January 23, 2025 — Amid a flurry of executive actions on his first day in office, President Donald Trump sought to put the brakes on offshore wind, halting the federal permitting of wind farms and wind-energy leasing of the Outer Continental Shelf.
On Cape Cod and the South Coast, where offshore wind is becoming part of the local economy, supporters and opponents are talking about what the order will mean.
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said the city’s position — supporting and courting offshore wind, but also challenging wind-farm locations fishermen view as unacceptable — has been informed by a desire to create jobs in New Bedford. And those jobs could be in jeopardy.
“If this goes as far as it conceivably could, this order — there will be some people who’ll lose their jobs,” he said.
But the mayor of Vineyard Wind’s primary construction port doesn’t oppose every piece of Trump’s order.
Mitchell said some of the lease areas off New York and the Mid-Atlantic warrant review because of their conflicts with commercial fishing.