US government finds new excuse to stop construction of offshore wind

Summary

Many of the affected states were counting on the power that these facilities would deliver, and will likely oppose this move. “This appears to be a second, even more lawless and erratic stop work order, reviving the Trump Administration’s prior failed attempt to halt construction of Revolution Wind,” said William Tong, the Attorney General of Connecticut. “There is a court order blocking their prior stop work order and this appears to be a new brazen attempt to circumvent that order.” He indicated his office is currently evaluating its legal options. The states are likely to be joined by the companies backing these projects, which, in several cases, have already spent nearly all the money needed for their construction and will be eager to start earning that back by selling power from the facilities. In both court cases in which the administration attempted to block wind power development, the government lost badly. The records in the case indicate that it has had no substantive reasons for reversing decades-old policies and overruling past decisions, and that internally, the decision-making process appears to consist entirely of noting that the president doesn’t like wind power. It’s unclear whether this classified evaluation differs significantly from earlier efforts in any way other than that it will be harder to find out.