Trump Loses Big Game Of Offshore Wind Chicken, Bigly

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Last Updated on: 20th May 2025, 02:41 am

US President Trump is acquiring a big reputation … for backing down from a fight, that is. The latest example is the “oopsies!” conclusion to a dramatic stop-work order abruptly issued by the Trump administration against the Empire Wind offshore wind farm in April, halting the massive project even though construction was already well underway. That didn’t last long….

The Offshore Wind Stop-Work Order Comes Down …

By now, everybody knows that Trump practically killed off the entire US offshore wind industry, along with thousands of supply chain jobs, when he suspended the offshore lease program administered by the Interior Department through its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

Projects already in the pipeline were supposedly safe, but an ominous sign emerged in March when the US Environmental Protection Agency summarily clawed back the final permit for the Atlantic Shores project in New Jersey, even though final normally means final and the permit was issued months ago.

The Empire Wind project was much deeper into its project timeline when it received the stop-work order on April 16. The developer, Empire Offshore Wind LLC (a branch of the global firm Equinor), was already placing turbine foundations off the coast of Long Island and construction was proceeding apace on a new wind services hub on the Brooklyn waterfront.

I got a birds-eye view of Brooklyn site on a visit to a nearby building earlier this year. It was impossible to imagine that anything could mothball all the machinery, equipment, and human power buzzing around the blocks-long site.

Apparently Equinor was of the same view. As reported by Reuters, the company’s response to the stop-work order was to stop work offshore, while continuing its onshore activities. An Equinor spokesperson told the news organization that the company has “decided to stop offshore construction of the project following the order,” with the emphasis on offshore.

The Equinor spokesperson also told Reuters that the company will “engage with the administration to find out why the order was issued after we had received all the permits previously.”

… And Trump Backs Down

Whatever they meant by engagement, it worked. On May 19, Equinor announced that the stop-work order has been lifted. Exactly how and why will probably remain a mystery. Though, some industry observers have suggested that the order was a simple matter of over-reach by the Interior Department. The permit for the offshore wind site was supposedly a Trump achievement. It was issued to Empire Wind in 2017, during his first turn at the Oval Office.

If you have any guess what contributed to the sudden reversal, drop a note in the comment thread. My guess is that Equinor called in its chips among supply chain stakeholders. Trump-voting states like Louisiana have played a major role in the US offshore wind industry, and the Empire Wind project is a good example.

According to the trade organization Oceantic Network, 112 contracts for work on Empire Wind are held by 102 US firms, covering about two dozen states and more than 3,500 jobs. “Empire Wind’s supply chain has brought more than $1.6 billion in investments to the U.S. This includes substantial investments in Texas, South Carolina, Louisiana, Ohio, and Kansas,” Oceantic also notes, emphasizing that Trump-voting states would be among the biggest losers if the stop-work order became permanent.

Reading between the lines, Equinor President and CEO Anders Opedal said as much in a statement celebrating the lifting of the stop-work order. “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.,” Opedal said (emphasis added)

In the same press statement, Equinor Wind US President Molly Morris also played the red state supply chain card. “Empire Wind brings supply chain investments in states across the nation including New York, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Texas and South Carolina,” said Morris, listing three Trump-voting states after New York.

So Much Winning For Offshore Wind (But Not For Trump)

Another key element in the Empire Wind saga is the ongoing feud between President Trump and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, most recently manifested in Trump’s takeover of her signature infrastructure project, a massive overhaul of the Penn Station rail hub in midtown Manhattan. Hochul responded to the Trump takeover in a statement dripping with sarcasm on April 17.

The Trump–Hochul feud also involves the state’s new congestion pricing system for Manhattan traffic, which was approved during the Biden administration. The Trump administration summarily issued an order reversing the approval but Hochul ignored a deadline last month to shut it down. So far the system remains in operation.

Given that historical context, the Empire Wind stop-work order is yet another example of Trump deploying the levers of federal power to put Hochul in her place. Instead, it has become yet another manifestation of his weakness.

In addition to thanking Trump for saving jobs and supporting investors, Opedal also thanked Governor Hochul “for her constructive collaboration with the Trump Administration.” Reading between the lines, “constructive collaboration” means Trump did not want to hand Hochul another opportunity to win the day’s headlines.

Next Steps For The US Offshore Wind Industry

Opedal additionally hinted that a word from Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and the country’s Minister of Finance may have also played a role in Trump’s abrupt reversal. After all, money talks, and Empire Wind is far from Equinor’s only investment in the US. As a diversified energy firm owned by the government of Norway, Equinor (formerly Statoil) has a large footprint in the US fossil energy industry. “We are one of the largest equity producers of oil and natural gas in the US with both onshore and offshore assets,” Equinor explains.

Politics aside, all’s well that ends well for Empire Wind, and the ripple effect of the victory could also impact other offshore projects in the pipeline. Atlantic Shores, for example, seemed dead in the water earlier this year after its 50–50 partner, Shell, pulled out. The remaining partner, EDF, also reportedly took a write-down on the project, but as of March, Atlantic Shores was still talking of a comeback.

Another hint of continued activity in the US offshore wind industry comes from China, where the COSCO shipyard recently completed the construction of a specialized offshore wind service vessel commissioned by the Danish firm Cadeler. In February, Cadeler announced that the vessel would be deployed to construct wind farms in the US.

The folks over at the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project must be breathing easier as well. The 2.6-gigawatt wind farm is about halfway complete. A stop-work order would be a big blow to Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, who has championed the project.

Photo: The Empire Wind offshore wind farm is back on track, saving thousands of US jobs both onshore and off (original photo by Tina Casey, Equinor wind services hub under construction in Brooklyn).