Saving Seafood

Offshore wind projects feel brunt of Trump policy decisions

October 29, 2025 — On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum prohibiting new offshore wind leasing for all areas of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf and directing his Cabinet to review previously approved projects.

The president’s animosity toward wind turbines already was well-known, going back over a decade to when he couldn’t stop an offshore wind farm from being built near one of his golf courses in Scotland.

“We don’t allow windmills,” he said at an August Cabinet meeting. “We’re not allowing any windmills to go up. I mean, unless there’s a legal situation where somebody committed to it a long time ago.

“They’re ugly, they don’t work, they kill your birds, they’re bad for the environment,” he added.

That sentiment, as well as the president’s first-day memo, set the tone for a dramatic reduction in federal support for wind energy, especially projects located offshore.

Over the last nine months, the Interior, Energy and Transportation departments announced a series of approval and funding rescissions for wind projects off the coasts of the United States. The administration’s stated reasons for the changes include a preference for energy-dense sources of power, such as that generated by fossil fuels and through nuclear energy, an interest in being more selective when it comes to federal subsidies, and what some experts call unfounded concerns that offshore wind turbines harm whales and birds.

Read the full article at Roll Call

Trump offshore drilling plan faces fierce opposition in Congress

October 27, 2025 — Lawmakers are girding for a fight against President Donald Trump’s apparent plans to open up the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines to offshore drilling.

In interviews Thursday, Democrats called the idea “not lawful,” a “huge mistake” and “absolutely ridiculous.” Coastal Republicans, for their part, said they would also oppose any offshore drilling, though at least one East Coast Republican was open to the idea — albeit with a caveat.

Trump faced bipartisan opposition when he attempted a similar move in 2020, during his first term. He eventually backed down following widespread outcry amid his reelection effort.

Read the full article at E&E News

Fishermen navigate a new offshore horizon

October 23, 2025 — Across every U.S. coast, there is a push for a changing horizon. Towering turbines and wave-energy buoys could steadily multiply in the same water where generations of commercial fishermen have hauled gear.

What began as pilot programs in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest has expanded into full-scale federal-led rounds off Massachusetts, New York, California, and the Gulf of Maine, marking a new era of ocean use and industrial overlap.

Supporters call it a long-overdue step towards decarbonizing America’s energy supply, but for commercial fishermen, it’s a shift that could rewrite where and how they make their living.

As the push for clean energy accelerates, offshore wind and wave projects are becoming a growing presence along the U.S. coastline. While these developments aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they also bring new challenges to fishermen working in already crowded and heavily regulated waters.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Facing a Hostile Administration, U.S. Offshore Wind Is in Retreat

October 23, 2025 –  Each year, the Sweeney Center for Public Policy at Rowan University in New Jersey hosts a conference on the state’s current and future energy landscape. In 2023 and 2024, the gatherings focused heavily on the rapidly accelerating development of offshore wind, which state officials then predicted would power some 2.5 million homes — about two-thirds of the state’s total housing units — by 2030. At this year’s event, however, the industry was barely mentioned, and when it was, its one-time advocates were subdued and almost eulogistic.

Tim Sullivan, the head of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, which had been closely involved with the state’s efforts to develop offshore wind, sounded wistful. “I remain optimistic and confident that it gets done sometime in our lifetime,” he told the conference.

Optimism about the future of U.S. offshore wind has collapsed since President Trump, a vehement critic of the industry, returned to office in January. In the ensuing nine months, his administration has accelerated the end of federal tax credits for wind development, imposed tariffs on turbines and other needed parts, and eliminated funds for building onshore port facilities for servicing wind farms.

Read the full article at the Yale Environment 360 

VIRGINIA: America’s biggest offshore wind farm will be online in 6 months

October 22, 2025 — About 30 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, Virginia, workers have been building America’s largest offshore wind farm at a breakneck pace. The project will start feeding power to the grid by March — the most definitive start date provided by its developer yet.

“First power will occur in Q1 of next year,” Dominion Energy spokesperson Jeremy Slayton told Canary Media. ​“And we are still on schedule to complete by late 2026.”

In an August earnings call, Dominion Energy CEO Robert Blue provided a vague window of ​“early 2026” when asked when the 2.6-gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, or CVOW, project would start generating renewable power for the energy-hungry state.

As of the end of September, Dominion had installed all 176 turbine foundations — ​“a big, important milestone,” per Slayton. That accomplishment involved pile-driving 98 foundations into the soft seabed during the five-month stretch when such work is permitted. Good weather helped the work move along quickly, as did the Atlantic Ocean’s unusually quiet hurricane season.

Speed is key when building wind projects under the eye of a president who has called turbines ​​“ugly” and ​​“terrible for tourism” — and who has followed up with attempts to dismantle the industry.

Had CVOW not finished foundation installation by the end of this month, turbine construction would have been delayed until next spring. Federal permitting restricts pile-driving to a May-through-October window to protect migrating North Atlantic right whales. Such a delay would have made CVOW more vulnerable to the wrath of the Trump administration, which has already issued stop-work orders to two offshore wind farms under construction.

Read the full article at Grist

MARYLAND: Maryland lawmaker pushes for final decision on offshore wind project

October 22, 2025 — Maryland State Senator Mary Beth Carozza is urging federal officials to reject offshore wind energy development off the coast of Ocean City.

In a letter to Eugenio Piñeiro-Soler, Assistant Secretary at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Carozza expressed support for his recent visit to Ocean City and a September 24 meeting at Sunset Marina. She said attendees were encouraged by his remarks and hope for a final rejection of US Wind’s project, as well as any future offshore wind proposals.

Carozza outlined concerns about the size and number of turbines, potential impacts on marine life, commercial fishing, tourism, and Maryland ratepayers. She also cited testimony from a January Congressional field hearing in Ocean City, where industry representatives highlighted flaws in offshore wind planning and warned of risks to commercial fisheries and food security.

Read the full article at CoastTV

Eversource increases offshore wind liability by $285M

October 15, 2025 — Eversource Energy increased its liability for offshore wind project costs by $285 million Tuesday, citing construction delays and rising expenses tied to projects it sold last year to Global Infrastructure Partners.

The utility said it expects a $210 million federal tax benefit that will partially offset the liability, resulting in an after-tax charge of $75 million, or 20 cents per share, in the third quarter of 2025.

The increased costs stem from the Revolution Wind project, which Eversource sold to GIP along with the South Fork Wind project on Sept. 30, 2024. Under the sale agreement, Eversource remains responsible for certain post-closing cost adjustments.

Eversource recorded an initial $365 million liability when the sale closed. That amount dropped to $296 million by June 30, 2025, after the company made payments throughout the year.

Read the full article at Hartford Buisness

NEW YORK: No ship? New York offshore wind project faces yet another hurdle

October 13, 2025 —  The first wind farm slated to plug into New York City’s grid has already endured one political catastrophe this year. Now, a logistical crisis looms on the horizon.

Equinor’s Empire Wind is a 810-megawatt project being built about 20 miles off the shore of Long Island, promising enough energy to power 500,000 homes once completed in 2027. The Trump administration halted construction in April, but allowed it to resume in May. The latest challenge came on Thursday with the unexpected cancellation of a contract for the massive new wind-turbine installation vessel that Equinor had been planning to use on the project next year.

Two shipbuilding companies broke out into a public skirmish — one unexpectedly cancelling a contract and the other threatening legal action — over the construction of the specialized ship. The fate of the vessel, which is already more than 98% complete and floating in Singapore’s waters, is now uncertain.

The cancelled $475 million agreement leaves Equinor scrambling to figure out how to maintain progress and bring Empire Wind online on schedule.

Read the full article at Canary Media

Troubled Wind Developer Orsted to Cut 25% of Staff

October 9, 2025 — Orsted, the Danish renewable energy developer, said on Thursday that it would cut about 2,000 jobs, or around 25 percent of its work force, over the next two years.

The move was the latest sign of the diminished prospects for offshore wind, a low-emissions technology that Orsted helped pioneer.

“We’ll be saying goodbye to many skilled and valued colleagues,” Rasmus Errboe, Orsted’s chief executive, said in a statement.

Not long ago, Orsted looked on its way to becoming a global giant in the renewable energy industry, with a portfolio that includes high-profile projects in the United States. Now, the company suggested that it would dial back those aspirations and hunker down in its home base of Europe.

Read the full article on The New York Times

Maryland offshore wind lawsuit to push ahead during shutdown

October 8, 2025 — Litigation over an offshore wind project near Maryland will continue during the federal government shutdown despite a request from the Trump administration for a delay.

Judge Stephanie Gallagher of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland said during a status conference Tuesday that she would not halt the proceedings while much of the U.S. government is shuttered.

Guidance from the Justice Department allows attorneys in civil litigation to continue working if ordered to do so by a court and under various other exceptions.

Read the full article at E&E News