I woke up to what seemed like a cryptic Xweet from Protect Our Coast NJ this morning.
It was pretty hard to believe what I was reading was actually what the words were saying.
…There was a shocking announcement last night that the federal government reversed course on the Empire Wind Project. We were as stunned to see this news as anyone. We believe that offshore wind anywhere is a terrible idea. And this project off New York and New Jersey lies in an especially important area—from a national security, environmental and economic perspective.
We supported the President’s policy against offshore wind development. And we celebrated Secretary Bergum’s decision to stop the Empire Wind project a few weeks ago. At the time, he said Equinor ‘rushed through by the prior administration without sufficient analysis or consultation among the relevant agencies as relates to the potential effects from the project.’
Last month when @SecretaryBurgum made this statement and shut down Empire Wind, we applauded his advocacy of sound energy and environmental policy. His about face is extraordinary, considering nothing changed in the intervening period of time. The project was still rushed through under the Biden White House…
Especially since just a month ago, it seemed like cooler heads had prevailed. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum halted the massive Empire Wind project and ordered what was termed a ‘sprawling review’ into how the permits had been issued and what shortcuts had been taken to get the remaining bits of the project approved before the Trump administration could take office.
Sure as shootin’, late last night, there was an abrupt switch in the wind direction.
The Trump administration has lifted a stop-work order on Empire Wind 1, allowing construction to continue on the offshore wind farm.
The project, being built off the coast of Long Beach, would power 500,000 homes in New York City, according to Citizens Campaign for the Environment executive director Adrienne Esposito.
Empire Wind 1 was already under construction when the Department of Interior announced the stop-work order on April 16.
As you can imagine, the folks who have fought this for so long and thought they had won a lengthy reprieve, if not an outright victory, are stunned.
EMPIRE WIND IS BACK ON TRACK—BOEM just lifted the stop work order on the project. Bad news for our marine ecosystem, fisheries & coastal tourism. Construction will now resume—despite major unanswered environmental & economic questions. Only 30% built—but 100% wrong for our coast.… pic.twitter.com/7Lq6sAw3PG
— SaveLBI (@saveLBIorg) May 20, 2025
Utterly gobsmacked.
There are no words.
There was a shocking announcement last night that the federal government reversed course on the Empire Wind Project. We were stunned to see this news. We believe that offshore wind anywhere is a terrible idea. And this project off New York and New Jersey lies… https://t.co/ND0DvZGuib
— Protect Our Coast NJ (@njcoast_protect) May 20, 2025
I guess it turns out that there were more things spinning than simply waving a wand over the project could vanquish with the flick of a ‘stop that right now‘ wrist.
International relations is one of them. I can only assume that at the time Burgum put the brakes on Empire Wind – with heavy Danish and Norwegian investments already as sunk costs – Trump was also trying to work through his Liberation Day tariff strategy.
Lights begin to go on when one realizes that Equinor, the company responsible for the project, is mainly owned by the government of Norway (the owner is literally listed as the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Fisheries). It is primarily a petroleum multinational energy company with a renewables division, not an independent wind development contractor.
The project pause was pushing Equinor ‘to the brink of collapse.’
Equinor has called the Trump administration’s order to halt construction at its New York offshore wind project “unlawful,” “unprecedented” and “urgent.” But it hasn’t said any of those things in the place that matters most: a courtroom.
The Norwegian oil giant’s decision not to challenge the Interior Department’s April order on Empire Wind 1 points to growing economic and political risks facing the 54-turbine project — and the future of offshore wind in the U.S.
…The administration’s order has sent shock waves through the offshore wind industry as a warning of the lengths that President Donald Trump will go to target renewable energy. It came as the administration works to repeal climate rules on fossil fuel power plants, eviscerate environmental programs, and accelerate permitting for oil and gas production.
Empire Wind 1 was on the edge of profitability even before Interior’s order, as rising costs ate into its already slim profit estimates. The fight over its future comes as oil companies like BP and Shell have pulled back from their plans to build offshore wind projects, once a centerpiece of their climate plans. And it’s raising questions about whether European wind developers, which dominate the offshore industry, will build in American waters again — regardless of who’s in the White House.
Many European wind companies assumed they shared similar interests with U.S. officials, “only to find out we were operating in a banana republic with jungle law,” said Kristian Ascanius Jacobsen, CEO of Green Ducklings, a Danish offshore wind consultancy. Companies are cautiously weighing future investments in the U.S by asking “is it worth the risk when the repercussions of such an investment are so high,” he said.
Those two countries’ – Norway and Denmark – representatives must have pitched a holy fit in private about how uncertainty concerning outright cancellation of projects during administration changeovers would impact future foreign investment in the States because of the tune they’re singing now that Burgum has reversed himself so expediently.
…Norwegian Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg, a former NATO chief who had discussed Equinor’s case with U.S. policy makers, said the deal to unblock the wind farm was ultimately a matter to be settled between U.S. authorities.
…More broadly, he said the reversal was good news for investors in the U.S. as the stop-work order threatened to create uncertainty after permits had been granted by U.S. authorities.
Equinor had warned it stood to lose billions of dollars due to the order which sent shockwaves through the offshore wind industry, raising concerns that fully permitted developments representing billions in investment are not safe.“This was an extraordinary situation where a fully concepted and approved project was stopped. I take it as a very positive sign that explaining the facts of this has changed the position,” Equinor CEO Anders Opedal told Reuters.
…Equinor, which had warned it was spending $50 million weekly to keep the project afloat during the suspension, said it would now work with suppliers and regulatory bodies to minimise the impact of the delay.Equinor purchased the Empire Wind lease during Trump’s first administration in 2017, and the 810-megawatt project was approved under former President Joe Biden in 2023.
The project, which will use wind turbines from Vestas (VWS.CO), opens new tab, is 30% complete, according to the company.
But it turns out international pressure wasn’t all that got Empire Wind a green light again – oh, no, no, no.
Seems that New York’s governor is suddenly open to the idea of allowing natural gas pipelines in the state.
Well…huh.
Sure seems like the Constitution natural gas pipeline — effectively rejected by the Cuomo administration — is potentially back on the table.
— Jon Campbell (@JonCampbellNY) May 19, 2025
VURT DA FURK?
Have we just seen a massive energy prisoner swap go down?
It looks like it, doesn’t it?
And everyone loses something when those happen, even as someone else gains.
The Trump administration has lifted a month-old stop-work order on Empire Wind, a $5 billion wind farm project off the coast of New York, in a compromise with the state that could also see cancelled plans for a gas pipeline revived, officials said on Tuesday.
…U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who had issued the stop order on Empire Wind on April 16, said he was encouraged that New York Governor Kathy Hochul will now allow new gas pipeline capacity to move forward.
The deal could revive plans to build a gas pipeline from Pennsylvania’s drilling fields which was blocked on environmental grounds in 2020.
“Americans who live in New York and New England would see significant economic benefits and lower utility costs from increased access to reliable, affordable, clean American natural gas,” Burgum wrote in a post on X on Monday.
Hochul in a statement said New York would work with the U.S. administration and private entities on projects that meet the legal requirements under New York law.
Norway’s happy, Denmark’s happy, nat gas pipeline company is happy, Kathy Hochul is happy, Mayor Adams is happy…
The Empire Wind 1 project is going to be such a game changer for both working-class New Yorkers and the future of our city.
Really want to thank all our partners and @POTUS’s administration for helping us get this project back on track. pic.twitter.com/6W7RU4Li9M
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) May 20, 2025
…and anti-wind activists are heartbroken. Their federal lawsuit against the project’s permitting is still pending, as my girlfriend Leslie Eastman noted at Legal Insurrection yesterday.
…These organizations claim that U.S. government agencies broke environmental laws by approving the Empire Wind offshore wind project without properly protecting marine mammals or fully studying the environmental impacts..
The main issue is that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) gave Empire Wind permission through what’s called an Incidental Take Authorization (ITA) to disturb or harm thousands of marine mammals during the project. This includes more than 30% of a specific dolphin population each year, which the lawsuit says is far more than the law allows under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The plaintiffs argue this level of harm is both illegal and dangerous for the species.
Authorizing the Take of nearly one-third of a protected dolphin population in a single year, and the majority of that population over the course of the project’s 5-year period, is not just illegal, it’s ecologically reckless,” said Dr. Robert Stern, President of Save LBI. “This lawsuit is about enforcing the scientific and legal limits of takes to ensure marine mammals don’t become collateral damage in the senseless rush to industrialize the ocean,” said Dr. Stern.
It’s going to be quite a hill to climb now, and we’re going to see how obstructive – if at all – the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Dept of Interior are in the discovery phases.
Who knows? That might be part of the plan, too.
What if – in a perfect fairytale world – Burgum throws the gates back open for the project to proceed, but, keeping with their promises of transparency, he also exposes all the underhanded permitting skullduggery which allowed it to be okayed to begin with?
The courts could shut Empire Wind down for the administration.
Stranger things have happened.
Right now it’s a bummer.
