ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Opponents of offshore wind energy projects expect President-elect Donald Trump to kill an industry he has vowed to end on the first day he returns to the White House.
But it might not be that easy.
Many of the largest offshore wind companies put a brave face on the election results, pledging to work with Trump and Congress to build power projects and ignoring the incoming president’s oft-stated hostility to them.
In campaign appearances, Trump railed against offshore wind and promised to sign an executive order to block such projects.
“We are going to make sure that that ends on day one,” Trump said in a May speech. “I’m going to write it out in an executive order. It’s going to end on day one.”
“They destroy everything. They’re horrible — the most expensive energy there is,” Trump said. “They ruin the environment, they kill the birds, they kill the whales.”
Numerous federal and state scientific agencies say there is no evidence linking offshore wind preparation to a spate of whale deaths along the U.S. East Coast in recent years. Turbines have been known to kill shorebirds, but the industry and regulators say there are policies to mitigate harm to the environment.
Trump has railed against offshore wind turbines spoiling the view from a golf course he owns in Scotland. But numerous environmental groups say the real reason he opposes offshore wind is his support for the fossil fuel industry.
There is almost 65 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity under development in the United States, enough to power more than 26 million homes, and some turbines are already spinning in several states, according to the American Clean Power Association.
Currently operating projects include the Block Island Wind Farm in Rhode Island, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind pilot project and the South Fork Wind Farm about 35 miles east of Montauk Point on New York’s Long Island.
Trump is unlikely to end those projects but might have leverage over ones still in the planning stage, those in the debate say.
Bob Stern — who headed an office in the U.S. Energy Department responsible for environmental protection during the Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations — said Trump can get Congress to reduce or eliminate tax credits for offshore wind that were granted in the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. Those credits are an integral part of the finances of many offshore wind projects.
Stern, who leads the New Jersey anti-offshore wind group Save LBI, said Trump also could issue executive orders prohibiting further offshore leases and rescinding approval for ones already OK’d while pushing Congress to amend federal laws granting more protection for marine mammals.
The president-elect also can appoint leaders of agencies involved in offshore wind regulation who would be hostile to it or less supportive.
