Energy company threatens to pull plug on wind farm off the coast of New York as Trump review sparks $78 million a week in losses
Norwegian-based Equinor said it's losing a whopping $50 million (AUD$78 million) a week since Trump's Department of the Interior halted construction on the controversial project that is expected to deliver energy to 500,000 homes in New York City, its leaders told The Post.
'We will have to terminate the program within days if we don't have a resolution with the federal government,' said Molly Morris, Equinor's president of Renewables in America.
'This situation is unsustainable.'
The loss of the Empire Wind project would be a blow to New York state's green energy push and also mean the loss of as many as thousands of jobs needed for building the sprawling wind farm.
The project is supported by city Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul and had received all the necessary permits from the prior Biden Administration last year.
Morris said the suspension of the project is 'unlawful' and Equinor has not ruled out filing a lawsuit to undo the freeze as 11 vessels have been left waiting on standby.
Empire Wind is more than 30% complete and construction at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal — the substation where the wind power would be delivered to connect to Con Edison's grid — is more than 50% done, the company said.
More than $2.5 billion has already been spent, Morris said.
Construction for the project created 1,500 jobs and as many as 4,000 total jobs were in the works, not just in New York but also in Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas.
The 54-turbine wind farm, 15 miles off the Long Island coast, is opposed by Long Island beach communities, commercial fishermen and Republican allies of President Trump — including Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.
Trump's Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum stepped in last month to pull the plug on the project, claiming its approval was 'rushed through' by the lame duck Biden administration in its final days.
'Staff of the Department of the Interior has obtained information that raises serious issues with respect to the project approvals for the Empire Wind Project,' Burgum said in a statement at the time. 'This halt is to remain in effect until further review is completed to address these serious deficiencies.'
But Equinor said it signed its federal lease for Empire Wind with the first Trump administration in 2017. Empire Wind had undergone years of rigorous review and secured all necessary federal, state and local approvals and permits to begin construction last year, the company said.
And the Big Apple's mayor said spoke up in support of the project when he met with Trump at the White House last Friday in a bid to save the project
'It's a great project,' Adams said following an unrelated press conference Monday. 'When I was in DC, I shared that with the president. 'We're going to continue to push forward to get [Empire Wind] across the finish line.'
It may be a tough sell for the president, who has been an opponent of wind power — criticizing the renewable energy source as unreliable, costly and harmful to wildlife.
Upon taking office again in January, he issued an executive order to block or pause all new offshore wind projects.
The president's order did not explicitly halt projects that had already been approved with federal leases and permits, as was the case with Equinor's wind farm.
Originally published as Energy company threatens to pull plug on wind farm off the coast of New York as Trump review sparks $78 million a week in losses
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