Trump Administration Targets Offshore Wind Farms, Citing National Security Concerns

Trump administration targets offshore wind farms, citing national security concerns

By Dan Vergano edited by Claire Cameron

The Trump administration announced Monday that it was “suspending – effective immediately” the leases of five large offshore wind farms under construction off the East Coast. In the announcement, Interior Department Secretary Doug Burgum cited “emerging national security risks” to justify the decision, but the agency provided no evidence as to the risks found.

The five projects affected by the pause are located offshore New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Virginia. About 5.8 gigawatts of offshore wind power are expected to come online in the United States between 2025 and 2029, enough to power millions of homes on the East Coast. Some $10 billion has been invested in the U.S. wind industry since 2021. The Trump administration’s decision puts both that investment and future energy capacity at risk.

A statement announcing the decision Monday said the wind turbines caused radar “clutter,” referencing a 2024 Department of Energy report that examined the effect of wind turbines on radar systems.

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This report warned that the clutter of wind turbines in the line of sight of defense and civilian radar systems could cause interference and lead to false alarms. One strategy to mitigate this problem, the report notes, is to lower radar detection thresholds, which reduces clutter but could result in the loss of “live targets.” Another option proposed by the report is to ensure that wind farms are not built within the field of view of a radar.

“We should not bring America’s largest source of renewable energy to its knees, especially when we need more cheap, locally produced electricity,” Ted Kelly of US Clean Energy at the Environmental Defense Fund said in a statement. “Instead, this administration has baselessly and illegally attacked wind energy,” he added.

One of the affected projects, the Virginia Coast Offshore Wind Project, was carried out “in close coordination with the military,” according to a spokesperson for Dominion Energy, which operates the wind farm, in comments to New York Times. Indeed, wind farm operators, scientists and the military have worked together for decades to minimize the radar effects of wind farms. Burgum told Fox Business on Monday that the decision to pause the projects was made because the Department of Defense “came back conclusively that…these large offshore wind programs are creating radar interference.”

The Interior Ministry and Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Editor’s note: This story is under development and may be updated.

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