GOP lawmakers and fishermen are calling on Trump to maintain his promise to eradicate offshore wind power – do you agree?

From DAILY CALLER

Adam Pack
Contributor

Critics of the offshore wind industry are calling on President-elect Donald Trump to keep his campaign promise and end federal support for offshore wind energy on his first day in office.

Trump's return to the Oval Office could deal another blow to the troubled offshore wind industry if his administration follows through on its promise to eliminate federal support for offshore wind projects during his second term. Republican lawmakers who oppose heavily subsidized green energy and commercial fishermen who view the industry as an existential threat to their livelihoods are calling on the president-elect to make good on his campaign promise, which could mean ending federal subsidies and lease sales for the industry. (RELATED: Biden celebrates “progress” in offshore wind energy despite major problems and cancellations in the industry)

“We will make sure of that [offshore wind] ends on the first day. I'm going to put it in an executive order,” Trump told a crowd of his supporters at a campaign rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, on May 11. “It will end on day one.”

Since January 2021, the Biden-Harris administration has approved ten commercial-scale offshore wind projects and secured six offshore wind leases, including one just last week in the Gulf of Maine that drew criticism from the commercial fishing industry as part of President Joe Biden's broader climate agenda . Despite the Biden administration's support for the industry, offshore wind has primarily suffered from the headwinds of inflation, project cancellations and clouded public opinion.

“I have no doubt that a second Trump administration will do the right thing for Americans by abandoning the Biden-Harris offshore wind agenda,” said Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, a vocal critic the offshore wind industry, to DCNF. “These projects strain our economy, harm local communities and are nothing more than political comeuppance for special interests. President Trump understands that true energy independence and prosperity through American oil, gas, solar, and especially nuclear energy will be achieved through balanced energy policy – ​​not through wasteful wind projects that endanger our economy and environment.”

“I think it's a very wise decision,” Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, told the DCNF. “We are wasting money, and the worst thing is that all the money goes to foreign wind companies because there are no American wind companies. They are all foreign companies making billions of dollars from the American energy payer.”

The Vineyard Wind energy project, co-owned by a Danish investment firm and a Spanish utility, drew the ire of Republican lawmakers in July when debris from one of the project's turbine blades – which stretches longer than the Statue of Liberty – spilled onto the beaches of Massachusetts was washed up after it broke apart and fell into the sea.

Scenes from today's @fishstewardship flotilla protest at the Vineyard wind farm. pic.twitter.com/iVFpGHasYd

— Nantucket Current (@ACKCurrent) August 25, 2024

“We should never allow foreign-owned companies to control our energy supply – let alone harm our environment as a result,” Harris wrote on X.

The New England Fisherman's Stewardship Association (NEFSA), a commercial fishing industry group that organized a “flotilla protest” at the site of the broken Vineyard wind turbine in August, is calling on the Trump administration to reverse Biden's goal of providing 30 gigawatts of power Offshore wind energy by 2030. The group also advocates for the new Trump administration to “unlease wind energy areas” offshore of New England and the USA removes the Mid-Atlantic from the list.

NEFSA CEO Jerry Leeman told the DCNF he is optimistic that the Trump administration will be “a voice of reason” on offshore wind, which he said was a welcome departure from the previous administration, which he blamed that it prioritizes green energy goals over the livelihoods of fishermen and the health of the marine environment. (RELATED: 'We've been rolled over': Fishermen protest offshore wind power after turbine failure spewing debris into Atlantic)

“The new administration has a historic opportunity to save American workers from foreign developers, revitalize iconic coastal cities and improve America's food security,” NEFSA chief Jerry Leeman said in a press release following Trump's victory.

According to Travis Fisher, director of energy and environmental policy studies at, the Trump administration may also seek to repeal Inflation Reduction Act subsidies for offshore wind energy projects, which could limit the industry's continued growth off the Atlantic coast The Cato Institute is economically viable.

“I expect the prospects for offshore wind to worsen once the subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act are removed,” Fischer told DCNF. “The high costs of offshore wind energy are inevitable. State and federal subsidies may obscure costs by shifting them to the tax base, but ultimately either ratepayers or ratepayers will bear the significantly above-market costs of offshore wind in states that require it.”

Share prices of offshore wind developers and wind turbine manufacturers fell significantly on Wednesday following news the night before that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris had lost.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.

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