DELMARVA. -- The Department of the Interior immediately halted an offshore wind project in New York. Local officials believe it's a sign that US Wind's proposed project off Delmarva's coast will suffer the same fate.
In January, the Trump Administration began reviewing offshore wind projects that were approved under the Biden Administration. At the time, it encouraged local officials like Fenwick Island Mayor Natalie Magdeburger, who has strongly criticized offshore wind and US Wind's proposed project.
"It's not clean, the carbon footprint is very large, it's devastating to the environment," said Magdeburger.
Then, on Wednesday, April 16th, the first offshore wind domino fell. It was not here off the coast of Delmarva, though. It was for the Empire Wind project in New York.
Still, Congressman Andy Harris(R) said it's promising news.
"I think that if that project was halted, I think that the Maryland project has even more reason to be halted because of Department of Defense issues," said Harris.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum announced his department's decision in a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. In that letter, Burgum said that Department of the Interior staff "obtained information that raises serious concerns with respect to the project approvals for the Empire Wind Project."
Issues Identified In Burgum's Letter:
- Approval process was rushed through by the prior Administration
- Approval was granted without sufficient analysis or consultation among the relevant agencies
Burgum thenstated "in light of these revelations and consistent with the President's instructions, I am directing you to exercise your authority to order Empire Wind to cease all construction activities on the Empire Wind Project."
"That's what we've been saying all along," said Magdeburger. "The scientific analysis was rushed."
Harris said he's confident the feds will challenge the approval of US Wind's project. His confidence is based on national security issues.
"There is interference with radar, there is interference with subsurface detection and certainly those are both issues for the national defense," said Harris. "Especially given the proximity of the Maryland coast to Washington D.C."
WBOC reached out to US Wind on Thursday for comments. We did not hear back.
Harris said it's still unclear when the feds could decide on US Wind's project. Construction for Empire Wind's project was getting ready to start, so Harris said that the project took priority at the federal level.