Key Takeaways
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum halted construction of Empire Wind, after reports surfaced that its approval by the Biden Administration in 2024 may have been rushed and deficient.
Empire Wind was part of Biden’s goal of “30 gigawatts of offshore wind” capacity by 2030, providing 816 megawatts of capacity in federal waters off the coast of Long Island.
Empire Wind, like other offshore wind projects, has been troubled by much higher costs and sought renegotiation of its contracts, settling for a cost of $150.15 per megawatt-hour, or three times the price of natural gas-fired generation.
Empire Wind had just begun its construction of the project, which involved beginning to deposit tons of rock to minimize erosion, when it was ordered to stop work as the Interior Department reviewed its questionable documentation.
Offshore wind is extremely expensive with the Energy Information Administration pegging its costs as the highest of all examined generating technologies in its latest Annual Energy Outlook.
Many coastal communities have cited offshore wind causing whale deaths, harm to fisheries and navigation, and disruption to tourism.
According to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, construction activity is being stopped on New York’s Empire Wind project “until further review of information that suggests the Biden administration rushed through its approval without sufficient analysis.” New York’s offshore wind project is being built in federal waters off the coast of Long Island, having received a permit from the Biden administration. Burgum directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to order foreign energy developer Equinor to cease all construction activities on the project, indicating that the Biden administration green-lit permits for the project and ultimately approved it without conducting proper analysis. The work stoppage will be in effect indefinitely until further review is completed to address the deficiencies. Burgum also ordered Interior Department staff to continue a review of federal wind permitting practices related to both existing and pending permits and approvals. The Biden Interior Department had approved 11 commercial-scale offshore wind projects between 2021 and 2024 in pursuit of the President’s goal to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030.
Burgum’s review of offshore wind permits is a win for the fishing industry, wildlife advocates, and local grassroots groups that have opposed offshore wind development due to the devastation of marine-based industries, harm to wildlife (such as whales), interference with military operations, and disruption to scenic beach views that bring revenue to coastal communities. On his first day in office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that paused new approvals, permits, leases, and loans for wind projects until the Department of the Interior completes a full assessment of how such projects were approved under the Biden administration, keeping with a campaign promise. Nine projects, including Empire Wind 1, had their federal permits at that time.
Despite Trump’s executive order, Equinor recently initiated construction on Empire Wind, stating in a notice on March 24 that rock installation around the project’s underwater turbine bases would begin in April to minimize erosion, which is the first step in erecting its 54 wind turbines. It also issued an internal construction update, stating that underwater robots and human divers had been deployed to help initiate construction. Empire Wind 1 was slated to finish construction by 2027. Burgum’s pause on the project came after a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration review found deficiencies in the permitting process that could lead to damaging consequences.
Construction of the project includes putting 3.2 billion pounds of rock into the ocean and pile-driving massive 180-foot monopoles into the seafloor, both of which, according to opponents, destroys marine habitat and threatens the fishing industry. Construction also can cause underwater noise and vibration that could fatally injure endangered species like the North Atlantic right whale. If constructed, Empire Wind’s turbines would be located 12 nautical miles south of Long Island, New York, and power a portion of New York City’s electric grid. The project has the backing of Governor Kathy Hochul, who sees offshore wind as a critical piece to the state’s clean energy blueprint to have 70% of the state’s electricity from renewable energy by 2030.
New York planned to have about 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2035, which it believed would be sufficient to supplant most of the existing fossil fuel electricity generation in the state. As of 2022, about 4,300 megawatts of that was already under “active development,” according to the state’s scoping plan. They include the 816-megawatt first phase of Empire Wind, a 924-megawatt facility called Sunrise Wind, and a 130-megawatt project off Eastern Long Island called South Fork Wind. In October 2019, a contract to develop Empire Wind 1 had been finalized with Norway’s Equinor, and one for Sunrise Wind had been finalized with Denmark’s Ørsted. New York touted the cost-effectiveness of both expensive projects. Since then, the companies canceled their projects, seeking higher wholesale prices for their wind energy due to supply chain constraints stemming from Coronavirus lockdowns, high inflation due to “Bidenomics,” and high borrowing rates. The projects were rebid and new wholesale prices were guaranteed. During 2024, both Empire Wind 1 and Sunrise Wind received federal permits from the Biden administration. Sunrise Wind got its federal permit from the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on June 21, 2024 and started construction on July 17. Only the smaller South Fork Wind project is actually completed.
Offshore wind is extremely expensive. Empire Wind 1 and Sunrise Wind were awarded contracts with a weighted average all-in development cost over the life of the contracts at $150.15 per megawatt-hour — three times the cost of dispatchable and reliable natural gas generation. In its Annual Energy Outlook 2025, the Energy Information Administration estimates the levelized generating costs of offshore wind as $88.16 per megawatt hour, after applying lucrative subsidies from Biden’s climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act — the highest cost of all of its generating technologies.
Conclusion
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has halted construction work on New York’s Empire 1 offshore wind project to review the permits hastily approved by the Biden administration in 2024, keeping with President Trump’s executive order of January 20, 2025 on offshore wind. This expensive offshore wind technology was a major part of New York’s answer to achieving 70% of the state’s electricity from renewable energy by 2030. New Yorkers should thank both President Trump and Interior Secretary Burgum for their help in trying to obtain affordable energy for the state. They are also working on getting the Constitution pipeline built to carry natural gas from Pennsylvania to New York, which the NY government has killed in the past.
