{"id":83860,"date":"2025-12-29T20:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T20:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/83860\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T20:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T20:22:10","slug":"trump-administration-halts-empire-wind-1-for-second-time-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/83860\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration halts Empire Wind 1 for second time \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

The future of Empire Wind 1 is blowing in the wind once again after the Trump administration announced Dec. 22 that it would pause the leases for five wind farms under construction off the East Coast, including Empire Wind 1 \u2014 New York\u2019s largest offshore wind project \u2014 effective immediately.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the second time<\/a> this year the Trump administration has pulled the plug on the $5 billion project, which is located 15 to 20 miles off the coast of Long Island and includes an operations and maintenance hub at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal<\/a> in Sunset Park.<\/p>\n

In April, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to \u201cimmediately halt all construction activities\u201d on the project, claiming the Biden administration rushed its approval without sufficient analysis. The ban was lifted in May after both Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams took credit<\/a> for convincing the president to reverse course and allow the project \u2014 which was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026 \u2014 to resume.<\/p>\n

This time, the Trump administration cited \u201cnational security risks identified by the Department of War in recently completed classified reports,\u201d claiming that the movement of massive turbine blades and the highly reflective towers creates radar interference, or \u201cclutter,\u201d making it difficult to identify security threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s action addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centers. The Trump administration will always prioritize the security of the American people,\u201d Burgum said in a statement, noting that the order was intended to \u201cprotect the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Empire Wind 1, operated by Norwegian energy company Equinor, is more than 60% complete and would deliver energy to 500,000 New York City homes. The construction phase has put nearly 4,000 people to work, including union construction jobs and apprenticeships, both within the lease area and in the revitalization of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.<\/p>\n

In a press release, Empire Wind said it was complying with all relevant national security-related requirements identified during the regulatory process conducted over several years and planned to continue working with BOEM and other federal agencies to implement all necessary mitigation measures for the project.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Hochul and the governors of the other three affected states \u2014 Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont and Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee \u2014 vowed to fight the pause and get the projects back on track.<\/p>\n

In a joint statement, the governors slammed Trump\u2019s decision as his latest egregious attack on clean energy, landing like a \u201clump of dirty coal for the holiday season for American workers, consumers, and investors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAtlantic states are working hard to build more energy to meet rising demand and lower costs. Already, these projects have created thousands of jobs and injected billions in economic activity in our communities,\u201d the governors said. \u201cPausing active leases, especially for completed and nearly completed projects, defies logic, will hurt our bid for energy independence, will drive up costs for America ratepayers, and will make us lose thousands of good-paying jobs. It also threatens grid reliability that is needed to keep the lights on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local lawmakers also weighed in, vowing to fight what they described as Trump\u2019s latest attack on renewable energy and job creation.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump is trying again to kill thousands of good-paying union jobs and raise electricity bills. I have been fighting Trump\u2019s war against offshore wind \u2014 a war that threatens American jobs and American energy. I will keep fighting to make sure these projects, the thousands of jobs they create, and the energy they provide can continue,\u201d said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Brooklyn native.<\/p>\n

\"empireLocal officials, including Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Council Member Alexa Avil\u00e9s, have expressed concern over the Trump administration\u2019s decision to stop the Empire Wind 1 project.REUTERS\/Andreas Mortensen<\/p>\n

State Sen. Andrew Gounardes, whose district includes Sunset Park, called the Trump administration\u2019s decision to halt the project \u201cridiculous\u201d and \u201cnonsensical.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the second time in a year Trump has moved to block this crucial renewable energy project, and just like last time, there\u2019s no coherent rationale,\u201d Gounardes said. \u201cThis project has been thoroughly vetted and reviewed by multiple levels of government. To now claim a security threat, or whatever other excuse Trump is making up today, rings hollow. What this project does do is support thousands of good-paying jobs, ensure New Yorkers have reliable access to electricity, generate billions in investment in our neighborhoods, and strengthen our country\u2019s energy independence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who recently declared his candidacy<\/a> for New York\u2019s 7th Congressional District after U.S. Rep. Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez announced her retirement after three decades in office, questioned why the president \u2014 who touts himself as a job creator \u2014 would halt a job-generating project.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmpire Wind is a $5 billion investment that has created 1,500 union jobs on Brooklyn\u2019s working waterfront \u2014 with many more on the way \u2014 and is set to power 500,000 homes once completed,\u201d Reynoso told Brooklyn Paper. \u201cThis is exactly the type of project you\u2019d expect the so-called most \u2018pro-worker\u2019 President in American history to support. But the sorry truth is that ours is a president who governs out of pettiness and vindictiveness, not the best interests of the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

City Council Member Alexa Avil\u00e9s, who represents Sunset Park, said alternative energy sources are needed to ensure a \u201cgreener, more resilient future in Brooklyn.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cOur president is targeting working-class communities through his destruction of the environment and green energy projects,\u201d Avil\u00e9s told Brooklyn Paper in a statement. \u201cIt is crucial that the Wind Turbine 1 project gets completed. If this wind turbine was a real national security risk, that would have been determined long before this construction phase. I urge the president to reconsider this action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s latest effort to obstruct renewable energy comes on the heels of a federal judge\u2019s ruling that his January 2025 executive order freezing federal approval of pending offshore and onshore wind permits was \u201carbitrary and capricious.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Dec. 8, U.S. District Judge Patti Saris of Massachusetts vacated the order, declaring it unlawful after a coalition of attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C., led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, sued the government last May. The lawsuit argued Trump lacked the authority to halt project permitting and that doing so would jeopardize state economies, energy supplies, public health and climate goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The future of Empire Wind 1 is blowing in the wind once again after the Trump administration announced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,21313,100,99,1922,41004,41005,41006,9,24,12,370,63,21755,41007,2304,2157,4402,41008,7125,41009],"class_list":["post-83860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-borough-president-antonio-reynoso","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-clean-energy","tag-council-member-alexa-aviles","tag-empire-wind-1","tag-equinor","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-nyc","tag-offshore-wind","tag-offshore-wind-farm","tag-president-trump","tag-renewable-energy","tag-senator-chuck-schumer","tag-state-senator-andrew-gounardes","tag-sunset-park","tag-ureau-of-ocean-energy-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}