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| The Trump administration's latest tack to stop offshore wind generation is to claim "national security" Not everyone is buying that argument. |
He hates "clean energy" and for some reason loves just LOVES oil and coal.
He's put out all kinds of false narratives about wind turbines causing cancer, killing off all birds and, being unreliable because the wind doesn't always blow. Maybe he's never heard of batteries?
Trump keeps losing court cases in which entities sue his administration over efforts to shut down the turbines. Now, we have the latest effort.
Here's Fox New's lead on the report:
"President Donald Trump's Department of Interior announced on Monday that, effective immediately, leases for all large-scale offshore wind projects being constructed in the United States will be paused.
In a press release, DOI wrote that the pause is due to 'national security risks' identified by the Department of War in 'recently completed classified reports.'"
There were not many hints as to what those supposed security risks are.
As an aside, Trump and Pete Hegseth want to call it the Department of War, but the legal name of the agency is still Department of Defense
Anyway. the Department of Interior gave these details, which aren't very detailed:
"Today's action addresses 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."
Well, that word salad doesn't help much.
The pause on offshore wind farms affect projects off the New England, New York and Virginia coasts
The Interior Department referenced unclassified reports that large offshore turbine blades can cause "clutter" which is radar interference that can obscure moving targets or generate false radar returns.
In some radar images, wind farms do cause clutter. For instance, on some days, you see what appears to be a persistent, stationary shower on Doppler weather radar over northeast New York. That "shower" is a large wind installation.
However, the Trump administration has been so untrustworthy, you have to wonder if this national security story is legit. Wind turbines have been around for a long time. You'd think the Defense Department would have figured out how to deal with them by now.
This "national security threat" might be just another tactic to stop the offshore wind installations
As the Associated Press reports:
"The pause.....is the latest step the administration has taken to hobble offshore wind in its push against renewable energy sources. It comes two weeks after a federal judge struck down President Donald' Trump's executive order blocking wind energy projects, calling it unlawful."
There are other indications that the "national security" might be just an excuse to scuttle wind projects. "The record of decision all show that the Department of Defense was consulted at every stage of the permitting process," said Kirk Lippold, a national security expert and former Commander of the USS Cole.
Cole noted that the projects had been awarded permits following years of review by state and federal agencies. You'd think the Department of Defense would have raised red flags ages ago if these wind projects were interfering with our defense capabilities.
I imagine there will be lawsuits out of this.
We're already hearing grumblings of some sort of court action. Probably from more than one source.
The Conservation Law Foundation called the offshore wind development pause "a desperate rerun of the Trump administration' failed attempt to kill offshore wind." The Foundation, in their statement, already noted courts have already rejected Trump's attempts to kill offshore wind.
Then there's this from Ted Kelly of the Environmental Defense Fund:
"For nearly a year, the Trump administration has recklessly obstructed the build-out of clean, affordable power for millions of Americas, just as the country's need for electricity is surging.....Now the administration is again illegally kneecapping America's largest source of renewable power, especially the we need more cheap, homegrown electricity"
Kelly said the Trump administration's actions are especially rich since they're propping up aging, expensive coal plants "that rarely work and pollute our air."
Speaking of things that rarely work, the Trump administration seems to lose most of their court cases, except in the Supreme Court, which is solidly MAGA. The new roadblock is the "classified documents" The Interior Department claims. It sounds like it could be a way to avoid sharing documents in the discovery phase of any lawsuits.
In any event, some lawyers are going to have a great 2026, thanks to the Trump crowd.
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