Norwegian energy company Equinor said Friday that it will be forced to close off New York offshore projects within days unless President Donald Trump’s administration relies on an order that halted construction.
Work at Empire Wind was suspended on April 16th after Interior Secretary Dougbergham directed the Maritime Energy Management Agency to halt construction. Bergham said further reviews are needed as the Biden administration appears to be in a hurry to approve it. Equiner went through a seven-year permitting process last year before starting to build the empire wind power, and the project is roughly the third and complete.
Trump is hostile to renewable energy, particularly offshore wind, and has signed Smart, an executive order aimed at boosting oil, gas and coal. On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending offshore wind lease sales in federal waters and suspending approval, permits and issuance of loans for all wind projects.
Empire Wind is fully permitted, and developers have already invested more than $2.5 billion in the project, Molly Morris, president of Equinor Renewables Americas, said in an interview Friday.
She said this is an “urgent, unsustainable situation” because every day of uncertainty is so expensive. Equiner spends $50 million a week on the project and has 11 ships on standby. The developers are already doing a considerable amount of onshore work, with cables from the wind farm connecting to the local grid.
“If there is no material progress towards the resolution within a few days, the Equiner will be forced to finish the project,” she said. “This is about respecting contracts and financial investments made in the US. This could set a dangerous precedent by halting projects in the past.”
The Home Office did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Equinor has invested more than $60 billion across the US, including substantial oil, gas and renewable projects. German energy company RWE has stopped offshore wind work in the US, citing the political environment. French energy giant Total Energy has paused development of offshore wind projects in New York after Trump won reelection.
Equiner is considering legal options, but rather than being bound by court, Morris said the best way forward is to resolve it more quickly. Summer construction windows for major offshore work begin this month, and she said if you miss it, the project will return to the year.
Morris and Equinor CEO Anders Opedal met with Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council on Wednesday. She said it would be helpful, but they were asked to meet with Bergham and have not gotten a meeting.
Equiner is building an empire wind to begin offering power in over 500,000 New York homes in 2026. Equiner confirmed the federal lease of Imperial Wind in March 2017, early in Trump’s first term. The Maritime Energy Management Authority approved the construction and operational plan in February 2024, and construction began that year.
New York leads a coalition of state attorney generals challenging executive orders on wind energy in court. They say in a lawsuit filed Monday that Trump has no authority to unilaterally close the permitting process, and he is at stake the development of electricity sources critical to the state’s economic vitality, energy mix, public health and climate goals.
The White House says the Democratic attorney general is trying to stop the president’s popular energy agenda rather than working with him to restore America’s energy control.
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