|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
NEW BEDFORD — President Donald Trump wasted no time in his first day in office Monday, ordering a halt to all new leases of offshore wind projects in federal waters, and a review of all federally leased and permitted wind projects by the Interior Department.
It’s what industry experts expected at minimum, and goes a step further by opening the door for potential termination of existing offshore wind leases or permits. The review could affect several wind projects off the Massachusetts coast at varying levels of completion. The halt in new leases could also delay, for up to four years, a future phase of wind development off the New York and mid-Atlantic coasts — a prospect the fishing industry welcomes.
But experts say undoing projects that have already been approved won’t be an easy task — which makes the Biden administration’s 11th-hour approval of SouthCoast Wind and lifting of Vineyard Wind’s suspension order particularly significant for the state and New Bedford.
Trump’s order directs the secretary of the interior to “conduct a comprehensive review of the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases, identifying any legal bases for such removal, and submit a report with recommendations to the President.”
The nominee for interior secretary, former Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, said during his confirmation hearing last week that he’ll take a look at all existing offshore wind projects, and that “if they make sense and they’re already in law, then they will continue.”
Drew Minkiewicz, an attorney specializing in maritime law and commercial fishing, said the Trump administration would have a difficult legal road ahead to challenge granted and permitted projects. The regulatory process is designed so that rules and approvals cannot be tossed for “capricious or arbitrary” reasons, he explained.
“They will have to show it’s not arbitrary, that there is a rational basis for it, that there is some statutory provision that authorizes and permits them … to overturn the permit,” Minkiewicz said. “It’s a pretty high hurdle. It’s not insurmountable.”
The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act establishes a process for terminating a lease, which includes affording the lessee and government a hearing so both sides can present their evidence and arguments. The law also grants lessees the right to appeal a decision to terminate.
An industry source said that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the lead regulator on offshore wind, doesn’t have much precedent with this process for renewable energy leases, and that it would likely be a slow process if it were to happen.
Trump’s order cites environmental and economic concerns, highlighting the commercial fishing industry, birds and marine mammals. Before signing the order, Trump delivered remarks in an arena full of supporters, where he made comments against offshore wind and again invoked the slogan “drill, baby, drill” as the administration’s energy approach.
There is precedent for Trump’s action — as well as legal challenges against executive orders. Former President Joe Biden, in 2021, issued an order directing the Interior Secretary to halt oil and gas leasing, though it was overturned in federal court a year and a half later. The Biden administration later offered the fewest oil and gas lease sales in the program’s history.
Timothy Fox, an analyst at ClearView Energy Partners, told The Light before the order was issued that Trump could take a “refocus” or “retaliate” approach. A refocus would be a shift back to oil and gas leasing, and a pause on offshore wind leasing. Retaliating would go further, and is “underappreciated” as a risk, Fox said.
“The Trump administration could rely on pending lawsuits against projects that have already been approved and lease sales that have already occurred to undermine the accomplishments of the Biden administration,” Fox said. “We’re not confident that a Trump administration would vigorously defend project approval.”
BOEM is defending lawsuits challenging its approval of Revolution Wind and South Fork Wind off the coast of Rhode Island, as well as projects in Virginia and Maryland. Monday’s order notes the attorney general may notify courts with pending litigation over offshore wind leasing and permitting of this new order.
Further, the attorney general may request that the court pause or delay the litigation, or seek “other appropriate relief consistent with this order,” which could lead to the pulling of authorizations or permits.
“This [order] could encourage offshore wind foes to file additional legal challenges,” Fox said on Tuesday. “We think this [order] could significantly stymie market confidence in offshore wind permitting, notwithstanding the continued strong and stable state policies that support offshore wind development.”
Gov. Maura Healey, a strong proponent of offshore wind development, told reporters Tuesday that Massachusetts will continue to support offshore wind.
“It’s really important for jobs. It’s really important for our economy … it’s important for establishing regional independence when it comes to energy,” Healey said.
“We’re watching closely to see what the president does,” she continued. “I will tell you, I’m very concerned, though, because it’s not just Massachusetts jobs … that are affected by offshore wind. It’s jobs in Louisiana, in Georgia, in Virginia … red states and blue states have gone big on wind. It harms all of us if that option would be taken off the table.”
Wind power, including land-based turbines, provides about 10% of the electricity generated in the United States, making it the country’s largest source of renewable energy, the Associated Press reported. Apart from previous federal goals under Biden, wind energy is integral to Massachusetts emissions and climate mandates.
What it means for New Bedford
The offshore wind industry has attracted millions in public and private investment to the Port of New Bedford, supplemented income for local fishermen and created several hundred union jobs (how local these jobs are has been contested).
Delays or undoing of projects under Trump could take away those economic opportunities. Mayor Jon Mitchell previously said port activity along New Bedford’s waterfront would likely drop, and construction and maintenance work promised to New Bedford would at minimum be delayed.
Vineyard Wind is currently using the port’s Marine Commerce Terminal to stage the major turbine components for offshore construction. Several projects, including SouthCoast Wind, plan to use the port and its terminals for long-term operations work and short-term construction work.
Vineyard Wind, through a spokesperson, declined comment on Tuesday.
Michael Brown, CEO of SouthCoast Wind, in a statement to The Light Wednesday said the company still believes in the ability for offshore wind to create jobs and generate “billions of dollars” in economic activity.
“We will continue to assess the scope and implications of the executive orders on our three U.S. projects,” Brown said. “Offshore wind farms are long term development projects, and we will keep on finding a path forward in coordination with all relevant authorities.”
Uncertainty over what’s to come with the Trump administration could have a chilling effect on infrastructure and supply chain investments. Avangrid, which is slated to build its fully permitted New England Wind project out of Salem, announced plans in 2024 to establish a small manufacturing plant in New Bedford. It is, however, contingent on the project moving forward.
Mitchell, during a scheduled meeting with the New Bedford Ocean Cluster on Tuesday, said he does not think Trump’s order will stop the Vineyard Wind project.
“That project will continue to go forward. I don’t think that’s going to be undone,” he told an audience of representatives from both the fishing and wind industries. “The horse is out of the barn on offshore wind” regarding jobs and investment.
“It will continue to be incumbent upon us to say we want offshore wind, we want fishing, we want to make sure the two coexist,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell told The Light that Trump’s action is not entirely bad news, as the city’s Port Authority has taken issue with the siting of future wind development areas over scallop grounds near New York and the mid-Atlantic — areas that are now on regulatory ice.
“Some resetting is in order,” he said.
As for the projects that plan to use the port to support operations but haven’t yet started construction, Mitchell said their future is an open question and that his administration will continue to advocate for them while protecting fishing interests.
Fishing industry, wind opponents celebrate wind’s uncertain future
Those opposed to or critical of offshore wind celebrated Trump’s order, while the wind industry made its concerns clear.
The National Offshore Wind Opposition Alliance on Facebook wrote it was a “comprehensive and great start to ending [offshore wind].”
Minkiewicz, the fisheries lawyer, said there is relief among the fishing industry, including the scallopers he represents.
Some leased wind farm areas off the mid-Atlantic, as well as planned leases, overlap with scalloping grounds, The Light previously reported, presenting potential impacts and revenue loss for the industry.
“The language of the order says there will be no new leases for as long as the order is in place,” Minkiewicz said. “We don’t have to … be worried about the next shoe to drop from BOEM.” He said he assumed several “problematic” areas in the mid-Atlantic will be on hold for at least the next four years.
Eric Hansen, who owns two scallop permits out of New Bedford, said he’s “very, very happy” to hear that leases without full permitting will be given a close look, particularly those in the New York Bight and mid-Atlantic that overlap with scallop grounds.
Many of the areas in the Massachusetts-Rhode Island wind energy area, which are already leased or greenlit, are not as much a concern, Hansen said, as they don’t overlap with historically strong and abundant scallop fishing grounds.
The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), which represents fishing businesses, said it was excited to collaborate with the Trump administration’s new review of leases and permits.
“The decision is a much-needed pause that allows us to reassess the future of offshore wind development and its potential impacts on our coastal environments and local economies,” said executive director Lane Johnston in a statement.
Liz Burdock, CEO of Oceantic Network, said in a statement Tuesday that the order threatens hundreds of U.S. companies and thousands of workers supporting the nascent industry. She cited Trump’s declaration of a “national energy emergency” on Monday, which aims to hasten permitting for oil and gas leases, and roll back some environmental protections.
“While under a National Energy Emergency created by an unprecedented rise in energy demand, we should be working to quickly bring generation online instead of curtailing a power source capable of providing base load generation and creating new jobs,” Burdock said.
She said the order on offshore wind threatens “to strand $25 billion already flowing into new ports, vessels, and manufacturing centers, and curtail future investments across our country.”
Another energy organization, the American Clean Power Association, said it “strongly opposes blanket measures” to halt offshore wind development.
“The contradiction between the energy-focused Executive Orders is stark: while on one hand the Administration seeks to reduce bureaucracy and unleash energy production, on the other it increases bureaucratic barriers, undermining domestic energy development and harming American businesses and workers,” said ACP CEO Jason Grumet in a statement.
“Wind power is an essential element of our ability to serve soaring electricity demand for manufacturing and data centers that are key to national security,” Grumet said. “Wind development is also supporting more than 300,000 American jobs, many in construction, manufacturing, shipbuilding, and plant operations.”
Two new projects are sending power to the grid in the Northeast. South Fork Wind, completed in October, is generating enough power for up to 70,000 homes in New York. Vineyard Wind recently restarted power generation, but only from one of its 62 turbines. It remains under construction, along with Revolution Wind.
In New Bedford, some stakeholders and businesses are forging ahead despite Trump’s actions and remarks, announcing plans to undertake a socioeconomic study this year to examine the challenges and opportunities in advancing offshore wind and commercial fishing.
Meanwhile, Trump’s animosity against offshore wind is unlikely to let up.
“We’re not going to do the wind thing,” Trump told supporters on Inauguration Day. “Big, ugly windmills. They ruin your neighborhood.”
He joked about citizens being unable to watch him on television because the wind isn’t spinning the turbines and sending electricity to American homes.
“Gladys, I’m sorry, the wind is just not blowing,” Trump said, “we’re not watching Trump tonight.”
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, to add a comment from SouthCoast Wind.
Orsted Loss Today Nine Billion
Jan 21, 2025
#OffshoreWind
https://www.dn.no/energi/equinor/orsted/finans/nytt-aksjestup-for-orsted-equinors-tap-oker-til-ni-milliarder/2-1-1767308?abtest=b
With the total incompetence and radical extremism of those elected from MA to the US House and Senate towards this specific Administration past and present, Whenever and wherever possible Trump should decline, defund and/or cancel anything related to MA other than public safety or emergencies. Starting with wind leases.
Are you speaking of the radical extremists elected, by a landslide, of we the people?
Should those voters be deported to GITMO?
(Trump was elected by a minority of we the people!)
One wind turbine Crew Transfer Vessel pays out over $1.2 million a year, locally, for wages, fuel, dockage, maintenance, and provisions.
New Bedford currently hosts seven.
That’s $8.4 million a year.
The South Terminal operation may generate at least twice that much .
One of the CTVs was bult in MA, five months late and 26% over bid.
The design company is Australian.
A CTV can built in Singapore, 6 months lead time, delivered to MA, on budget.
Musk/DOGE should be looking into Australia/Singapore efficiency!
Should Trump decline, defund and/or cancel anything related to other than public safety or emergencies in states he did not win by a ‘landslide’?
Trump is a minority elected President.
Look Ma, no landslide.
The United States is uniquely positioned to become the world’s clean and renewable offshore and onshore wind superpower. We have two windy ocean coastlines and a windy interior great plains. In the future, wind energy will be harvested to run our economy and create jobs with no greenhouse gas emissions.
Delaying the inevitable is just that.
I view of the recent findings of the amount of harmful metals appearing in sea water around the mills it might be wise to do more environmental studies.
Charles, where did you find the recent findings of the amount of harmful metals appearing in sea water around the mills?
Peer reviewed?
How do the metals get into the sea water.
The same way they get into sea water from oil drilling/production platforms?
Ships?
Vacuous twaddle….
If Vineyard Wind thinks this will all blow over, I believe they are sorely mistaken. The project barely, barely works financially anyways, and only because of an above-market PPA and significant tax incentives. VW is all bottom-mounted nearshore stuff, which impacts viewsheds and imposes a heavy construction footprint — very costly. But I think bottom-mounted is going to be more or less obsolete right quick. The only offshore wind approach that I can see as maybe having a chance is floating units deployed way offshore. If that’s true, it’s not good for NB: New Bedford has no ability to stage that kind of work, owing to the Hurricane Barrier’s small opening. All the contemplated FOWT projects in, e.g., the Gulf of Maine, are likely to be staged out of Salem, not New Bedford.
On the scale of wind turbines the Hurricane opening is very cheap to widen .
“impacts viewshed”?
Like oil drilling rigs, production platforms, refineries and and tankers?
That ugly?
As ugly as Holland in the 18th century?
Floating?
Number of anchors ?
Wear and tear on the gear?
For a monopole?
The staging locations for offshore wind is driven by cost.
Salem is high cost area.
Much higher wage costs.
New Bedford can have have those high wage jobs.
The average New Bedford wind farm worker makes twice as much as scalloper