Saving Seafood

Trump administration cancels plans to develop new offshore wind projects

August 1, 2025 — The Trump administration is canceling plans to use large areas of federal waters for new offshore wind development, the latest step to suppress the industry in the United States.

More than 3.5 million acres had been designated wind energy areas, the offshore locations deemed most suitable for wind energy development. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is now rescinding all designated wind energy areas in federal waters, announcing on Wednesday an end to setting aside large areas for “speculative wind development.”

Offshore wind lease sales were anticipated off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Maine, New York, California and Oregon, as well as in the central Atlantic. The Biden administration last year had announced a five-year schedule to lease federal offshore tracts for wind energy production.

Trump began reversing the country’s energy policies after taking office in January. A series of executive orders took aim at increasing oil, gas and coal production.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

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

Federal regulators eliminate Gulf of Maine wind power zone

July 31, 2025 — The Trump administration has erased all wind energy areas in federal waters, including two million acres in the Gulf of Maine.

The zones were developed by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to offer wind power leases to energy developers.

Amber Hewett director of offshore wind energy at the National Wildlife Foundation said removing the areas is a follow up to the administration’s earlier order to stop all wind power lease sales.

“The change here is that now, when a new administration comes in, those areas won’t be ready and waiting. They have been deleted, and the process will need to start again at the beginning,” Hewett said.

Establishing the areas took years of consultation with fisheries, coastal communities, shipping companies, tribes, environmental groups and other interests.

Through those discussions regulators set aside areas that were the least disruptive, Hewett said.

Read the full article at Maine Public

BOEM Rescinds Designated Wind Energy Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf

July 30, 2025 — The following was released by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM):

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today announced it is rescinding all designated Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). This action is being taken in accordance with Secretary’s Order (SO) 3437 – Ending Preferential Treatment for Unreliable, Foreign Controlled Energy Sources in Department Decision-Making – and the Presidential Memorandum of January 20, 2025 – Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the OCS from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects.

WEAs were originally established to identify offshore locations deemed most suitable for wind energy development.

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 —

The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) manages development of U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) energy, mineral, and geological resources in an environmentally and economically responsible way.

MASSACHUSETTS: Nantucket Demands Accountability from Vineyard Wind After “Broken Promises” and Safety Failures

July 30, 2025 — Nantucket delivered a blistering rebuke to Vineyard Wind on Tuesday, accusing the offshore wind developer of a pattern of deception, negligence, and disregard for the island community it promised to protect.

At a press conference, town officials outlined 15 sweeping accountability demands after what they called Vineyard Wind’s “empty pledges and unfulfilled commitments.” Officials said the company has failed on every major front — from basic safety measures to transparent communication — leaving the island vulnerable and eroding public trust.

“Vineyard Wind has left Nantucket, its residents, and its visitors with empty pledges and unfulfilled commitments. We are done waiting for them to do the right thing,” said Select Board member and former chair Brooke Mohr. “We call on Vineyard Wind’s owners, investors, federal regulators, and our elected leaders to stand with us in holding the company to its word.”

The scathing list of failures includes the company’s refusal to communicate critical safety information, its inability to activate light pollution controls in a timely manner, and its failure to create any meaningful emergency response plans despite last year’s high-profile turbine blade failure

Read the full article at The Newport Buzz

NEW YORK: NYS withdraws plan for offshore wind transmission line

July 30, 2025 — New York State’s Public Service Commission is withdrawing plans for a transmission line supporting offshore wind.

The line would have connected New York City with numerous offshore wind farms. But states are now facing federal pushback on developing wind power.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration attempted to stop development of New York’s Empire Wind Farm. Christopher Casey, New York utility regulatory director with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the federal roadblocks make it harder to bolster this industry.

“There are permits and regulatory decisions that need to be made at both the state and the federal level,” said Casey. “If the federal government is putting up roadblocks wherever it can, then it is very difficult to move these projects – and ultimately, nothing can go forward.”

Read the full article at FingerLakes1.com

Trump, Congress further chill offshore wind industry

July 22, 2025 — The budget law Congress passed this month — termed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” — took another swipe at the offshore wind industry, limiting substantial Biden-era tax credits that would allow wind developers to save or recoup hundreds of millions of dollars to build their projects.

Days after its passage, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aiming to further restrict access to these tax credits for renewable energy projects. And last week, the Interior Department issued a memo adding cumbersome review procedures for wind and solar.

Trump’s order directs the Treasury Department to issue guidance and take action next month. Experts are not sure what that will look like, but these recent Congressional and executive actions could imperil two Massachusetts offshore wind projects: New England Wind and SouthCoast Wind.

Much like Trump’s day-one memorandum freezing offshore wind permitting, experts say, the impacts will depend on what stage a project is at relative to construction. For pending projects, they could be enormous.

“The abrupt termination of credits and the additional tangle of rules imposed on these credits could be quite devastating,” said Seth Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Tax Law Center at NYU Law.

Here’s what a rewriting of tax credits means for wind projects

President Joe Biden’s historic 2022 climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, spurred investment and buildout in the offshore wind industry and the wider clean energy sector.

It earmarked more than $360 billion for credits, loans and grants. The Oceantic Network, an industry organization, said the IRA was the “single most important piece of legislation yet passed to accelerate the adoption of offshore wind energy in the U.S.”

The credits were scheduled to phase out in 2032. But the new Trump budget law not only phases the subsidies out completely in 2030, it gives projects a new deadline to begin construction if they want the subsidies: July 4, 2026. If they start later, they face an even tighter deadline to finish: they must be operational by the end of 2027 to get the subsidies.

“Everything was going along swimmingly until this new legislation, which really accelerates the process by which projects have to start construction,” said John C. Crossley, a renewable energy attorney at K&L Gates.

It gets more complicated: the IRS defines the “beginning of construction” in two ways. First, a project can be considered “started” if the developer spends at least 5% of the project’s total cost. The second option is for the developer to undertake physical work of a “significant nature.” That can look like the construction of turbine foundations.

Under the longstanding IRS language, either one counts as starting construction.

But it’s these longtime definitions — these options for developers — that Trump is targeting through his recent executive order seeking to bring “an end to years of subsidies.” He has directed the Treasury Department to revise existing guidelines to “ensure that policies concerning the ‘beginning of construction’ are not circumvented.”

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

MARYLAND: Maryland fires back against EPA claims about its offshore wind permit

July 22, 2025 — The Maryland Department of the Environment is defending the permit it issued to a wind farm proposed off the coast of Ocean City, after a challenge from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Thursday letter from Maryland Secretary of the Environment Serena McIlwain also said the state would not be reissuing the permit, as the EPA requested, because the state had not made a mistake that needed correcting.

The EPA had contended that when Maryland issued the permit to Baltimore-based company US Wind, it identified the wrong process for citizens to file appeals.

Amy Van Blarcom-Lackey, EPA administrator for Region 3, which includes Maryland and other mid-Atlantic states, contended in a July 7 letter that any appeals challenging the air pollution permit issued to US Wind should be filed to the clerk of the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board.

But Maryland argues that its permit would need to be appealed through the state courts, which would involve filing a challenge at the appropriate circuit court — in this case in Worcester County.

Notably, the due date for a state court challenge has already passed. It was set for July 14 — about a month after MDE issued the permit, according to MDE’s website.

Read the full article at WTOP

Trump adds new level of scrutiny to wind and solar projects

July 18, 2025 — The Interior Department said Thursday that it would add additional layers of review for wind and solar energy projects, following President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending any “preferential treatment” for renewable energy.

The new requirement threatens to trip up the approval process as wind and solar projects race to begin construction by a deadline next July to qualify for tax credits, which have been gutted by Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill that Congress approved this month. The department’s policies apply to projects on federal lands and waters, but generally not to those on private property.

Also on Thursday, Trump issued a proclamation exempting several coal plants in Ohio, Colorado and Illinois from stricter Biden-era rules limiting mercury and other toxic emissions through 2029.

“The Federal Government plays a pivotal role in ensuring that the Nation’s power supply remains secure and reliable,” the proclamation said. “Forcing energy producers to comply with unattainable emissions controls jeopardizes this mission.”

Separate proclamations gave exemptions from toxic emissions rules to 25 chemical manufacturers including Shell Chemical and to certain iron ore processing facilities, including two operated by the U.S. Steel Corporation.

Read the full article at The Washington Post

Fulton Fish Market Cooperative rallies to urge Trump to halt Empire Wind project

July 18, 2025 — Bronx, New York City, USA-based Fulton Fish Market Cooperative held an emergency rally on 16 July to urge U.S. President Donald Trump to halt the Empire Wind offshore wind project that seafood industry stakeholders claim will put their livelihoods at risk.

Seafood industry stakeholders gathered at the event – many of whom were unionized employees of the market – said the project threatens their livelihoods and those in New York’s seafood industry. Fulton Fish Market Cooperative CEO Nicole Ackerina said the project will heavily damage the industry and push it out of the region.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource