Trump Admin Orders Offshore Wind Farm Pauses Over ‘National Security Risks’

The Department of the Interior (DOI) announced Monday that it is pausing leases for all five offshore wind farms being built in the U.S. due to “national security risks.”

Effective immediately, DOI is pausing Vineyard Wind, Revolution Wind, Empire Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind and Sunrise Wind. The DOI reasoned that “recently completed classified reports” from the Department of War flagged national security concerns that the agencies will be evaluating.

“The prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said in a statement Monday. “Today’s action addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centers. The Trump administration will always prioritize the security of the American people.”

Though the Biden administration championed the technology and other green energy resources, President Donald Trump and his administration have lambasted offshore wind, arguing that it is an expensive and intermittent resource that has been “heavily subsidized” in the U.S.

“As for the national security risks inherent to large-scale offshore wind projects, unclassified reports from the U.S. Government have long found that the movement of massive turbine blades and the highly reflective towers create radar interference called ‘clutter,’” the DOI said Monday. “The clutter caused by offshore wind projects obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets in the vicinity of the wind projects.”

The DOI argued that the pause will give the agencies time to “work with leaseholders and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects.”