'With respect, bullshit': Trump official grilled on Orsted stop work order

A US senator grilled a Trump official who was unable to answer why the administration has issued a stop work order against Orsted’s Revolution Wind, as another lawsuit is filed challenging the “arbitrary and capricious” attack on the project.

Adam Suess, acting assistant secretary for lands and minerals management in the US Department of the Interior (DoI), came under fire from US congressman Seth Magaziner last week in a Congressional hearing.

Magaziner, who represents Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District, was asking Suess to explain the reasoning behind the stop work order the DoI's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued on 22 August against Revolution Wind.

That is a 704MW offshore wind project under construction off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut. Both states have contracted to purchase power from the project, which Denmark’s Orsted and BlackRock-owned Skyborn Renewables are developing as a 50-50 joint venture.

The project was 80% complete, with 45 out of 65 turbines already installed, when BOEM issued the stop work order.

At the hearing last week, Magaziner said that his constituents are currently “hurting” with high electricity costs, but that “an end is in sight” as Revolution Wind is contracted to meet more than a third of his state’s power demand at “well below the market rate”.

“But two weeks ago you halted the project, and I want to know why,” he asked Suess, whose department is led by Doug Burgum. Brandishing the one page stop work order, Magaziner added that there is “no clear rationale whatsoever”.

“Under review for what?” pressed Magaziner.

Suess, obviously struggling to find an answer, stumbled through a vague response: “It’s under review for… as explained in the President’s January 20th memorandum… and it requires that we work with obviously not just folks inside the Department of the Interior but also our colleagues at several other agencies, many other agencies,” he said, before Magaziner cut him off.

Philip Totaro, CEO of IntelStor, despaired at that suggestion, writing on LinkedIn last week that it’s just “utter nonsense every day” from the US government, and questioning why other wind farms aren’t in that case being stopped on the same basis.

“If the US administration believes that a US citizenship is worth $5m, does anyone want to buy mine from me so I can go live someplace where the government isn't so farcical?”

Back in the hearing, Magaziner pressed Suess again on why the project has been stopped, with the DoI official saying the order “speaks for itself” citing the “reasons listed in the stop work order.”

Unfortunately for Suess, Magaziner, with the order still in hand, swiftly pointed out that it “provides no reason for why work has been stopped. It provides no explanation for what is being reviewed or how long we are going to have to wait for this review or who is conducting it.”

Suess responded that: “What I would add, only, is that because the project is under review, consistent with the President’s 20 January memorandum, I have nothing more to say at this point.”

“Listen I appreciate that,” said Magaziner. “But with all due respect: bullshit.”

“There is nothing here in this stop work order that says why work has been stopped. No rationale has been presented. This project was fully approved, fully permitted, by every relevant agency.”

The order is impacting real people, stressed Magaziner, who said he had met with ironworkers, labourers and others who are “now facing unemployment and have no idea why,” as the country heads into winter when power prices spike.

The project is contracted to provide power at $0.09/kWh, said Magaziner, “less than half of our market rate for electricity.”

'Arbitrary and capricious'

The Congressional clash on Wednesday last week came a day before Rhode Island and Connecticut filed a lawsuit against the DoI, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and others in a Rhode Island district court over the order.

In the two states’ lawsuit, they describe Revolution Wind as a “cornerstone” of their “clean energy future," adding that it was “abruptly halted by federal officials without statutory authority, regulatory justification, or factual basis.”

“Such arbitrary and capricious government conduct” is not permitted by the relevant laws, argue the states. “Rather, these laws demand reasoned decision-making, fidelity to statutory limits, and respect for the settled expectations of sovereign States and regulated parties.”

The stop work order, they say, “fails to identify any deficiency in the nine-year regulatory review process” of Revolution Wind.

The states are asking that the court, among other things, declare the stop work order is arbitrary and capricious, that it is inconsistent with regulations, and that the court order that it is lifted.