President Donald Trump has been very clear that he hates wind power, especially offshore wind.
He has critiqued offshore wind for all the problems it creates, including environmental damage, high costs, the intermittency issue, the potential threat it poses to military operations and commercial navigation, and the fact that it makes the United States dependent on foreign nations, primarily China, for energy security. All of Trump’s criticisms are spot on.
Trump mentioned wind power during his presidential campaign, often referring to it as “garbage” and “horrendous.” After his election victory but before his inauguration, Trump said he wanted no new windmills erected during his second term and vowed to make it so. To keep that pledge, among the flurry of executive orders Trump has issued, is one placing a halt on new offshore wind projects.
Since then, Trump has continued to critique offshore wind, referring to it as “an economic and environmental disaster,” and remarking that it “looks horrible in the oceans, is dangerous in the oceans and if you look at what’s happening in terms of whales . . . something happened out there,” citing a large increase in the number of whales washing ashore in just the last couple of years.
Despite Trump’s clearly expressed desire and his executive order directing the Department of Interior to block further offshore and onshore wind development, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has yet to act on President Trump’s executive order calling for a halt to offshore wind.
As a result, four of the nine East Coast offshore wind projects that received construction permits from the Biden administration have announced they will resume construction of wind turbines starting May 1, 2025. If this happens, it will represent a slap in the face of Trump, suggesting he lacks the power to halt them.
So far, Trump has issued dozens of executive orders concerning environment, energy, and climate change, including a national energy emergency.
Lee Zeldin, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Chris Wright, secretary of the Department of Energy, have rapidly acted to carry out Trump’s directives within the law.
For instance, they have restarted LNG export terminal approvals, blocked regulations that would have robbed consumers of choices in appliances, and rescinded or put up for reconsideration dozens of regulations and rules related to fossil fuel power plants and carbon dioxide emissions.
Should Burgum be doing more?
Burgum has also carried out some of Trump’s orders, especially those already demanded by laws that former President Biden had ignored.
For example, he has greenlit new oil and gas leases on public lands, put oil production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge back on the table, and reviewed the limits of the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Yet, curiously, Burgum has not acted on an issue Trump has been very vocal about, the ending of new offshore wind projects.
Maybe Burgum’s not a true Trump loyalist. After all, he did run against Trump for the Republican nomination, only to drop out of the race when it was clear he could not win. Or perhaps because he has a personal affinity for wind power, which he supported as governor of North Dakota.
Regardless, he was appointed by Trump to serve as Interior Secretary and halting offshore wind is an easy task.
The Construction and Operations plans approved by the DOI contain a condition that if new information comes in, or previously existing information, information that should have been taken into account when various environmental impact statements and permits were approved, is discovered that materially impacts the justification of the approval, the Interior Department can issue a pause on ongoing work, while the information is reviewed to determine whether the permits were properly issued or need to be modified.
Biden’s DOI fast-tracked offshore wind approvals as part of the President’s climate change agenda. In doing so, it ignored its own rules to consider the cumulative impact of the separate offshore wind projects on the endangered North Atlantic right whale (NARW) and other protected marine mammals.
The offshore wind projects both individually and cumulatively pose a clear and present danger to the survival of NARW. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s expert in charge of the NARW has said as much in official government documents, an uncontested assessment that the Biden administration ignored in its rush to build offshore wind.
As a result, Burgum’s DOI has the legal authority to order a pause in the construction of the existing offshore wind projects. Not doing so would defy the president’s directive.
As a television personality, on his show, The Apprentice, Trump was known for the catchphrase, “You’re Fired,” dismissing contestant after contestant. During his first term of office, Trump fired numerous officials who failed in their missions, embarrassed him, or ignored his directives.
If Burgum doesn’t respect Trump’s explicit directive to end offshore wind by acting soon to pause pending construction under the legal power he holds before new work commences, perhaps he should be the next Trump employee to hear the famous catchphrase, “You’re Fired!”
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.
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