{"id":108161,"date":"2025-12-23T11:11:48","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T11:11:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=108161"},"modified":"2025-12-23T11:11:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T11:11:48","slug":"us-pauses-offshore-wind-projects-over-security-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=108161","title":{"rendered":"US pauses offshore wind projects over security concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 45 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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The US is immediately pausing leases for offshore wind energy projects currently being built near the Atlantic coastline, citing security concerns.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Department of the Interior said it was pausing five large-sale projects to look into how windmills could interfere with radar and create other risks to east coast cities.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump has long opposed wind energy, saying it is unreliable and drives up costs, and attempted to stop all projects when he returned to office. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has said wind farms have no future in the US energy grid.<\/p>\n

Renewable energy companies, as well as state leaders, have expressed alarm over the administration\u2019s stance.<\/p>\n

In its statement, the Department of the Interior said the pause \u201caddresses 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 centres\u201d.<\/p>\n

The five wind farms now on pause are being constructed off the coast of New York, Virginia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the announcement noted that officials are concerned about radar interference \u201cclutter\u201d that can obscure real moving targets or, conversely, create false ones. It added that a radar\u2019s threshold for false-alarm detection could be increased to reduce some clutter, but only at the risk of missing actual targets.<\/p>\n

The wind projects could make it difficult to \u201cdetermine what\u2019s friend and foe in our airspace\u201d, Burgum said in an interview with Fox Business on Monday, where he cited drone strikes between Russia and Ukraine and between Iran and Israel as examples.<\/p>\n

Dominion Energy, the company behind the Virginia wind farm, said its project is far offshore and \u201cdoes not raise visual impact concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project\u2019s two pilot turbines have been operating for five years without causing any impacts to national security,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Dominion saw its share price drop more than 3% after the announcement.<\/p>\n

Orsted, the Danish wind energy giant, recorded a 12% drop in its share price, while turbine maker Vestas\u2019 stock fell by 2.6%.<\/p>\n

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, a Democrat, described the pause as an \u201cerratic\u201d move that \u201cwill drive up the price of electricity in Connecticut and throughout the region\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project is nearing completion and providing good-paying clean energy jobs,\u201d he added. \u201cBusinesses and residents deserve economic predictability, yet with the administration\u2019s constant starts and stops they\u2019re left with the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier in December, a federal judge struck down an attempt by President Trump to ban new wind power projects in the US, calling it \u201carbitrary and capricious and contrary to law\u201d.<\/p>\n

On the first day of his administration in January, Trump issued a memorandum halting permits and new leases until a federal review could be undertaken.<\/p>\n

Five months later, 17 US states led by New York sued the administration, calling the ban an \u201cexistential\u201d threat to the US wind industry.<\/p>\n

Demand in the US for energy is expected to significantly expand in the years ahead, driven by the needs of artificial intelligence firms.<\/p>\n

Last week, Trump Media, the parent company of Truth Social that is majority-owned by the president,\u00a0said\u00a0it was getting into the energy business, announcing a merger with a fusion firm TAE Technologies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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