December 22, 2025
2 min learn
Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm
Trump Administration Targets Offshore Wind Farms, Citing Nationwide Safety Issues
The U.S. Division of the Inside introduced it will “pause” leases for 5 giant offshore wind farms, imperiling the fast-growing clear vitality trade
Pilot venture generators for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Program, slated to be accomplished in 2026.
Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune Information Service/Getty Photographs
The Trump administration on Monday introduced it was “pausing—efficient instantly” leases for 5 giant offshore wind farms being constructed off the East Coast. Within the announcement, Division of the Inside secretary Doug Burgum cited “rising nationwide safety dangers” for the choice, however the company offered no proof as to what dangers had been discovered.
The 5 tasks affected by the pause are offshore of New York State, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Virginia. Round 5.8 gigawatts of offshore wind was anticipated to come back on-line within the U.S. between 2025 to 2029—sufficient to energy hundreds of thousands of properties throughout the Japanese Seaboard. Some $10 billion has been invested within the U.S. wind trade since 2021. The Trump administration determination imperils each that funding and future vitality capability.
An announcement asserting the choice on Monday indicated that wind generators precipitated radar “litter,” referencing a 2024 Vitality Division report that regarded into wind generators’ impact on radar techniques.
On supporting science journalism
If you happen to’re having fun with this text, think about supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By buying a subscription you might be serving to to make sure the way forward for impactful tales in regards to the discoveries and concepts shaping our world at this time.
That report warned that litter from wind generators within the line of sight of protection and civilian radar techniques may cause interference and result in false alarms. One technique to mitigate this downside, the report famous, is to decrease radar detection thresholds—which reduces the litter however may end in lacking “precise targets.” Another choice the report proposed is to make sure wind farms aren’t in-built a radar’s line of sight.
“We shouldn’t be kneecapping America’s largest supply of renewable energy, particularly once we want extra low cost, homegrown electrical energy,” mentioned Ted Kelly of U.S. Clear Vitality on the Environmental Protection Fund, in a press release. “As an alternative, this administration has baselessly and unlawfully attacked wind vitality,” he added.
One of many affected tasks, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind venture, was sited “in shut coordination with the navy,” in line with a spokesperson for Dominion Vitality, which operates the wind farm, in feedback to the New York Occasions. Certainly, wind farm operators, scientists and the navy have collaborated on minimizing radar results of wind farms for many years. Burgum on Monday informed Fox Enterprise that the choice to pause the tasks got here as a result of the Division of Protection “has come again conclusively that … these giant offshore wind packages create radar interference.”
The Division of the Inside and the Division of Protection didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Editor’s Notice: This story is in growth and could also be up to date.
It’s Time to Stand Up for Science
If you happen to loved this text, I’d wish to ask to your help. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and trade for 180 years, and proper now could be the most crucial second in that two-century historical past.
I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I used to be 12 years previous, and it helped form the best way I have a look at the world. SciAm at all times educates and delights me, and conjures up a way of awe for our huge, stunning universe. I hope it does that for you, too.
If you happen to subscribe to Scientific American, you assist make sure that our protection is centered on significant analysis and discovery; that we’ve the sources to report on the selections that threaten labs throughout the U.S.; and that we help each budding and dealing scientists at a time when the worth of science itself too typically goes unrecognized.
In return, you get important information, charming podcasts, sensible infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch movies, difficult video games, and the science world’s greatest writing and reporting. You’ll be able to even present somebody a subscription.
There has by no means been a extra essential time for us to face up and present why science issues. I hope you’ll help us in that mission.
