administration on Monday escalated its battle against offshore wind by ordering a pause on all leases for large-scale wind projects under construction in the United States, this time citing national security threats.
The Department of the Interior said it is halting offshore wind leases effective immediately “due to national security risks identified by the Department of War in recently completed classified reports.”
“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,” the agency said in a news release.
Some security experts described the justification as spurious and nonsensical and said offshore wind is key to ensuring grid reliability and meeting broader U.S. energy goals.
The order applies to five projects along the East Coast: Vineyard Wind off the coast of Massachusetts, Revolution Wind off the coast of Rhode Island, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Commercial Project, and Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind 1 off the coast of New York.
It is the latest in a string of federal actions against offshore wind, which has become a singular target amid Trump’s larger efforts to block new renewable energy. The president has supported a national energy strategy based primarily on fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal.
Trump in January issued an executive order calling for the temporary withdrawal of nearly all federal land and waters from new or renewed wind energy leasing, which he said “may lead to grave harm” including negative effects on national security, transportation and commercial interests. Last week, a federal judge struck down that order, calling it “arbitrary and capricious.”
In August, the administration cut $679 million for offshore wind projects, which it described as “doomed,” including $427 million that had been earmarked for California. The state has an ambitious goal of 25 gigawatts of floating offshore wind by 2045, which experts and officials say will be an important piece of the state’s clean energy portfolio to address climate change.
The Interior Department now says offshore wind turbines and towers create radar interference called “clutter,” which “obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets in the vicinity of the wind projects,” posing a threat to national security.
“The prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement Monday. “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. The Trump administration will always prioritize the security of the American people.”
But Kirk Lippold, a national security expert and former Navy commander of the USS Cole, said invoking national security on this matter is akin to “blowing smoke at the American people.” The issue of clutter has been known for years and can be resolved through software and firmware changes on weapons systems and radars, as well as proper training for operators of those systems, he said.
“Citing national security in this case is a false and specious argument that once again demonstrates that the administration really is not interested in developing the energy dominance portfolio that President Trump advocated for from his first day in office,” Lippold told The Times. “Having energy dominance means you have a wide variety and depth of energy sources, from fossil fuels to nuclear to wind to solar, everything.”
Lippold noted that Bergum also cited national security threats in August when the administration issued a stop-work order on the Revolution wind project, which was 80% complete. The Interior secretary told CNN at the time that bad actors could take advantage of radar distortion to “launch a swarm drone attack through a wind farm,” which Lippold said is laughable. He added that a “drone swarm” getting that close to the U.S. coast would mark an immense intelligence failure. A federal judge blocked the stop-work order in September.
Concern about clutter is also something that would have been addressed much earlier in the planning process for the individual projects, said John Conger, director emeritus of the Center for Climate and Security who oversaw the Department of Defense’s clearinghouse for energy siting under the Obama administration.
For example, officials might require certain turbines to be relocated or require additional radars to fill in gaps in coverage before signing off on an offshore wind project, Conger said. He said the projects paused on Monday would have been evaluated and cleared previously by the Defense Department, so he found it odd that the current administration would find issue with all five of them at once.
“It’s curious that they’ve decided to change multiple at the same time, which makes it sound like they have not individually evaluated them,” Conger said. “If there was new information that came up, it would have been individual information.”
Dave Belote, another former director of the Defense Department’s energy siting agency, also questioned the administration’s claims in a statement Monday.
“I find Secretary Burgum’s claims of national security-related risks and vulnerabilities to be bogus,” Belote, now chief executive of solar energy consulting firm DARE Strategies, said. North American Aerospace Defense Command “has technical fixes in place today to edit interference out of its radar displays, and wind project developers have been paying for these fixes since 2013.”
Experts said the administration’s move also has implications for energy affordability, grid reliability and the economy.
“Electricity prices are climbing and our grid is facing rising demand from data centers, industry and homes,” said Ted Kelly, director and lead counsel of U.S. clean energy with the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund. “Wind — when allowed to move forward — offers some of the most affordable, reliable power.”
Energy affordability has become a major issue across the nation this year, with residential electric bills increasing about 13% nationwide since January, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Wind and solar remain the least expensive form of new-build electricity generation, according to the financial advisory firm Lazard.
The suspended projects are fully permitted, nearly complete and represent tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment that has employed thousands of workers to date, said Hillary Bright, executive director of the wind advocacy group Turn Forward. What’s more, they are poised to deliver “much-needed power to regions already struggling to keep up with rising electricity demand.”
“Suspending legitimate permits approved after years of rigorous consultation with expert federal agencies — including the Department of War — does nothing to advance our country’s long-term economic or energy security,” Bright said in a statement.
Even with Vineyard Wind only partially completed, it saved New England residents roughly $2 million a day during a cold snap this month, according to a report in the Boston Globe.
