Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to explain why the Trump administration canceled a Biden-era offshore wind project.
The Trump administration lifted a stop-work order issued last month on an offshore wind facility planned off the coast of New York, the project’s developer, Equinor, said on Monday.
Equinor, a Norwegian energy company, said construction activities could resume on Empire Wind, a $5 billion project that is expected to someday provide power for half a million homes in New York.
The company had warned it could lose billions of dollars in response to the order issued on April 16, raising concerns that fully permitted developments representing billions in investment are not safe. It said it was spending $50 million weekly to keep the project afloat during the suspension.
“I would like to thank President Trump for finding a solution that saves thousands of American jobs and provides for continued investments in energy infrastructure in the U.S.,” Equinor CEO Anders Opedal said in a statement.
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South Brookly Marine Terminal, which is being developed into a staging facility for Equinor’s Empire Wind offshore wind project. (Reuters / Reuters Photos)
Opedal also thanked Norway’s leadership for bringing the issue to the Trump administration’s attention. Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg met with the president in Washington, D.C., last month.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul also played a crucial role in restoring the project, Opedal said.
Equinor said it would make an updated economic assessment in the second quarter, while seeking to move forward with offshore installation this year and reach commercial operation by 2027.
The company will now work with suppliers and regulatory bodies to minimize the impact of the delay. The company said the project is 30% complete.
The Equinor logo is seen in this illustration taken on May 3, 2022. (Reuters / Reuters Photos)
Equinor purchased the Empire Wind lease in 2017, during President Donald Trump’s first administration in 2017, and the project was approved in 2023 under the Biden administration.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Equinor last month to halt construction, arguing the Biden administration had rushed the project’s approval without sufficient environmental analysis.
Burgum pointed to concerns brought up in an internal report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which assists the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in permitting offshore wind projects by assessing impacts on marine mammals and fisheries.
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Interior Secretary Doug Burgum delivers remarks outside the White House on March 19, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)
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Trump has promised to expand domestic energy production, but wind is excluded from that initiative. He issued an executive order on his first day back in the White House in January that paused new leasing and permitting of wind projects, which the president criticized as “ugly,” expensive and harmful to wildlife.
There are four operating offshore wind farms in the U.S.
In addition to Empire Wind, three others are under construction. Two are owned by Denmark’s Orsted: Sunrise Wind off the coast of New York and Revolution Wind off the coast of Rhode Island. Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind is also under construction.
Reuters contributed to this report.
