Donald Trump’s obsessive hatred of wind energy has reared its ugly head again. On Monday, December 22, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced that all construction on offshore wind projects would be halted due to “national security concerns.” This will affect five offshore wind projects on the East Coast, some of which are already mostly completed. In an X post, Burgum called these projects “expensive, unreliable, heavily subsidized offshore wind farms.”
Due to national security concerns identified by @DeptofWar, @Interior is PAUSING leases for 5 expensive, unreliable, heavily subsidized offshore wind farms!
ONE natural gas pipeline supplies as much energy as these 5 projects COMBINED. @POTUS is bringing common sense back to…
— Secretary Doug Burgum (@SecretaryBurgum) December 22, 2025
The move rests on supposed classified claims from the Department of War that these projects interfere with radar systems, but no solid evidence has been presented publicly. Just three days before this announcement, the Army Corps of Engineers had approved continued construction on Vineyard Wind, one of the projects that will now be paused. A few months ago, the Trump administration’s attempt to derail the Revolution Wind project in the name of national security was defeated in the courts. A coalition of anti-offshore-wind groups has been coordinating this offensive and supplying the administration with a slew of draft executive orders to use.
While Trump has gone on the attack, building trades unions have been rallying behind offshore wind development and have already experienced substantial job growth from it. This latest salvo has added to growing tensions between the administration and construction unions.
A statement from North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) said this move “kills thousands of good-paying jobs on projects that were legally permitted, fully vetted, fully funded, and already underway. These aren’t hypothetical jobs. They…
Auteur: Paul Prescod
