US President Donald Trump has put a temporary halt to offshore wind lease sales and paused permits for both onshore and offshore wind projects.
Renewable energy companies have reacted with dismay after the President signed his wind energy executive order yesterday.
Trump, who has made it clear he wants to increase drilling for oil and gas, has long been critical of offshore wind.
Oceantic Network described the move as a “blow to an American energy industry” that “will hurt hundreds of US companies and thousands of workers”.
Chief executive officer Liz Burdock said the wind energy executive order was “more than baffling”.
“It flies in the face of our current energy crisis and the new administration’s priorities on American-made energy,” she said.
“Our country is in dire need of gigawatts of new power, yet the Trump administration issued an executive order pausing new offshore wind leasing and permitting, which would bring much-needed energy to American homes and businesses.
“Offshore wind energy is good for the economy. It provides tens of billions to the federal government through leasing and annual payments from private developers.
“Stopping federal leasing and permitting will result in less energy, less income to pay our national deficit, and less funds to support tax cuts.
“Not to mention, the more substantial contribution to revenue that comes once commercial operations have begun.”
She added that offshore wind plays a “critical role” in solving America’s energy crisis.
The American Clean Power Association chief executive officer Jason Grumet said ACP “strongly opposes” blanket measures to halt or impede development of domestic wind energy on federal lands and waters.
He added: “The possibility that the federal government could seek to actively oppose energy production by American companies on private land is at odds with our nation’s character as well as our national interests.
“Wind power is an essential element of our ability to serve soaring electricity demand for manufacturing and data centres that are key to national security.
“It is also playing a growing role in our energy systems in red and blue states across the country.
“In fact, states voting for President Trump are eight of the top 10 states in terms of reliance on wind power with many depending on wind for a significant share of their electricity use.
“Restricting wind development in these regions is certain to increase consumer energy bills.”
The wind energy executive order states that the interior secretary will review wind leasing and permitting practices for federal waters and lands.
The environmental impact of developments on wildlife, economic costs and the effect of subsidies on the viability of the wind sector will all be assessed.
Trump has also issued executive orders declaring an “energy emergency”, and pulling the US out of the Paris climate agreement.
The energy emergency order aims to “unleash” American energy production by reviewing all existing regulations that impose what he called an “undue burden” on oil, natural gas, and coal.
The president directed agencies to immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, with specific reference to funding for electric vehicles.
Trump has directed federal permitting agencies to scrap regulations and policies that factor in the “social cost” of greenhouse gases and carbon emissions in assessing infrastructure projects.
The practice is “marked by logical deficiencies, a poor basis in empirical science, politicization, and the absence of a foundation in legislation”, Trump’s order reads.
“Its abuse arbitrarily slows regulatory decisions and, by rendering the United States economy internationally uncompetitive, encourages a greater human impact on the environment by affording less efficient foreign energy producers a greater share of the global energy and natural resource market”, it added.