Holy smokes - this falls under the DON'T TEASE ME - I know Trump was serious about hatin' the heck out of these things.
He's certainly said so plainly enough.
Trump is laying some truth out about Off Shore Wind!
— ☕ Wαƙҽ Uρ NJ 🇺🇸 (@wakeupnj) January 8, 2025
We the people, do not want these hulking, wasteful, expensive, not clean/green, tax payer subsidy behemoths littering our oceanspic.twitter.com/lZvQIybHFw
According to New Jersey congressman Jeff Van Drew, who has been a YUGE friend to the anti-wind forces trying to battle the big developer plans of rodential NJ Governor Phil Murphy...
Stopping offshore wind remains our top priority.
— Congressman Jeff Van Drew (@Congressman_JVD) January 7, 2025
With President Trump back in office, we will work together to end the Green New Scam and shut down these disastrous offshore wind projects. https://t.co/Gs47pxFyEW
...our soon-to-be-47th president is itching to get a pen in hand for an executive order.
New Jersey Congressman Jefferson Van Drew says he is collaborating with President-elect Trump on a potential executive order to “halt offshore wind turbine activities along the East Coast and lay the groundwork for permanent measures against the projects.” pic.twitter.com/OCcLpzlyFz
— Nantucket Current (@ACKCurrent) January 14, 2025
Congressman Van Drew has been assisting in the effort by helping to draft the executive order.
President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly taking swift steps to halt offshore wind energy projects, assigning Representative Jeff Van Drew, a Republican from New Jersey, to draft an executive order targeting the industry.
Van Drew––a vocal critic of offshore wind––confirmed Wednesday that he'd spoken to Trump about the issue about a month ago.
"I said 'Mr. President, we need to move on this.' He said, 'Yeah, we definitely do. I agree. I'm against them.'" Van Drew said. "He said, 'Write an executive order, get it to my people.'"
As reported by Van Drew, the Trump EO will put immediate brakes on offshore wind across the country to allow for a thorough review of data and the permitting processes that are supposed to be scrupulously followed for these abominations to be approved (that they weren't is also the basis for the Ocean City, MD v BOEM lawsuit).
...Van Drew's draft order, submitted to Trump's nominee for interior secretary, Doug Burgum, calls for a temporary halt to offshore wind development to evaluate impacts on tourism, the fishing industry, marine ecosystems, and utility costs. While Burgum has yet to commit to the freeze, he signaled openness to reviewing existing projects during his Senate confirmation hearing.
The order aims to freeze wind development from Rhode Island to Virginia for six months, allowing a review of federal leasing and permitting processes.
Van Drew foresees something happening sooner rather than later.
...Van Drew expects Trump to issue the executive order within the first quarter of the year, possibly on his first day in office. He said he views that as a first step toward an eventual moratorium on offshore wind development.
New Jersey wind opponents are already giddy with anticipation. It's been such a long slog and seemed hopeless at times, and every whale that washed up, pile driving that started, or every new sonar survey they couldn't stop made it all seem so hopeless.
"Offshore wind projects should have NEVER been approved," says @Congressman_JVD. "The Biden administration rammed them through without proper oversight or understanding of their devastating consequences." Thank you NJ Congressman Jeff VanDrew for your steadfast support! https://t.co/SOkWiIf9SC pic.twitter.com/ktRYYVYAou
— SaveLBI (@saveLBIorg) January 14, 2025
Now that there are sympathetic ears in the White House, EPA, and Interior Department instead of adversaries, perhaps there can be a reversal of policy at some point.
...Activists, homeowners, and lovers of Jersey’s iconic beaches have been anxiously anticipated Trump’s action against offshore wind since the Republican won an historic second non-consecutive term back in November
“They only work if you get subsidy. The only people who want them are the people getting rich off windmills, getting massive subsidies from the U.S. government,” Trump opined at a recent Mar-a-Lago press conference, adding how “off the coast of New Jersey, they want build like 200 windmills. The people are going crazy; nobody wants them.”
NOBODY WANTS THEM
Besides sweating the outcome of the election, NJ wind developers were facing a united, fierce, and determined resistance from the growing number of forces opposed to verminous Phil Murphy's pet projects.
A federal lawsuit and a planned executive order from Donald Trump are two of the latest attempts to block New Jersey's offshore wind plans.
The anti-offshore wind organization Save LBI recently sued a group of federal agencies and Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, a company preparing to build New Jersey's first offshore wind power project.
The industry faces another threat. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, (R-2nd) who represents southern New Jersey, announced he was helping Trump draft an executive order that would halt offshore wind work along the East Coast.
"These offshore wind projects should have never been approved in the first place," Van Drew said in a statement. "The Biden administration rammed them through the approval process without proper oversight, transparent lease agreements, or a full understanding of their devastating consequences. They are an economic and environmental disaster waiting to happen."
The fact is they're fugly, and the cost is too damn high.
Every once in a while Donald Trump says something that shocks Washington with its blunt truth. So it was during last week’s discursive press conference when he observed that wind power isn’t economic without subsidies.
Wind farms “only work if you get a subsidy,” Mr. Trump mused. “The only people that want them are the people that are getting rich off windmills, getting massive subsidies from the U.S. government. And it’s the most expensive energy there is. It’s many, many times more expensive than clean natural gas. . . . You don’t want energy that needs subsidy.”
The media’s fact-checkers pounced and proclaimed that wind energy is among the cheapest and fastest-growing power sources. But that’s only because of rich subsidies, which were sweetened by the Inflation Reduction Act. Federal tax credits can cover 50% of the cost of building an offshore wind farm and more than 80% of the cost onshore.
Even the Biden Energy Department, in a 2023 report, estimates that power from new onshore wind farms costs more than from gas-fired plants on a per-megawatt-hour basis if you exclude subsidies. Wind with tax credits is about 25% less expensive. On the other hand, offshore wind costs two to three times more than gas power even with subsidies.
YOU DON'T WANT ENERGY THAT NEEDS SUBSIDY
No, you don't, especially if you're the one getting the bill for it.
Four more days.
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