Offshore wind projects imperiled by Trump’s executive orders
https://www.cfact.org/2025/01/30/media-advisory-offshore-wind-projects-imperiled-by-trumps-executive-orders/
WASHINGTON, DC (January 30, 2025) – A group of public interest groups trying to save endangered whales and other marine life in the Atlantic Ocean from the harms of massive wind projects predict that President Trump’s current and future executive orders could imperil many projects already underway.
The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), the Heartland Institute, and the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) today responded to claims by the offshore wind industry that the numerous federal orders recently issued by the Trump administration would have little impact on the viability of wind projects off the U.S. East Coast.
On January 20, 2025, the day of his inauguration, President Trump issued an executive order which canceled Lava Ridge, a large wind energy project in Idaho, and also called for government officials to conduct a study to determine the “viability” of East Coast offshore wind projects. The study will determine if the offshore wind projects should be “amended or terminated.” The study’s recommendations will be sent to President Trump and his Assistant for Economic Policy, Stephen Miller, at a later date.
Proponents of the offshore wind projects, such as Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, have claimed that Trump’s executive order will have no effect on the construction and operation of the offshore wind project recently announced for the federal waters off the coast of Maryland.
Last year, CFACT, The Heartland Institute, and NLPC sued the Biden administration to halt construction of the offshore wind project being built in Virginia by Dominion Energy citing harm done to the endangered North Atlantic right whale. That case is pending in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
The following comments may be used for attribution. For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Jim Lakely, vice president of The Heartland Institute, at [email protected] or call/text 312-731-9364.
“Maryland’s governor is jumping to conclusions that Trump’s executive order doesn’t impact his state’s offshore wind factory. Even if they have federal permits for the time being, some of these will require reauthorization and others may be needed to operate during and after construction. Forging ahead and building Maryland’s wind project at this point is an incredible financial risk, especially if a reassessment of the project’s impact on whales and other marine life uncovers significant potential harm. Maryland taxpayers will be on the hook for any premature construction cost.”
Craig Rucker
President
CFACT
[email protected]
“President Trump should be taken at his word when he pledged that he does not want a single windmill to be built during his second term. The delays will add costs to the projects and combined with the revised studies required by the executive order, which suggest that some of these wind projects may be ‘terminated.’ could have severe consequences for future offshore wind construction. For the sake of the reliability of the electrical grid, energy’s cost to ratepayers, the fishing and tourism industries, and endangered and protected marine mammals, one can only hope President Trump’s efforts to stop these industrial monstrosities are successful. Only time will tell.”
H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D.
Director
Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
“Offshore wind developers are clearly whistling past the graveyard when they claim the Trump administration will have no effect on their construction plans. There will be new leadership at highest levels of the federal government who have publicly stated their dim view of the economics and environmental impact of offshore wind.”
Paul Kamenar
Counsel
National Legal Policy Center (NLCP)
[email protected]
In 1985, the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) was founded to promote a much-needed, positive alternative voice on issues of environment and development. Its co-founders, David Rothbard and Craig Rucker, strongly believed the power of the market combined with the applications of safe technologies could offer humanity practical solutions to many of the world’s most pressing concerns. A number of leading scientists, academics, and policy leaders soon joined them, along with thousands of citizens from around the U.S. and around the world.
Today, CFACT is a respected Washington D.C.-based organization whose voice can be heard relentlessly infusing the public-interest debate with a balanced perspective on environmental stewardship and oth er important issues. With an influential and impressive scientific advisory board, effective collegiate program on U.S. college campuses, CFACT Europe, official United Nations’ NGO representation, Adopt-A-Village project, Global Social Responsibility program, and “Just the Facts” daily national radio commentary, CFACT continues to offer genuine solutions to today’s most important global challenges.
CFACT has been termed “invaluable” by the Arizona Republic, it has been lauded for its “effort to bring sound science to the environmental debate” by a former president of the National Academy of Sciences, and has been praised by a respected Boston Herald columnist for “a record of supplying absolutely solid information.”
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