Trump Pauses Federal Leases and Permits for Wind Energy Projects

One of the many executive orders President Donald Trump signed on his first day back in office temporarily stopped the United States’ sale of offshore wind leases in federal waters.

It also paused permits, approvals and loans for offshore and onshore wind projects.

“On day one, the Trump administration is putting dirty fossil fuels front and center while delaying progress on renewable energy projects. This is as harmful as it is wrong headed. Putting the brakes on homegrown wind energy is not only bad for clean air, public health, and national security — it cuts short a promising source of additional power at a time when our electricity grid needs it most,” said Kit Kennedy, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)’s managing director for power, in a press release from NRDC.

Wind energy is currently the largest renewable energy source in the United States, providing more than 10 percent of the country’s power. Ninety-nine percent of onshore wind projects are on private lands and cannot be stopped by federal action.

Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa are the top four states for wind power production. More than 131,000 Americans are employed by the wind industry.

The U.S. Secretary of the Interior will review practices for wind leasing and permitting for federal lands and waters, reported The Associated Press. The order states that the assessment will consider factors such as wind projects’ impacts on wildlife, the effect subsidies have on the wind industry’s viability and the economic costs of intermittent electricity generation.

When asked about committing to continuing already issued offshore wind leases during recent confirmation hearings, Doug Burgum, whom Trump selected to be the next interior secretary, said projects that are already established by law and those that “make sense” will continue.

“I’m not familiar with every project that the Interior has underway, but I’ll certainly be taking a look at all of those, and if they make sense and they’re already in law, then they’ll continue,” Burgum said during the hearings, as The Washington Post reported.

According to the American Clean Power Association, 73 gigawatts of offshore capacity are currently under development, enough to provide wind-generated power for 30 million homes, reported The Associated Press.

Trump’s executive order also temporarily halts the development of Magic Valley Energy’s Lava Ridge Wind Project, located in Idaho. A scaled-down version of the wind farm was approved by the U.S. government in December after local groups opposed it due to its proximity to a World War II site where thousands of Japanese Americans were incarcerated.

“We think the EO is likely to significantly curtail the U.S. offshore wind industry over at least the next four years,” said Timothy Fox, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners, in an email to The Washington Post. “The EO could have negative implications beyond Trump’s term because project developers may be wary of investing in a sector that faces demonstrable high election risk.”

CEO of the American Clean Power Association Jason Grumet warned that the order could have a detrimental effect on states like Oklahoma, Texas and Iowa that supported Trump in the last election.

“States voting for President Trump are eight of the top ten states in terms of reliance on wind power with many depending on wind for a significant share of their electricity use,” Grumet said, as The Washington Post reported.

It is not clear how much authority Trump has to shut down wind projects, especially those that already have federal permits, and the executive order will likely face legal challenges, reported The Associated Press.

Onshore wind is one of the least expensive power sources, with an average cost of roughly $31 per megawatt hour for new projects. Estimates from the Energy Information Administration say new natural gas plants will likely cost almost $43 per megawatt hour.

During his campaign, Trump promised to stop offshore wind and ramp up production of fossil fuels, with a plan to make U.S. energy the cheapest in the world.

“This is bad for American workers, as well. The growing U.S. wind industry and its manufacturing supply chain are creating quality jobs and growing local economies along our coasts and across the Midwest. This announcement put those investments — and the jobs that go with them — at mortal risk,” Kennedy said in the press release.