The Trump administration took new action against offshore wind Monday, suspending leases for five offshore wind projects off the coast of New England, New York, and Virginia.
They include Vineyard Wind, which is staging construction out of New Bedford and has been sending power to the grid since 2024.
The Department of the Interior said classified reports have identified national security risks associated with turbines, but it did not specify the risks. The department said previous government reports have shown that turbines interfere with radar.
The move comes two weeks after the Trump administration’s loss in court over the memorandum the president issued the day he was sworn in, halting wind permitting.
By taking broader action now, the administration seems to be doubling-down on its antagonism of the offshore wind industry, said Kate Sinding Daly, senior vice president of law and policy at the Conservation Law Foundation, which supports offshore wind.
“We think that it's likely just as illegal or improper as the prior efforts to stop offshore wind development,” she said. “But it's a little bit of a different posture, because they're relying this time on what are purported to be classified reports about national security risks.”
The Interior Department said radar interference from turbines “obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets in the vicinity of the wind projects.”
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said the project is nearly complete and will eventually get done. What bothers him more is the timing, he said.
“What's significant, frankly, is just the callousness of the announcement,” he said. “The announcement today has the effect of throwing out of work a number of people on our waterfront who are working on that project, three days before Christmas.”
The suspension of leases for five projects — Vineyard Wind 1, Revolution Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (the commercial project, not the earlier pilot), Sunrise Wind, and Empire Wind — represents a halt to all large-scale offshore wind projects currently under construction in the United States, according to the Trump administration.
The Interior Department did not specify that turbines already in operation must be powered off, leaving that issue somewhat unclear.
“We have nothing further to add at this time,” a department spokesperson said in response to a question about whether turbines could keep running.
Mitchell said offshore wind locations were greenlighted long ago, including by the Department of Defense.
“DOD signed off on offshore wind leases there more than 15 years ago, and it's never come up,” he said. “And what's curious, too, is that there still are other offshore wind farms … that continue in operation.”
Two completed wind projects off the Northeast — South Fork Wind and Block Island Wind — were not affected by the decision.
Vineyard Wind did not respond to a request for comment.
Orsted, owner of Sunrise Wind and a 50-50 partner in Revolution Wind, said it received orders from Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Monday to suspend all activity on the Outer Continental Shelf for at least 90 days.
The Trump administration said the pause in wind leases would give government agencies time to work with states and leaseholders “to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects.”
The call for an assessment echoed Trump’s memorandum nearly a year ago on wind permits, in which he said permitting would stop temporarily, pending an assessment of relevant federal practices, including leasing. His administration has given no indication of the progress of the permitting assessment or when it will be complete.
