May 12, 2025 — The U.S. offshore wind industry was rocked less than 100 days into the new Trump administration, with aggressive moves by the White House to shut down Equinor’s Empire Wind project off New York and ongoing political pressure on Trump officials to do even more.
“Approval for the project was rushed through by the prior administration without sufficient analysis or consultation among the relevant agencies as relates to the potential effects from the project,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum wrote in an April 16 memo directing the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to halt construction activity.
Citing President Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order calling for a broad review of all offshore wind power projects in federal waters, Burgum wrote that the construction halt will remain pending review to “address these serious deficiencies.”