Interior Department Pauses Five Major Offshore Wind Projects, Citing National Security

At least one of the projects, which was set to start supplying power in 2026, was backed by Republicans.

Burgum

Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum announced that Interior was pausing the leases for five wind projects. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/AP

The Interior Department is pausing leases for five offshore wind farms on national security grounds, including one in Virginia that is close to being finished.

“ONE natural gas pipeline supplies as much energy as these 5 projects COMBINED,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a post on X on Monday, adding that the offshore wind projects subject to a pause are “expensive, unreliable, heavily subsidized.”

The affected projects are Vineyard Wind 1 in Massachusetts, Revolution Wind in Rhode Island, Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind 1 in New York and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind in Virginia, Reuters reported.