Saving Seafood

Trump cites national security to stop offshore wind development. Here’s what to know

July 17, 2026 — President Donald Trump’s administration has worked to stop offshore wind development on the grounds that it’s a national security risk since late last year.

It halted work on major projects, and it’s buying back leases, citing national security concerns. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says a classified report from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth proves offshore wind is a national security threat.

This comes against the backdrop of the Republican president’s hatred of wind turbines and desire to boost fossil fuels for “energy dominance” in the global market. National lab estimates show that turbines installed along the U.S. coasts could provide more than enough power to cover the nation’s annual electricity consumption.

Wind turbines interfere with radar, but that isn’t a new problem. The Pentagon reviews wind farm construction plans and can deem areas off limits. There are upgrades to radar to mitigate turbine impacts.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

Trump Administration Advances First Offshore Critical Minerals Lease Sale Under New Marine Minerals Agency

July 17, 2026 — The Trump administration has taken another step toward launching a U.S. offshore critical minerals industry, with the newly created Marine Minerals Administration (MMA) releasing a proposed leasing notice that could lead to the first federal deep-sea mineral lease sale in U.S. waters.

The proposal covers federal waters off American Samoa and marks one of the first major regulatory actions by the MMA since the Trump administration announced plans in April to merge the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) into a single offshore regulator.

The proposed lease sale is part of the administration’s broader effort to secure domestic supplies of critical minerals—including nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese—that are widely used in batteries, defense systems and advanced manufacturing while reducing dependence on Chinese-controlled supply chains.

“Critical minerals have become a strategic asset in global competition, and China’s dominance in the supply of many of these materials creates unacceptable risks for America’s energy, defense and manufacturing sectors,” Acting MMA Director Matt Giacona said.

Read the full article at gCaptain

Congressional Democrats warn against merging offshore energy agencies

July 10, 2026 — The catastrophic 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster led to the splitting of the federal Marine Minerals Administration into two separate agencies – one focused on offshore leasing and production, and another on safety.

Now Democratic leaders in Congress are sounding the alarm over the Trump administration’s move to reunite the agencies’ functions under one roof.

The April 2010 well blowout and fire killed 11 platform workers, discharged an estimated 4.9 billion barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and was only declared sealed five months later in September 2010.

Economic and environmental damages from the disaster led a year later to the creation of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to handle offshore energy management, alongside the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).

In a July 8 letter to the Government Accountability Office, Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., of the House Natural Resources Committee called for investigating the Department of the Interior’s proposal to recreate a unified Marine Minerals Administration.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Dems request probe of offshore agency reorganization

July 9, 2026 — Top Democrats on Wednesday called on Congress’ watchdog to investigate the Trump administration’s decision to merge two existing bureaus within the Interior Department to oversee offshore oil and gas, wind and mining.

Senate Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and House Natural Resources ranking member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate whether a consolidation could undermine beefed up oversight created after the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil disaster in 2010.

The letter — also signed by California Democrats Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Luz Rivas — zeroes in on the administration’s decision in April to consolidate the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to create a new Marine Minerals Administration.

Read the full article at E&E News

BOEM Initiates First Step to Explore Potential for Outer Continental Shelf Space Launch & Recovery

July 7, 2026 — The following was released by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management:

Supporting the Trump Administration’s bold vision to strengthen U.S. space leadership, launch capacity, re-entry, and recovery infrastructure, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today announced the publication of a Request for Information to explore the potential use of the Outer Continental Shelf for offshore space launch and re-entry activities.

The request, scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on July 8, opens a 30-day comment period for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to gather technical, environmental, and operational information from industry, researchers and other stakeholders that will help inform potential future activities, interagency coordination, and planning for offshore space launches and recovery.

Trump budget attacks renewables, boosts ‘energy dominance’

April 3, 2026 — The White House released its fiscal 2027 budget request Friday morning, unveiling plans to continue waging its longstanding war against renewable energy and climate initiatives while boosting support for artificial intelligence and fossil fuels.

The spending blueprint also includes a proposed reorganization for core Interior Department energy offices — the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

President Donald Trump’s budget would take a sledgehammer to Biden-era energy and environment programs that the administration has not already decimated, proposing tens of billions of dollars in cuts to everything from electric vehicle chargers to efforts to prosecute certain environmental crimes.

Read the full article at E&E News

Judge grants BOEM request to reconsider key permit for SouthCoast Wind

November 5, 2025 –A judge on Tuesday granted a federal agency’s request to remand a key permit that it had given in January to SouthCoast Wind, an offshore wind project planned off the Massachusetts coast.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Interior Department agency that manages offshore wind development, in September asked a judge for a remand so that it can reconsider its approval, which greenlit project construction for up to 147 turbines south of Nantucket and Vineyard Wind.

BOEM is effectively re-opening the review, which started in 2021 and lasted years, citing President Donald Trump’s day-one wind memo directing the Interior Department to carry out a “comprehensive review of the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases.”

The agency could ultimately decide to revoke the SouthCoast Wind permit, or require new conditions for the developer to meet to receive approval.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

BOEM cancels all offshore Wind Energy Area designations

August 1, 2025 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) dealt a massive blow against offshore wind on 30 July by abruptly rescinding all Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) it had designated on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), canceling years of planning dating back to 2014.

“By rescinding WEAs, BOEM is ending the federal practice of designating large areas of the OCS for speculative wind development and is de-designating over 3.5 million acres of unleased federal waters previously targeted for offshore wind development across the Gulf of America, Gulf of Maine, the New York Bight, California, Oregon, and the Central Atlantic,” BOEM said in a statement.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Opponents seek injunction to halt Empire Wind

June 13, 2025 — Commercial fishermen and opponents of the Empire Wind project asked a federal court to immediately halt pile driving and construction activity, weeks after the Trump administration allowed construction to resume.

The coalition, which filed a lawsuit June 3 in U.S. District Court, returned to ask for a preliminary injunction June 12, according to the group Protect Our Coast New Jersey.

Energy company Equinor would build an array of 54 turbines on its 80,000-acre federal lease near the approaches to New York Harbor. The plan dates back to December 2016 when Equinor (then known as Statoil) first won a lease sale by the federal Bureau of Ocean energy Management.

Commercial fishing advocates have long opposed wind projects in the area, citing nearby fishing grounds like the Mud Hole and Cholera Bank with historic mixed trawl fisheries, and sea scallops, the Mid-Atlantic’s most valuable fishery.

Protect Our Coast New Jersey contends the renewed construction poses “imminent, irreversible harm to marine life, fishing grounds, the seafood supply chain, and coastal economies.”

Read the full article at WorkBoat

MARYLAND: Maryland Issues Final Permit for Construction of Offshore Wind Farm

June 9, 2025 — Maryland’s Department of the Environment, Air, and Radiation Administration issued the final necessary approval to permit the start of construction of US Wind’s proposed offshore wind farm. The large project has received all the necessary state and local permits, but it still faces local opposition and the potential that the Trump administration could object to the approvals issued at the end of the Biden administration.

US Wind highlights it has been in review and permitting for the past four years with an arduous and thorough process of reviews. It gained approvals in 2024 from Maryland, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and in December 2024 the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management signed off on the Construction and Operation Plan for the full site. Today’s approval from Maryland is for air quality permits for the construction and operation of Maryland Offshore Wind.

US Wind, which is a partnership between investors of funds managed by Apollo Global Management and Italy’s Renexia, acquired its lease for 80,000 acres from the federal government in 2014. It proposes to build in two phases a total project with up to a total of 114 wind turbines generating between 1.8 and 2 GW of power. The project also includes four offshore substation platforms, one meteorological tower, and up to four offshore export cable corridors.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive