The Trump administration has stopped the construction of a vast wind farm off the coast of New York, which is designed to provide sufficient electricity to supply 500,000 homes.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the Biden administration “rushed” through “approval of the Empire Wind 1 project” without sufficient analysis “.
The stop is a big blow to the US wind industry, which was supported by former President Joe Biden – but was strongly directed by President Trump.
In the days after his return to the position of Trump, a series of executive orders aimed at the industry – including the temporary freezing of federal permits and loans for offshore and on the shores of wind projects.
“We will not do the wind,” Trump said at the time, calling them “big, ugly windmills” that were dangerous to the wild.
New York Governor, Katie Hochul, Democrat, defined the stopping of the Wind Empire 1 as “federal excessively” and said he would fight “every step of the road”.
Equinor, the Norwegian company that runs the Empire Wind project, said in a statement: “We decided to stop offshore construction of the project after the order.”
“We will commit to the administration to find out why the order was issued after we have received all permits before.”
Equinor acquired a site lease from the Federal Government in 2017 and according to its website the project had to supply 810 MW energy to Brooklyn, feeding 500,000 homes.
Trump previously claims, without evidencethat wind turbines kill whales.
Before becoming president, he fights – and ultimately failed – to stop the construction of a wind power plant off the coast of his golf course in Aberdeshire, Scotland.