Four States Demand Answers On Offshore Wind Work Stoppage

Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.

Last week, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum cited new, classified information from the Department of Defense when he abruptly halted work on five offshore wind farms under construction along the Atlantic coast. Now the governors of the affected states want DoD to let them in on the secret so they can, you know, protect their residents from whatever dire emergency is lurking in the water right outside their doors. Well, almost all of them. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin is conspicuously absent from the fray. So, where in the world is he?

Where, Oh Where, Is Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin?

In a page torn from the pages of Monty Python, Governor Youngkin seems to have gallantly chickened out of the offshore wind fight. His absence is all the more conspicuous because he has been a strong supporter of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project during his term in office. At 2.6 gigawatts, CVOW is the largest of the five wind farms halted by Burgum’s emergency order, and it is also the one closest to completion.

As of just a few weeks ago, the project developer, Dominion Energy, was looking forward to commissioning CVOW in 2026, bringing a successful conclusion to a long, meticulous, 12-year planning, review, and construction effort.

Not to bring partisan politics into the picture, but we will, Youngkin does happen to be the only Republican governor to host one of the five impacted offshore projects. The other four projects are located in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island, all of which are under the stewardship of Democratic governors.

Earlier this year Youngkin’s Republican allies appeared willing to shield CVOW from interference, even as Burgum entangled other projects in blue states with stop-work orders (here’s another example). However, that security blanket was always a temporary one. The Virginia constitution only allows governors to serve one four-year term. Youngkin couldn’t run for a second term in November. When Democrat Abigail Spanberger handily beat Youngkin’s Republican successor on Election Day, it was only a matter of time before CVOW met the same Trump chopper faced by other Democratic governors.

Along with CVOW, the other four projects halted by Burgum’s new emergency order are Vineyard Wind (Massachusetts), Revolution Wind (shared between Rhode Island and Connecticut), Sunrise Wind, and Empire Wind (both in New York).

One could say that Youngkin no longer has skin in the game since he is no longer the Governor of Virginia, but that’s not quite accurate. Youngkin holds the seat until Spanberger is sworn in on January 17. He has been making the most of his last few weeks in office, one example being the unveiling of his official portrait with the First Lady on December 22 — coincidentally, the same day that Burgum issued the new stop-work order.

The outgoing Governor also took the opportunity to issue a laundry list of new board appointments in December, helping to stamp his legacy upon Virginia long after January 17 comes and goes.

And yet, five days after the stop-work order, the Governor’s failure to mount a vigorous defense of CVOW is sticking out like a sore thumb. It’s not much of a surprising thumb, though. The Governor is reportedly mulling his next steps up the Republican Party ladder, where support for offshore wind could choke off an opportunity before it even materializes. And so, as the story goes, he bravely turned his tail and fled.

Okay, So Only Four Offshore Wind Governors Demand Answers

With Youngkin sidelined, the response to Burgum’s order was left up to the four Democratic governors, Ned Lamont of Connecticut, Maura Healey of Massachusetts, Daniel McKee of Rhode Island, and Kathy Hochul of New York, all four of whom signed onto a letter on December 24, demanding a classified briefing from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on just what possible new information could have sparked such an extreme step by Burgum.

Those of you who have been following the story on CleanTechnica will recognize some of the language in the governors’ letter. On December 22, I summarized Burgum’s order and noted that the new, classified information he claimed to receive from the Defense Department must have been extremely new, dire, and urgent, to justify stopping five significant energy infrastructure projects in their tracks without any kind of forewarning or preparation, especially considering that all five projects had previously passed muster with DoD and other federal agencies.

“The sudden emergence of a new “national security threat” appears to be less a legitimate, rational finding of fact and more a pretextual excuse to justify a predetermined outcome consistent with the President’s frequently stated personal opposition to offshore wind,” the Governors wrote.

“We demand an immediate classified briefing for our cleared personnel to review this supposed evidence and all information related to this purported rationale,” they continued.

“It strains credulity to believe that vital, substantial projects that underwent many federal reviews and processes, including by the DoD, all of a sudden present new, existential, unforeseen threats,” they added for good measure.

Do read the full letter (here’s that link again) for addition national security context. Among other particulars, the Governors question why they were not immediately informed when these supposed new national security risks were suddenly unearthed in November. They also tear apart Burgum’s reference to risks involving radar “clutter,” at one point reminding the Interior Secretary that “the Earth is round.”

Dominion Takes The Gloves Off

“Do not be the administration that handed the future to our adversaries by turning off the power at home,” the letter concludes.

As for whether or not that classified briefing ever materializes, don’t hold your breath. Dominion, for one, is not sitting on its hands. On the same day that Burgum issued the stop-work order, Dominion issued a statement defending the project. “Stopping CVOW for any length of time will threaten grid reliability for some of the nation’s most important war fighting, AI, and civilian assets. It will also lead to energy inflation and threaten thousands of jobs,” the company emphasized.

Not waiting around for the ink to dry, Dominion also took its case to court. On December 26, Associated Press reported that Dominion is asking for a temporary restraining order on the grounds that the government’s order is “‘arbitrary and capricious’ and unconstitutional.”

The AP report has been widely circulated among other news organizations, but it is light on detail other than to note that a hearing is set for 2:00 p.m. in the court of U.S. District Judge Jamar Walker. If you have any further updates to add, drop a note in the comment thread.

Photo: Components for the new Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project are mustered on shore, awaiting transportation to the wind farm site at sea (cropped, courtesy of CVOW).