Policy

Who's next? Timeline to disaster in Trump’s war on offshore wind

Stop-work order against Revolution Wind latest escalation in the President's ongoing war against the industry

President Donald Trump
President Donald TrumpPhoto: White House
US Offshore Wind Editor, Recharge

In May 2024 when then-candidate Donald Trump vowed to put a stop to US offshore wind “on day one” of his next term, the industry took notice but was guardedly optimistic.

Would he stop future leasing and permitting? Probably. But would he dare interfere with fully permitted arrays? Or even projects under construction?

Surely the rule of law would weigh in the industry’s favour, allowing the 19GW legally approved under former President Joe Biden to proceed, or at the very minimum, the 5.9GW in construction.

Since then, though, Trump has shown a clear disregard for rule of law in many areas including energy, dashing offshore wind's hopes of a reprieve.

He has hammered it with order after order to stop both industry momentum and specific, fully approved projects, putting what Oceantic Network sees as $25bn in investment as well as the credibility of the nation at risk.

And now, with Trump’s move to kill Orsted’s 704MW Revolution Wind already 80% in the water, the industry is fully awake to the full scale of Trump’s power.

Below are some highlights of Trump’s war on offshore wind.

Memorandum in January

20 January: In what has now taken on mythic proportions, Trump’s anti-offshore wind memorandum put the industry on high alert.

As expected, the memorandum killed future leasing and permitting for the industry.

In what was perhaps less appreciated at the time, the memorandum also ordered the secretary of the Interior to “conduct a comprehensive review of the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases, identifying any legal bases for such removal.”

This is line that set in motion the administration’s attacks on existing arrays.

Early March: Offshore wind seemed to catch a break after the flurry of executive orders throughout February when Interior secretary Doug Burgum assured Bloomberg that “existing [projects] will receive different treatment than those that are proposed.”

The Department of Interior (DoI) oversees offshore energy development through the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

Three projects were in advanced construction: Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners-Iberdrola’s flagship 800MW Vineyard Wind to Massachusetts; Dominion Energy’s 2.6GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW); and Orsted's Revolution split between Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Equinor's 810MW Empire Wind 1 was just starting offshore installation, as was Orsted's 924MW Sunrise Wind, both to New York.

Burgum’s statements followed those he made during confirmation hearings that he would back offshore wind projects “that make sense and are in law”.

This would quickly prove to not be the case.

Voided permit for Atlantic Shores in March

14 March: In the administration’s first shot across the bow of approved projects, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) voided the Clean Air permit for EDF’s (then with Shell) 1.5GW Atlantic Shores array to New Jersey.

This project had long been in Trump’s crosshairs, which he long wanted it “dead and gone”.

Atlantic Shores may have been an easy target for the administration. The project had struggled with offtake woefully inadequate after years of inflation sent industry costs spiralling. It had begun onshore construction but had yet to go into offshore installation, and Recharge was long skeptical it could proceed regardless.

The cancellation of Atlantic Shores’ Clean Air permit came after a request by plaintiffs Save Long Beach Island in a federal suit against the array.

This put in play another element of Trump’s Inauguration Day memorandum, which allowed the Department of Justice (DoJ), defender of the federal government against lawsuits, to “stay the litigation or otherwise delay further litigation, or seek other appropriate relief consistent with this order.”

This opened the door to DoJ choosing to side with plaintiffs against the federal government’s own decisions.

As the industry would quickly realize, this was just the start.

Stop-work order against Empire Wind

16 April: As the months followed Trump’s memorandum, industry insiders were largely in the dark regarding the ordered project reviews. Were they actually even happening? Few insiders contacted by Recharge had any clue of their status.
On 16 April, the industry got its answer, as Burgum issued a stop-work order against Equinor’s $5bn Empire Wind 1 to New York.

“Pursuant to that review, staff of the Department of the Interior has obtained information that raises serious issues with respect to the project approvals” for Empire, Burgum wrote.

In contrast to Atlantic Shores, Empire had already gone into at-sea installation.

Equinor had already reached final investment decision, with costly upgrades to its marshalling port South Brooklyn Marine Terminal fully underway. The project had already deployed some $2bn in capital and was 30% completed.

The industry was now fully awake to the potential of Trump to disrupt all projects.

And yet, hope persisted that this was all part of Trump’s unorthodox negotiating tactics, which was bolstered only weeks later.

19 May: After four weeks and an estimated $200m in losses, the Trump administration abruptly lifted its stop-work order against Empire.
Though cloaked in secrecy, the lifting of the order followed weeks of strenuous lobbying by the Norwegian and New York State governments, and many allege the greenlighting of a natural gas pipeline by the state.

Burgum said on social media that he was encouraged by Hochul's "willingness to move forward on critical pipeline capacity".

Critically, the project was restarted without any amendment to its supposedly problematic permits. When E&E News by Politico requested to see the permits, the document presented was almost entirely redacted.

Following resumption of work at Empire, the administration focused on passage of the budget bill, including debates over just how hard it intended to hit wind and solar power through restrictions to tax credits.

The result was passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) that did greatly restrict access for wind and solar projects to access production (PTC) and investment (ITC) tax credits, but not as sharply as Trump wanted.
The President followed this yet another order demanding the Treasury Department tighten its rules on access.

Meanwhile, litigation and further efforts to curtail the industry continued apace.

Face-off in Maryland

Early July: The EPA got back into the game by reopening approved permits for US Wind’s 1.5GW Maryland arrays without voiding them – yet. The project will face off with opponents in Maryland Federal District court 6 September, and DoJ has already indicated that voiding its permits is a distinct possibility.

Tax credits and tariffs continued to concern the industry, raising costs and uncertainty, yet projects continued to make progress.

Vineyard Wind regained momentum following its blade collapse last summer and is on track for completion by year’s end.

Dominion is making record progress on CVOW and was 60% complete at the beginning of August, with 134 out of a total 176 foundations installed and towers and nacelles readied.

Sunrise has confirmed that pile driving of offshore foundations has begun.

Analysts were increasingly confident that, despite the rhetoric, and ongoing litigation, with power demand surging, the administration would allow these projects to continue to completion.

But with Revolution’s stop-work order, the industry can only wonder: who's next?

(Copyright)

Related

Published 25 August 2025, 05:02Updated 25 August 2025, 05:02
AmericasUSDonald TrumpOrstedDominion Energy