Saving Seafood

The limits to Trump’s offshore energy plans

January 22, 2025 — Donald Trump has been president for little more than a day, but his vision for the federal coastline is already clear: less wind, more oil.

One of Trump’s first actions after his inauguration Monday was to halt all new leases and permits for offshore wind projects and to direct the incoming Interior secretary to review existing permits to determine if they warrant “terminating or amending.”

He also issued an executive order that aims to revoke an eleventh-hour bid by the Biden administration to block offshore oil and gas drilling within 625 million acres of federal waters, including in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic, the Pacific and most of the Bering Sea in Alaska.

But what Trump can and can’t do offshore could be limited by legal challenges — and political realities.

Questions remain about whether Trump can legally rescind Biden’s withdrawal of federal waters from oil and gas leasing, for example. At least one federal court has found that Congress would have to act to restore areas that a president has withdrawn under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

Read the full article at Politico 

Trump’s pause on offshore wind leasing may have limited impact in New England

January 22, 2025 — A national moratorium on offshore wind leasing and permitting may have only limited effects in Massachusetts and other New England states, according to several wind industry observers.

Their comments came after Trump signed an executive order halting federal approvals for wind energy projects on Monday, his first official day in office.

“We’re obviously not happy to see the Trump administration issuing an order on day one that targets offshore wind,” said Kate Sinding Daly, senior vice president for law and policy at the Conservation Law Foundation.  “But the practical import of this executive order on wind energy is not very significant — at least as relates to New England.”

Trump’s order directs the federal government to stop leasing new areas of the outer continental shelf for electricity production, and it effectively hits the pause button on all projects still in the development pipeline. But it stops short of immediately bringing to a standstill the dozen or so projects that are fully permitted in waters up and down the East Coast.

Read the full article at wbur

Trump order targets offshore wind, but stopping projects in progress won’t be easy

January 22, 2025 — President Donald Trump wasted no time in his first day in office Monday, ordering a halt to all new leases of offshore wind projects in federal waters, and a review of all federally leased and permitted wind projects by the Interior Department.

It’s what industry experts expected at minimum, and goes a step further by opening the door for potential termination of existing offshore wind leases or permits. The review could affect several wind projects off the Massachusetts coast at varying levels of completion. The halt in new leases could also delay, for up to four years, a future phase of wind development off the New York and mid-Atlantic coasts — a prospect the fishing industry welcomes.

But experts say undoing projects that have already been approved won’t be an easy task — which makes the Biden administration’s 11th-hour approval of SouthCoast Wind and lifting of Vineyard Wind’s suspension order particularly significant for the state and New Bedford.

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light

North American lobster industry strong, but potential tariff issues loom

January 22, 2025 — The North American lobster industry is projected to have similar volumes and landing patterns as it has had in years past in 2025, but U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated mentions of 25 percent tariffs on Canadian products could cause disruptions.

The North American lobster supply has been relatively stable for a decade, averaging between 300 million and 350 million pounds each year. According to a panel of experts at the Global Seafood Market Conference, taking place 19 to 23 January in Palm Desert, California, U.S.A., totals in 2025 will largely remain the same, with the potential for a slight decline in catch totals in the U.S. state of Maine.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NORTH CAROLINA: Trump moves to curb wind farms, part of North Carolina’s clean energy plan

January 22, 2025 — The fate of North Carolina’s offshore wind farms, both active and planned, is in question after President Donald Trump took executive action to halt offshore wind energy production on his first day in office.

The order halts offshore wind leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf and prohibits new or renewed permits, leases, and loans for wind energy projects, both onshore and offshore. The sweeping action has drawn sharp criticism from clean energy advocates in North Carolina, where offshore wind was poised to play a significant role in the energy transition.

It was one of dozens of executive orders signed Monday by Trump, a Republican who returned to the White House after a four-year absence. Trump signed other executive orders related to climate, too, removing the U.S. from the Paris Climate treaty and pushing back on Biden-era mandates on electric vehicles.

“We’re not going to do the wind thing,” Trump said during an event at Capital One Arena on Monday hours after being sworn in.

The Biden Administration approved 11 commercial-scale offshore wind projects in the past four years.

Trump is a proponent of expanded drilling for oil and fracking. He said Monday that the U.S. has more oil and gas than any other nation.

Read the full article at WRAL

RHODE ISLAND: Will Trump’s offshore wind executive order halt RI’s projects? What to know.

January 22, 2025 — An executive order signed by President Donald Trump aimed at reining in the expansion of offshore wind may not affect projects that are already in the development pipeline off southern New England.

The sweeping order signed on Monday temporarily halts sales of leases to offshore wind developers in federal waters and pauses permitting for projects, pending a review by the Department of the Interior and other federal government agencies.

But the order doesn’t go so far as trying to put a stop to wind farms that have already gone through the federal permitting process or are under construction.

They include Revolution Wind, the 704-megawatt project that is being built off the Rhode Island coast, or SouthCoast Wind, the proposal for up to 2,400 megawatts of capacity south of Nantucket that last month got the green light from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is part of the interior department.

Read the full article at the The Providence Journal

Vineyard Wind suspension order lifted ahead of Trump term

January 22, 2025 — Just days before an offshore-wind-averse Trump Administration takes office, the lead safety regulator for offshore wind has lifted its suspension order on the Vineyard Wind project. Construction and power generation can now resume with new safety requirements, including the mandated removal of all blades manufactured in Gaspé, Quebec.

Under the revised construction and operations plan, approved Friday by the Biden Administration, Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova must remove blades from “a maximum of 22 wind turbine generators … that were installed prior” to the July blade failure — more than a third of all turbine locations.

“Effective Jan. 17, 2025, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) lifted the December 19, 2024, Suspension Order, based on revisions Vineyard Wind made to its construction and operations plan,” a BSEE spokesperson told The Light on Saturday.

The companies must complete a “study that evaluates the environmental harm and other damage from the blade failure,” the spokesperson continued.

The Light previously reported that the manufacturing defect from the failed blade in July was traced to the Quebec factory, where managers may have falsified quality testing data, leading to suspensions and layoffs. The blade failed due to “insufficient bonding” — an adhesive that holds the composite together.

“After reprocessing of the manufacturing data from the installed blades, additional blades with insufficient bonding were identified, leading to GE Vernova’s decision and BSEE’s direction to remove all installed blades manufactured at the Gaspé, Canada plant,” the new plan states.

Over the past few months, vessels have removed several installed blades from the site, and received shipments of blades from GE Vernova’s other manufacturing plant in Cherbourg, France. The plan, submitted in December but approved this week, notes much of the blade removal activity will happen in 2025.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

Testing time: Trump’s blue-collar voters want quick proof promises will be kept

January 22, 2025 — Daybreak on the Atlantic is a slow, hypnotic explosion of color. Black skies turn ash gray; next, a sideways sliver of orange divides the vast horizon.

A pause, then a breathtaking ocean dawn: Churning deep blue waters collide with the palest of blue skies. Wisps of clouds turn whiter and brighter as the sun climbs.

First light changes everything.

A pod of dolphins emerges to play alongside the “Jillian and Peri” as it motors out to deeper waters. Their squeals as they pass below the hull echo onboard and stir Andrew Konchek from his wooden bunk below deck.

Time for another subfreezing day at the office, fishing 15 miles or so off the Massachusetts coast.

“It’s a little cold,” Konchek said. “It’s definitely hard work. Not for everybody.”

But it defines him.

Read the full article at CNN

World’s largest offshore wind farm maker Orsted takes fresh $1.7 billion write-down in the U.S. as its Trump nightmare begins

January 21, 2025 — Danish offshore wind giant Orsted faced a fresh stock market hammering on Tuesday after the group announced a new billion-dollar impairment charge on the same day its foe Donald Trump ascended to the White House.

Shares plunged as much as 17% in early morning trading after the group disclosed an impairment of 12.1 billion Danish kroner ($1.69 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2024 as rising interest rates and falling wind farm valuations hit the company’s portfolio.

Orsted’s Sunrise Wind project, a 924-megawatt offshore wind farm in New York meant to power 600,000 homes, is expected to take longer than expected after the group took supply chain lessons from its previous Revolution Wind project installation in the U.S.

Mads Nipper, group president and CEO of Orsted, described the impairment and construction challenges as “very disappointing” but doubled down on his company’s commitment to the U.S.

“We remain committed to the US market in the long term with its potential for renewables to meet the growing electricity demand and create thousands of industrial jobs across the US,” said Nipper in a statement.

Read the full article at Fortune

RODA’s Statement in Response to Executive Order on Temporary Withdrawal of Offshore Wind Leasing and Permitting

January 21, 2025 — The following was released by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance:

Today, we extend gratitude to President Trump for his decision to temporarily withdraw all areas on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) from consideration for new or renewed wind energy leasing. This important move recognizes the vital role our communities, industries, and ecosystems play in the broader national interest. The decision is a much-needed pause that allows us to reassess the future of offshore wind development and its potential impacts on our coastal environments and local economies.

We are excited to collaborate with the new administration as they embark on the upcoming review of federal leasing and permitting practices for offshore wind projects. This is an opportunity to ensure that all voices—especially those of the fishing industry, local businesses, and environmental stakeholders—are heard as we move forward. RODA, and our members, stand willing and committed to work with government leaders as they undertake this critical review.

A particular cause for celebration today is the reprieve granted to regions that have yet to be subject to offshore wind leases. This gives these areas crucial time to engage in meaningful dialogue about the future of offshore wind and its compatibility with local priorities and concerns.

Additionally, we applaud the decision to halt the authorization of any further activities that could lead to navigational safety, transportation, national security, commercial and marine mammal protection interests until we fully understand the potential risks associated with offshore wind projects. Protecting marine life, particularly vulnerable species like whales, must remain a top priority as we explore renewable energy solutions.

RODA is committed to working collaboratively with the Trump Administration to ensure that any future offshore wind development is done in a manner that protects both the environment and the communities who call these coastal areas home.