President Trump has wasted no time delivering on his campaign promises on the off-shore wind issue. Within hours of taking office, he issued an executive order that would stop new offshore wind leasing and permitting, pending an economic and environmental review. While the previous administration played fast and loose with reviews in order to fast track wind projects, we can expect the Trump administration to take an actual, deep look at the ramifications of industrializing our oceans and likely put stop to these costly and damaging projects.
As for projects already approved, the path forward isn’t as definitive. Vineyard Wind 1 is one of the projects already approved and became notorious for a blade failure this summer resulting in large amounts of fiberglass and Styrofoam debris washing up on the shores of Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and other south coast shores. New England Wind 1 has federal permitting in place but the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities has not yet signed off on a contract, which has been continually pushed off and is now scheduled for the end of March.
Another already approved project is SouthCoast Wind, which was conveniently granted approval on the final working day of the Biden administration. However, Southcoast Wind still has a few minor federal approvals it may need before it starts construction. Other projects that have not received all of their permitting will remain in limbo. You can see the list of projects and where they stand by clicking here.
This is not to say that currently permitted projects won’t be challenged. The question of standing and resurrecting legal challenges to already approved projects is a distinct possibility, as some unprecedented and questionable permitting approvals did occur under the Biden administration. Other avenues to challenge the funny business that went on are also on the table as a new administration takes over and political headwinds shift.
What this will mean for our state’s plan to transition our energy sector to rely on renewable energy, heavily on offshore wind, is yet to be seen. However, as displayed in a recent study released by the Fiscal Alliance Foundation and other New England state groups, offshore wind was a VERY expensive investment for the ratepayers and taxpayers.
Perhaps the rapid energy transition that will take our grid from using constant, reliable energy sources, and moving it to use unreliable energy sources should be put on pause. Orsted, the world’s’ largest offshore wind developer saw its stock plunge 17% after the President issued his executive order, and Italian company Prysmian recently backed out of their plan to build a factory for offshore wind cables at Somerset’s Brayton Point after spending years to get approval and capturing a visit from President Biden.
The status of offshore wind in Massachusetts continues to be in a very fluid situation and as always, we’ll continue to give you updates as we get them. |