The Trump administration has interrupted the construction of a large wind farm off New York, which was designed to provide enough electricity to supply 500,000 houses.
Interior secretary, Doug Burgum, said that the Biden administration had “precipitated” the approval of the Wind 1 Empire project “without sufficient”.
The judgment is a blow for the American wind industry, which was defended by former president Joe Biden – but was strongly targeted by President Trump.
In the days that followed his return to the office, Trump signed a series of decrees intended for industry – including a temporary freeze on federal permits and loans for offshore and onshore wind projects.
“We are not going to take the wind,” said Trump at the time, calling them “big ugly windmills” which were dangerous for fauna.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a democrat, described the end of the Wind 1 Empire as a “federal overtaking” and said that she would fight him “at each stage of the path”.
Equinor, the Norwegian company which runs the Empire Wind project, said in a press release: “We decided to stop the offshore construction of the project after order.”
“We will commit to the administration to find out why the order was made after receiving all permits before.”
Equinor acquired a lease from the site of the federal government in 2017 and, according to its website, the project was to deliver 810 MW of energy to Brooklyn, feeding 500,000 houses.
Trump previously said, without evidence, that wind turbines kill the whales.
Before becoming president, he fought – and finally failed – to stop building a wind farm off the coast of his golf course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
