Another Wind Project Attacked by the Trump Administration

The Trump administration asked a federal judge to remand the federal government’s previous approval of the New England Wind offshore wind project so that it could reconsider the construction and operations permit for the project. 

The move follows administration’s similar legal maneuvering to try to remand the approvals of the Revolution Wind project, which is already supplying power to customers in Connecticut and Rhode Island, and US Wind, a permitted project off of Maryland. While the New England Wind project has its construction permits, it is not yet built or supplying power. 

The following is a comment from Pasha Feinberg, offshore wind strategist at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):

“Ooops, they did it again. At a time when Americans are struggling with surging utility bills, the Trump administration’s attacks on offshore wind continue to escalate.

“First, the Trump administration tried to halt all the under-construction offshore wind projects. When courts blocked that, it started paying off companies with our tax dollars to abandon their leases. Now it’s going back to court and trying – yet again – to overturn the construction permit for a project off the coast of New England. 

“It's long past time for the Trump administration to realize its war on clean energy is backfiring. Customers’ electricity bills keep rising and our nation can’t meet its growing electricity demands because of these actions.”

NRDC recently shared its assessment of the permitting reform bill being debated in Congress. Read it here. NRDC President Manish Bapna noted that the Trump administration continues to undercut the agreement with its attacks on clean energy.