Democratic leaders in the US Senate said the Trump administration’s moves to cancel five offshore wind projects along the East Coast have effectively ended permitting reform negotiations heading into the new year, Reuters reported.
The lease cancellations, affecting roughly 6.9 GW of planned generating capacity, were announced Dec. 22 by the US Interior Department. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the leases are being revoked due to “emerging national security risks,” such as the potential for turbine towers to create radar “clutter” that generates “false targets.”
Burgum’s announcement came just days after the House of Representatives advanced legislation to speed federal environmental reviews and protect already-permitted projects from politically motivated reversals.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat-Rhode Island, ranking member on the Environment and Public Works Committee, and Senator Martin Heinrich, Democrat-New Mexico, ranking member on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, issued a joint statement Dec. 22 saying permitting reform talks are now “dead in the water.”
“There was a deal to be had that would have taken politics out of permitting, made the process faster and more efficient, and streamlined grid infrastructure improvements nationwide,” the Democrats said.
However, the lawmakers argued that efforts to cancel approved projects — including Dominion Energy’s 2.6-GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, which is more than two-thirds complete — show the Trump administration “is not interested in permitting reform.”
“The illegal attacks on fully permitted renewable energy projects must be reversed if there is to be any chance that permitting talks resume,” they said. “There is no path to permitting reform if this administration refuses to follow the law.”
