New England officials reacted furiously Monday to the Trump administration’s decision to halt work on a nearly finished offshore wind project, saying the move would send electricity prices soaring, kill blue-collar jobs and threaten the reliability of the electric grid.
The reaction to the Interior Department’s order to stop work on Revolution Wind underscored growing tensions between the region’s officials and President Donald Trump, whose policies against wind power are jeopardizing state efforts to expand clean energy.
Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island have bet heavily on offshore wind as a way to reduce New England’s reliance on natural gas and cut planet-warming pollution. But those efforts have run headlong into Trump’s goals to build gas pipelines and prevent new wind projects from being completed.
In citing national security concerns as the basis for halting work on Revolution Wind, the administration ignited criticism from across the political spectrum in New England, where business groups, unions and environmentalists warned that interrupting a project that’s 80 percent built could degrade the grid.
ISO New England, the regional grid operator, said delaying Revolution Wind “will increase risks to reliability.” Eversource Energy CEO Joe Nolan called the project “critical for New England” and said “we just hope that we can continue to finish the job.” And labor leaders said they were sending workers home on a project that has employed more than 1,200 people.
“This isn’t about national security,” said Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat, standing before two massive turbine towers at a press conference near a port in his state on Monday. ”This is just a political decision by the president to help his friends in the oil and gas industry.”
Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee, a Democrat, warned in a statement that the decision “puts hundreds of union jobs at risk.”
“At a time when we should be moving forward with solutions for energy, jobs, and affordability, this administration is choosing delay and disruption,” he said.
Revolution Wind is a 65-turbine project that would be capable of powering 350,000 homes. The project developer, Ørsted, had installed all of the foundations and 45 turbines. It is scheduled to become fully operational next year and has contracts to sell electricity to Connecticut and Rhode Island.
The order piles financial pressure on Ørsted, whose shares tumbled more than 16 percent on Monday.
The Trump administration has unleashed a volley of decisions aimed at curtailing wind development. It halted new offshore wind leases, revoked designated offshore wind development areas and stopped work for a month on Empire Wind, a New York project that would power 500,000 homes. On Thursday, the Commerce Department announced it was launching a national security investigation into imports of wind turbine components.
It’s unclear why the administration is pointing to national security issues related to the project. An Interior Department spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. The administration’s public statements have largely been limited to a letter from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, a division of Interior that regulates offshore wind, to Ørsted.
“BOEM is seeking to address concerns related to the protection of national security interests of the United States and prevention of interference with reasonable uses of the exclusive economic zone,” BOEM’s acting director, Matthew Giacona, wrote to the company.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin was asked about the Revolution Wind decision in an interview on Fox News on Monday.
“The president has been very consistent. He’s not a fan of wind,” Zeldin said. “There are leaders in Congress, governors of states, who talk about wind as if it’s a substitute for baseload power,” Zeldin said, adding that the country needs more coal and natural gas.
“We need to unleash energy dominance, and it’s just not an honest approach to this entire energy conversation,” he said.
Few parts of the country have bet more on offshore wind in recent years than New England. The region is heavily reliant on natural gas and has some of the country’s highest electricity prices. That owes in part to limited pipeline capacity, which also serves heating demand in the region. Regulators have for years expressed concern about wintertime energy emergencies stemming from gas shortages.
Many New England officials viewed offshore wind as part of the solution, helping not only to reduce carbon dioxide but also as a way to stabilize the region’s grid.
In 2023, ISO New England commissioned a study with the Electric Power Research Institute that examined the region’s ability to withstand extreme weather events. It concluded that New England was relatively well placed to manage storms through 2032.
But that study assumed the region would have 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind capacity in 2027, and 4,800 MW of offshore wind capacity in 2032. Revolution Wind is 704 MW; Vineyard Wind, a nearby project that is also under construction, is 800 MW.
In a statement Monday, ISO New England said Revolution Wind was included in its near-term and future grid reliability analyses. It said recent heat waves and rising electricity demand have increased the need for more power generation.
“Unpredictable risks and threats to resources — regardless of technology — that have made significant capital investments, secured necessary permits, and are close to completion will stifle future investments, increase costs to consumers, and undermine the power grid’s reliability and the region’s economy now and in the future,” the grid operator said in a statement.
State officials were more strident. They have long argued that winds in the North Atlantic tend to blow strongest in the winter, making offshore wind a valuable tool for helping to bolster reliability.
“Should this project be interrupted, we will have an elevated risk of rolling blackouts impacting our region as a result of this,” said Katie Dykes, commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, at a press conference Monday.
Other power plant owners rallied to Ørsted’s defense. Ørsted is not a member of the New England Power Generators Association, a trade group representing power plant owners in the region. But NEPGA President Dan Dolan went to a press conference in Connecticut on Monday as a show of support for Revolution Wind.
“I do think the bright line here are projects that have closed financing, that are well under construction and have obtained all their legal permits,” Dolan said in an interview. “Undercutting facilities in that stance is bad for everyone.”
The presence of Eversource’s Nolan at the press conference was particularly notable. Revolution Wind was initially co-owned by Eversource and Ørsted. But Eversource sold its stake in the project last year to Global Infrastructure Partners. As part of that deal, Eversource is responsible for any cost overruns associated with the project.
In an email, an Eversource spokesperson said the company was reviewing the order to determine if there were any financial impacts from the decision.
“The people of New England need this power for their own energy future, and we want to continue working together to make it happen,” said William Hinkle, the spokesperson.
Union leaders decried the move, saying it torpedoed years of training meant to prepare workers for a job in a new industry. John Dunderdale, the business manager at Piledrivers Local 56, said he was forced to pull 40 workers off Revolution Wind as a result of the order. He noted that more than 1,000 people from various local unions have been put to work on the project.
“I don’t see where this is a security risk. We’re creating our own energy,” Dunderdale said. “What I do see is real jobs being taken away from real union construction workers.”
Trump lifted the stop work order on Empire Wind in New York this summer after he claimed to strike a deal with Gov. Kathy Hochul to allow two proposed natural gas pipelines to proceed. Hochul denied making such a deal, but signaled openness to permitting new gas projects that comply with state law.
It is unclear if New England officials would be able to make a similar deal. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, has publicly spoken in favor of new pipeline capacity, as part of an effort to bring down the state’s soaring electricity costs.
Speaking at the press conference on Monday, Lamont said he had spoken to Trump in previous months and thought the pair had an understanding. He implied that Trump had broken that promise.
“We don’t agree on everything, but there was a strong sense that we wanted more American based power,” Lamont said. “This is a deal that was made with all different facets of state, local and federal government.”
“I feel very confident,” he added, “that this is such a dumb decision, it’s going to get fixed.”
