https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/us-government-finds-new-excuse-to-stop-construction-of-offshore-wind/ Skip to content Ars Technica home Sections Forum Subscribe Search * AI * Biz & IT * Cars * Culture * Gaming * Health * Policy * Science * Security * Space * Tech * Feature * Reviews * AI * Biz & IT * Cars * Culture * Gaming * Health * Policy * Science * Security * Space * Tech Forum Subscribe Story text Size [Standard] Width * [Standard] Links [Standard] * Subscribers only Learn more Pin to story Theme * HyperLight * Day & Night * Dark * System Search dialog... Sign In Sign in dialog... Sign in Trying again US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified Projects with hardware in the water stopped due to Department of Defense fears. John Timmer - Dec 22, 2025 1:29 pm | 152 A series of tall wind turbines in the ocean, illuminated by beams of sunlight filtering through baps of heavy clouds. A series of tall wind turbines in the ocean, illuminated by beams of sunlight filtering through baps of heavy clouds. Credit: glegorly Credit: glegorly Text settings Story text Size [Standard] Width * [Standard] Links [Standard] * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav On Monday, the US Department of the Interior announced that it was pausing the leases on all five offshore wind sites currently under construction in the US. The move comes despite the fact that these projects already have installed significant hardware in the water and on land; one of them is nearly complete. In what appears to be an attempt to avoid legal scrutiny, the Interior is blaming the decisions on a classified report from the Department of Defense. The second Trump administration announced its animosity toward offshore wind power literally on day one, issuing an executive order on inauguration day that called for a temporary halt to issuing permits for new projects pending a re-evaluation. Earlier this month, however, a judge vacated that executive order, noting that the government has shown no indication that it was even attempting to start the re-evaluation it said was needed. But a number of projects have gone through the entire permitting process, and construction has started. Before today, the administration had attempted to stop these in an erratic, halting manner. Empire Wind, an 800 MW farm being built off New York, was stopped by the Department of the Interior, which alleged that it had been rushed through permitting. That hold was lifted following lobbying and negotiations by New York and the project developer Orsted, and the Department of the Interior never revealed why it changed its mind. When the Interior Department blocked a second Orsted project, Revolution Wind offshore of southern New England, the company took the government to court and won a ruling that let it continue construction. Today's announcement targets those and three other projects. Interior says it is pausing the permits for all five, which are the only projects currently under construction. It claims that offshore wind creates "national security risks" that were revealed in a recent analysis performed by the Department of Defense, which apparently neglected to identify these issues during the evaluations it did while the projects were first permitted. Unspecified risks What are these risks? The Interior Department is being extremely coy. It notes that offshore wind turbines can interfere with radar sensing, but that's been known for a while. In announcing the decision, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum also noted "the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies." But the announcement says that the Defense Department analysis is classified, meaning nobody is likely to know what the actual reason is--presuming one exists. The classification will also make it far more challenging to contest this decision in court. The five blocked projects are: * Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind: A massive 2.6 GW installation off the coast of Virginia. According to the project's updates, construction of the land-based facilities and the in-water base for the towers is complete, and assembly of the turbines and towers on land has started. * Empire Wind: A site off the New York/New Jersey coast will play host to an 810 MW project. This one is early in the construction phase, with work focusing on prepping the sites where turbines will be installed. This had been subjected to an earlier hold. * Revolution Wind: Another early victim of the Department of Interior's capricious early attempts, Revolution was 80 percent complete when work restarted following Orsted's court victory. It will host 700 MW of generating capacity in the waters off Connecticut and Rhode Island. * Sunrise Wind: 925 MW is planned for a site beyond the tip of Long Island. Recent construction updates suggest that work is primarily focused on the facilities where power will be brought ashore. * Vineyard Wind 1: This is an 800 MW project being built just south of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. This project was expected to be completed by the end of this year, so it may be substantially done. Many of the affected states were counting on the power that these facilities would deliver, and will likely oppose this move. "This appears to be a second, even more lawless and erratic stop work order, reviving the Trump Administration's prior failed attempt to halt construction of Revolution Wind," said William Tong, the Attorney General of Connecticut. "There is a court order blocking their prior stop work order and this appears to be a new brazen attempt to circumvent that order." He indicated his office is currently evaluating its legal options. The states are likely to be joined by the companies backing these projects, which, in several cases, have already spent nearly all the money needed for their construction and will be eager to start earning that back by selling power from the facilities. In both court cases in which the administration attempted to block wind power development, the government lost badly. The records in the case indicate that it has had no substantive reasons for reversing decades-old policies and overruling past decisions, and that internally, the decision-making process appears to consist entirely of noting that the president doesn't like wind power. It's unclear whether this classified evaluation differs significantly from earlier efforts in any way other than that it will be harder to find out. Photo of John Timmer John Timmer Senior Science Editor John Timmer Senior Science Editor John is Ars Technica's science editor. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. When physically separated from his keyboard, he tends to seek out a bicycle, or a scenic location for communing with his hiking boots. 152 Comments Comments Forum view Loading Loading comments... Prev story Next story Most Read 1. Listing image for first story in Most Read: We asked four AI coding agents to rebuild Minesweeper--the results were explosive 1. We asked four AI coding agents to rebuild Minesweeper--the results were explosive 2. 2. Russia is about to do the most Russia thing ever with its next space station 3. 3. Discworld, Daleks, and Deep 13: A geeky holiday TV and movie watchlist 4. 4. US government finds new excuse to stop construction of offshore wind 5. 5. Power outage paralyzes Waymo robotaxis when traffic lights go out Customize Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. 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