Naval wind energy is an emerging industry in the United States, and it has been so that it was so on this week ready To renew after a series of canceled projects. The Biden Administration has set a goal represented in the deployment of 30 GB of projects by 2030 (approximately 150 times the current amount of marine wind power at the national level), and the state’s obligations were higher than that. But President Donald Trump has long been grazing a clear revenge against wind energy.
On Monday, his first day in office, Trump achieved a goal Promise It issued an executive procedure temporarily suspending new permits and lease sales of wind energy on land and federal waters, pending review by federal agencies. “We do not want the air mills in this country,” he told Fox News.
As a result, trade unions and low -income port societies that were dependent on Building jobs from these projects You will be disappointed; Achieving the climatic goals of some coastal countries will be more difficult; The network’s reliability prospects in the face of expected growth in energy demand at the national level are somewhat less brighter.
In addition to its climatic value as a form of carbon -free energy, sea winds play a useful role in the power network along with solar energy and wild wind energy. As with other renewable technologies, its energy is intermittent – but because its availability depends on environmental factors that are different from these resources, the sea wind can be considered a “form of storage”, explained by Daniel Kamin, professor of energy at the University of California. Berkeley and former American science envoy.
There are three winds working in American waters today, off the coast of Rod Island, New York and Virginia. Among these projects, only one project – the South Gok Wind Energy Farm in New York – is a large -scale project. But many other projects go through different stages of development – among the main open questions about the executive procedure is whether the projects that have already obtained rental contracts and permits will face the risk. “I am concerned not only about future projects, but also about current projects,” Kamin said.
The executive procedure indicates that stopping the sea rent does not affect “rights under the current lease contracts in the withdrawn areas” – but also stipulates that the Minister of Interior will conduct a review “for the necessity of completing or amending any existing lease contracts for wind energy” and “for the legal principles of such Remove.
One of these legal tools available to Trump is simply to drop the federal government’s defense of the statements that are appealed in court.
The Ocean Energy Management Office, or Boem, is currently being prosecuted due to the permits granted to at least four wind projects: the winds of the revolution in Rod Island, the winds of South Goor in New York, the coastal winds of Virginia, and the Marlyland winds project.
Clearview Energy Partners, Timothy Fox, told GRI in an e -mail that the executive procedure “indicates strongly … that the Trump administration is unlikely that the Trams administration strongly defends the permits of marine wind projects issued by the Biden Administration,” in addition to that, in addition to that “You will do it.” Encouraging the enemies of marine wind energy to provide additional legal appeals against existing projects.
But there may be a compensation incentive for the administration to avoid dropping its defenses from the projects, according to Batrick Crowley, AFL -CIO president in Rod Island: The fact that Boem Bank is also responsible for granting exploration permits for marine oil – which is imposed by Trump. Consider charging.
“I think their legal accounts will take into account:“ If we simply fold the leaves, what will this do with the authority of this agency? ”Crowley said:“ They do not want to give up this authority. ”Through my experience, no federal administration wants to give up Any authority it has. “
“If they want from Boem Bank to agree to maritime digging, and give up this authority in relation to marine winds, this will allow people who do not want maritime digging by referring to this decision as a precedent.”
Fox described this as a “fair argument”, agreed that “if the Trump administration stood firmly alongside petitions, and if the court (courts) approves, this may be a precedent that puts a high environmental barrier for other energy sectors.” (For example, oil and marine gas). “But there may be ways to overcome this dilemma.
The administration can simply be invoked with arguments for the environmental effects of marine winds and does not apply to drilling operations, which occur to a large extent in different areas and have different environmental effects. Fox wrote: “For example, the Trump administration can argue that individual marine wind projects and their cumulative effects can negatively affect the North Atlantic Whale, which is one of the species threatened with extinction listed in the list,” an issue that has no significant impact on drilling operations.
Like many in the wave of executive orders issued by Trump on the first day, the ambiguity creates a state of uncertainty – and leaves some room for hope for the stakeholders in the wind energy industry.
“One of the ways to explain what Trump is doing is to create the situation in which he can eventually get the credit for the continuation and expansion of the marine wind industry,” said Crowley. “If we learn anything from Trump, he will be credited with good things and avoids blame for bad things.”
