April 17, 2025 — Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is directing the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to halt construction activity on Equinor’s Empire Wind project off New York.
“Approval for the project was rushed through by the prior administration without sufficient analysis or consultation among the relevant agencies as relates to the potential effects from the project,” Burgum wrote in a memorandum Wednesday, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
Citing President Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order calling for a broad review of all offshore wind power projects in federal waters, Burgum wrote that the construction halt will remain pending review to “address these serious deficiencies.”
Planned as an array of 54 turbines between shipping approaches to New York Harbor, the 810-megawatt project recently started with subsea rock installation on the turbine sites, and pile-driving for foundation installation expected in May.
Project opponents have furiously lobbied the administration to take dramatic action against the project, one of five East Coast wind installations where developers with approvals under the Biden administration have pressed forward despite hostility from Trump.
Read the full story at National Fisherman