US Interior halts work on offshore wind projects, citing security risks

The US Interior Department on Dec. 22 suspended the leases for five offshore wind projects, citing classified national security risks identified by Department of Defense officials.

US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said new analysis by Defense officials showed that the projects posed unspecified national security risks to East Coast population centers.

Interior suspended leases from Massachusetts to Virginia, including for Dominion Energy's 2.6-GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. The project, due to be in service in 2026 and more than two-thirds complete, would be the largest on the Eastern seaboard.

The other projects affected are Avangrid's Vineyard Wind 1 project offshore Massachusetts, which is already generating power from a portion of its turbines; Orsted's Revolution Wind off the coast of Rhode Island and Sunrise Wind in New York; and Equinor's Empire Wind project, also off the coast of New York.

Interior said it was suspending the projects' wind leases due to "national security risks" identified by Defense officials in recently completed reports that it called "classified."

"Due to national security concerns ..., Interior is pausing leases for 5 expensive, unreliable, heavily subsidized offshore wind farms," Burgum posted on the social media platform X.

Dominion said in a Dec. 22 statement that its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, or CVOW, project is essential to providing reliable electricity to many of the US' most important military installations based in Virginia — including the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth — where warships are manufactured, as well as the largest concentration of data centers in the world in Loudoun County.

"Stopping CVOW for any length of time will threaten grid reliability for some of the nation's most important war-fighting, AI, and civilian assets," Dominion said. "It will also lead to energy inflation and threaten thousands of jobs."

A spokesperson for Equinor said that the company is "evaluating the order and seeking further information from the federal government."

The renewable energy industry has implored the administration in recent weeks that all sources of energy, including offshore wind, would be needed to meet incoming demand for electricity from expanding sectors including new manufacturing, data centers, and hyperscalers.

Interior said in a release that a 90-day pause on the five projects would give Interior, Defense, and other agencies more time to work with offshore wind leaseholders and state partners "to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects."

Interior identified these potential threats as "emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centers."

"The Trump administration will always prioritize the security of the American people," the agency said in a statement.

Groups representing the offshore renewable energy industry said any national security risks were addressed during the projects' initial siting process, which included the DOD and branches of the military.

The Biden administration reduced the size of some offshore wind energy areas after the US Navy raised radar interference. The DOD had found the largest impacts would be on the West Coast, where no offshore wind facilities are currently being built, and some limited areas along the Mid-Atlantic to the Carolinas.

Consultants with energy research firm ClearView Energy Partners issued a brief in response to the pause that said the Interior had contemplated some form of radar interference from all five of the wind projects during the Biden administration. But it also noted that for each of the projects' construction and operations plans, "it had consulted with US military agencies to mitigate and resolve these concerns."

Industry reacts

Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, which represents the offshore energy industry, in a Dec. 22 statement urged the Trump administration to work with the industry to quickly "end the pause on construction." Milito said that "every project under construction has already undergone review by the Department of Defense with no objections."

He added that Defense officials coordinated with the industry at every stage of permitting and development under a siting process required by law. Milito said his organization has been reiterating to the administration for months the need to allow these leases to continue.

The Oceantic Network, representing the offshore wind industry, said the pause would delay nearly 6 GW of new power generation needed to meet increasing demand for electricity. Oceantic Network CEO Liz Burdock said the action represents a "veiled attempt" to hide President Donald Trump's dislike for offshore wind, which would raise electricity prices and deter investment in new energy infrastructure.

"This newest claim contradicts years of rigorous, interagency reviews, as these projects have already passed explicit clearances from the Department of Defense and the Pentagon before construction began," Burdock added.

The pause follows recent industry court victories, including the decision by the US District Court for Massachusetts on Dec. 8 to vacate the administration's Jan. 20 permitting pause, "ruling it unlawful," Burdock said. On Sept. 22, a separate court ruling blocked the Interior's decision to halt construction of Revolution Wind, she noted.

ClearView said in its brief that "it may not be a coincidence" that the Dec. 22 pause occurred so soon after the Massachusetts court decision. "Simply put, the administration may view today's pause -- to use the president's term of art -- as a 'counterpunch' to judicial setbacks," the ClearView brief said.

Grid outlook

Neil Chatterjee, a chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission during the first Trump administration, called the action "reckless."

"As a Virginian who has seen my electric bills spike in both James City County and Fairfax County ... I find this to be incredibly reckless," Chatterjee said in a social media post. "It sets a terrible precedent at a time when we need every available electron to keep costs down for residents and maintain reliability."

"How are we going to support all the data centers? I was critical of the Biden administration for targeting fossil fuels. I am critical of this administration for targeting clean energy. Now more than ever we need it all," he added.

New England's grid operator reiterated a similar message.

ISO New England noted that the pause comes as the partially completed Vineyard Wind is already supplying power to the regional grid and Revolution Wind is poised to come online in 2026.

"Through the region's wholesale markets, both Vineyard Wind and Revolution Wind have committed to helping meet New England's demand for electricity," the grid operator said in a statement. "Both projects are included in our near-term and future modeling and analyses to ensure adequate electricity for New England."

Both projects are deemed important for system reliability during the winter when offshore wind output is highest, and other forms of fuel supply are constrained, the ISO's statement read. "While ISO-NE forecasts enough generation capacity is available for the current season, canceling or delaying these projects will increase costs and risks to reliability in our region."

Regions react

Democratic Governors Maura Healey of Massachusetts and Ned Lamont of Connecticut noted similar reliability and energy cost concerns stemming from the pause.

Virginia's two US senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, along with US Representative Bobby Scott, all Democrats, in a joint statement said, "This reckless, haphazard approach puts billions of dollars in private investment at risk, threatens thousands of good-paying American jobs coming to a veteran-heavy area, undermines energy security, and damages the credibility of the United States government."

Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, admonished the action in a social media post on X, saying he will "keep fighting to make sure these projects, the thousands of jobs they create, and the energy they provide can continue."