Trump’s order halts offshore wind projects for at least 90 days

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has directed five large-scale wind energy projects under construction off the East Coast to suspend their activities for at least 90 days, according to letters from the Interior Department obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday, which provide new details about the government’s move to temporarily halt offshore projects.

During the moratorium, the Department of the Interior will coordinate with the project developers “to determine whether the national security threats posed by this project can be appropriately mitigated,” the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said in a letter to the project developers. The 90-day period could be extended if necessary, the ocean management agency said.

Read more: The Trump administration is pausing five offshore wind projects on the East Coast, citing security concerns

The administration announced on Monday that it was suspending offshore wind projects due to national security concerns. Its announcement did not indicate whether the pause period was limited, nor did it reveal details related to national security concerns.

This was the latest step by the Trump administration to restrict offshore wind in its push against renewable energy sources. This comes two weeks after a federal judge overturned President Donald Trump’s executive order banning wind energy projects, calling it illegal. The move angered local officials who had supported the projects and posed a new threat to offshore wind development, which has faced increasing pressure since Trump took office.

The Department of Defense completed a recent assessment on the national security implications of offshore wind projects and provided Interior Department senior leadership with new classified information, “including the rapid development of relevant adversary technologies and the resulting direct national security impacts from offshore wind projects,” the letter to developers said.

The potential impacts are “compounded by the projects’ sensitive location on the East Coast and their potential to cause serious, immediate, and irreparable harm to our great nation,” the letter said. The letter was signed by Matthew Giacona, acting director of BOEM and a former lobbyist for the National Oceanic Industries Association.

He watches: Trump halts East Coast projects in latest strike against wind energy

Concerns about the potential effects of wind turbines on radar systems “have been known for decades,” said Kirk Leibold, a national security expert and former commander of the destroyer USS Cole.

While Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the new classified information suggests the turbines may pose a threat to national security, “I want to know what’s changed?” Leibold said in an interview Tuesday. “What threat has changed? Have the Chinese developed new weapons or technologies that we are unaware of and cannot combat?”

“To my knowledge, nothing has changed in the threat environment that would cause us to halt any offshore wind programs,” he said.

Meanwhile, House Democrats have called for an ethics investigation into Giacona’s actions since he took over the agency that manages offshore waters. Democrats said Giacona’s work may directly overlap with his previous lobbying work for the Oceanic Industries Group.

He watches: Concerns are mounting about the impact of offshore wind farms on the fishing industry

An Interior Department spokesperson said Giacona is “a highly qualified and ethically sound employee who works tirelessly on behalf of this administration to make a real difference for the American people.”

Wind energy advocates criticized the administration’s move to suspend the projects, saying it was another blow in the Trump administration’s ongoing offensive against clean energy.

The Democratic governors of four affected states — Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York — issued a joint statement on Tuesday vowing to fight the measure, which they said “resembles a lump of dirty coal in the holiday season for American workers, consumers and investors.”

The conservatives said that halting active leases, including projects that are nearing completion, “defies logic, will harm our bid to achieve energy independence, will raise costs for America’s taxpayers and cause us to lose thousands of good-paying jobs.” “It also threatens the grid reliability needed to keep the lights on.”

Read more: Judge upholds Trump’s decision to halt nearly completed offshore wind project

The statement was issued by Govs. Ned Lamont of Connecticut, Maura Healey of Massachusetts, Kathy Hochul of New York, and Dan McKee of Rhode Island.

Meanwhile, two Democratic senators said the rent moratorium means that congressional efforts to approve bipartisan permit reform are “dead in the water.”

Last week, the House of Representatives approved legislation aimed at speeding up permit review processes for new energy and infrastructure projects, in an effort to meet the growing demand for electricity. The bill would also limit judicial review as Congress seeks to enact the most significant change in decades to the National Environmental Policy Act, a key environmental law that requires federal agencies to study a project’s potential environmental impacts before approving it.

Read more: Democratic governors are demanding Trump resume offshore wind project near Rhode Island

Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico said Monday that with House approval, “there was an agreement that would take the policy out of the loop, make the process faster and more efficient, and streamline grid infrastructure improvements nationwide.”

But they said any deal would have to be managed by the Trump administration, whose “reckless and vindictive attack on wind energy” is destroying the trust needed for real reform.

“There is no path to allowing reform if this administration refuses to follow the law,” the senators said. Whitehouse is the top Democrat on the Senate Environment Committee, while Heinrich is the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

McDermott reported from Providence, Rhode Island.