The Trump administration has suspended the authority of five major offshore wind farms to keep building in federal waters, yet another escalation of the administration’s attacks on the wind energy industry.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a post on the social platform X that five leases, all on the East Coast, were being paused due to “national security concerns.”
“Due to national security concerns identified by @DeptofWar, @Interior is PAUSING leases for 5 expensive, unreliable, heavily subsidized offshore wind farms!” Burgum wrote.
“ONE natural gas pipeline supplies as much energy as these 5 projects COMBINED. @POTUS is bringing common sense back to energy policy & putting security FIRST!” he added.
A press release from the Interior Department particularly cited potential radar interference known as “clutter” from wind turbines. The department said that blade movement “obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets in the vicinity of the wind projects.”
The five offshore wind projects whose leases were halted are: Vineyard Wind 1, Revolution Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW), Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind. The projects are located near New England, Virginia and New York.
Together, these projects would be expected to generate enough electricity to power up to about 2.5 million homes, according to their project websites.
Their pause comes as the administration has repeatedly sought to hamper renewable energy — especially offshore wind.
This has included the issuance of “stop work orders” to halt construction of several offshore wind farms.
President Trump has repeatedly lambasted the renewable energy source. He has feuded with wind in both a political and business capacity, including opposing their presence near a Trump golf course.
The administration first sought to halt Empire Wind’s construction but later reversed itself after discussions with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D).
Meanwhile, after the Trump administration issued a stop work order to the nearly complete Revolution Wind, a federal judge preliminarily allowed its construction to move forward in September.
The suspension of the leases represents a further escalation of that effort — and another mechanism through which construction of wind power can be halted.
Dominion, which is behind the Virginia project, said in a statement that its project “is essential for American national security and meeting Virginia’s dramatically growing energy needs.”
“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. It will also lead to energy inflation and threaten thousands of jobs,” said the statement, shared by spokesperson Jeremy Slayton.
Slayton noted that the company got a 90-day stop work order. The statement said that the project has been in the works for 10 years, has been in “close coordination” with the military and has had two pilot turbines operating for five years without national security impacts.
Regarding Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind, company Ørsted released a statement saying it “is evaluating all options to resolve the matter expeditiously” including legal action.
“Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind are both in advanced stages of construction and will be ready to deliver reliable, affordable power to American homes in 2026,” the company said, adding that both projects had already consulted with the miliary during the permitting process.
A spokesperson for Equinor, the company behind the Empire Wind project, acknowledged the department’s action and said the company was looking for more information, in a written statement.
“We are aware of the stop work order announced by the Department of Interior involving five wind projects under offshore construction in the US. We are evaluating the order and seeking further information from the federal government,” said Equinor spokesperson David Schoetz.
The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), a trade group representing both offshore oil and offshore wind, said the administration should end the pause on the leases.
“Offshore wind improves our national security by shifting economic, infrastructure, and geopolitical advantages to the U.S. through increased shipbuilding, enhancements to our ports, greater energy security to power surging electricity demand, more manufacturing and good-paying jobs, additional business for the oil and gas supply chain, and collaborative opportunities for our military,” NOIA President Erik Milito said in a written statement. “In short, offshore wind helps the U.S. achieve its energy dominance goals.”
“We urge the administration [to] end this pause and to resist taking further action that may harm jobs and investment, as well as undermine our economic and geopolitical competition with China,” Milito said.
