US President Donald Trump’s ongoing campaign against wind energy is pitting his administration against Democratic leaders and trade unions, and the management of a top wind farm developer against its shareholders.
The administration’s latest wind crackdown arrived on Friday, when the Transportation Department said it would withdraw $679 million in funding for offshore wind projects. The move follows the imposition of new layers of bureaucratic scrutiny on wind farm permits, and the withdrawal of permits for at least one major offshore wind farm already under construction.
On Monday, the Democratic governors of several northeastern states urged the administration to change course, warning in a statement that the current policies will “jeopardize hardworking families, wasting years of progress and ceding leadership to foreign competitors.“ Labor unions agree: the head of Rhode Island’s AFL-CIO said the project cancellations put thousands of jobs at risk and that many of his members who voted for Trump are outraged. Meanwhile Ørsted, the Danish developer behind one cancelled project, will ask its shareholders this week to approve a massive new fundraising — but some are skeptical the plan will do enough to prop up its foundering stock price.
