President Donald Trump’s allies are divided over his attacks on offshore wind projects.
In one corner, the president’s former Energy secretary and business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute argue that it’s bad for American companies when the Trump administration halts projects that are under construction. In the other corner are conservative activists, coastal communities and fishing groups that applaud the government’s increasingly aggressive actions to upend the wind industry, which they argue destroys the ocean, lowers property values and raises the cost of electricity.
The side Trump aligns with could determine the fate of offshore wind in America.
The president has expressed disdain for offshore wind since returning to the White House earlier this year, frequently describing the giant turbines as expensive whale killers that mar coastal vistas. His administration has unleashed a barrage of attacks aimed at stopping offshore wind projects, including an order last month to halt construction of a $6.2 billion project off Connecticut and Rhode Island that is 80 percent complete.
