(Washington) The US government announced on Monday that it would suspend all major offshore wind projects under construction in the United States for reasons of “national security”, the latest measure taken by the Trump administration against this source of renewable energy.
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Doug Burgum, the US Secretary of the Interior, responsible in particular for natural resources, declared that he would immediately suspend “the operating permits of all large offshore wind projects under construction in the United States”, after the US Department of Defense identified “risks to national security” posed by these projects.
These risks are linked to the “movements of the blades” of wind turbines and their “highly reflective masts” which “create radar interference”, he continued in a press release.
Five large offshore wind turbine construction projects, all located in the Atlantic off the east coast of the United States, are affected by this suspension which, according to the department, aims to give time to the authorities and companies concerned “to assess the possibility of mitigating the risks” in question.
According to the American company Dominion, which is developing one of the largest projects, this pause should last 90 days.
Its shutdown “will threaten the reliability of the electricity grid for some of the country’s most important military, civilian and artificial intelligence equipment” and “put thousands of jobs at risk,” the group said in a statement.
“Common sense”
This announcement comes in a context of attacks by the American administration against renewable energies and particularly wind power.
Since his return to power, Donald Trump, who accuses wind turbines of all evils, has signed a series of decrees to put a stop to this industry, including a freeze on operating permits and federal loans for any wind project at sea or on land.
“We are not going to go for wind power,” said the Republican president in January, who is also stepping up actions to boost the exploitation of fossil fuels.
“A single gas pipeline provides as much energy as these five projects combined” of offshore wind farms, proclaimed Monday on X Doug Burgum, known for his proximity to the oil and gas industry, describing the suspension as a “common sense” measure.
“This administration has baselessly and illegally attacked wind energy (…) while supporting aging and expensive coal-fired power plants that are operating at full capacity and polluting our air,” criticized the Environmental Defense Fund, an NGO based in the United States, in a statement.
On the New York Stock Exchange, Dominion Energy fell 5.37% around 1:50 p.m.
On the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, the Danish Ørsted, specializing in the development of offshore wind energy, fell by more than 12%. Danish wind turbine manufacturing company Vestas lost 2.65%.
