Overview
- The Interior Department on Dec. 22 ordered a temporary halt on leases and construction for five offshore wind projects, with reports describing a 90-day freeze and stop-work instructions.
- Officials cited classified Department of War findings that turbine motion and tower reflections create radar clutter, and said agencies will work on mitigation, though no specific risks have been released publicly.
- The pause affects large, partly built projects including Empire Wind 1 off Long Island and Vineyard Wind 1 near Nantucket, which were slated to power hundreds of thousands of homes and support thousands of union jobs.
- Governors Kathy Hochul, Maura Healey, Ned Lamont, and Dan McKee condemned the decision as harmful to jobs, ratepayers, and grid reliability, while Ironworkers Local 7 reported layoffs and New Bedford’s mayor warned of stranded port investments.
- Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey demanded access to the classified documents this week, as developers said they followed security requirements and would pursue mitigation, and a Dec. 8 court ruling had already voided an earlier Trump permit freeze.