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US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

arstechnica.com

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Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#21

Post by tony_cannistra »

I looked into this a little because I was curious. I guess the ostensible "national security" rationale (which clearly is not the only reason!) for this is that turbines severely degrade the utility of radar surveillance along the coastlines.

This is particularly relevant for low-altitude incursions and drones.

Now, other large governments (UK) have resolved this in several ways, including the deployment of additional radars on and within the turbine farms themselves.

So clearly this is politically motivated, and they're using what seems to be a real but solveable concern as a scapegoat.

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#22

Post by hristov »

lateforwork wrote: post #8

The Saudis have enormous influence over Trump through business deals. So does Qatar through the jet they gifted Trump, and the UAE through crypto deals. These oil rich countries are no fans of clean energy. Is it merely coincidence, then, that Trump is canceling wind and solar projects in the United States? Previously Trump also canceled the largest solar project in the United States. Known as Esmeralda 7, the projec…

The Arab Gulf states have also been pumping billions into Jared Cushner investment vehicles.

https://www.newsweek.com/jared-kushner-says-15bn-qatar-uae-c...

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#23

Post by breakyerself »

zppln wrote: post #18

This happens all the time in my country. The navy has all kinds of gear deployed in the sea that could be interfered with. Edit: Looks like they were a bit late to veto it here though.

This is obviously because Donald Trump notoriously hates offshore wind turbines.

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#24

Post by breakyerself »

linuxftw wrote: post #20

To be fair, there could absolutely be national security issues. One example might be undersea (or even surface) navigation. If the coastline is littered with windmills off shore, this might create a negative of submarine navigation routes. That's clearly information we don't want shared with adversaries. There might be undersea classified cables. There might be classified sonar stations. It might be hard to detect ad…

Sure. We can always imagine an excuse to avoid dealing with the obvious reality. I don't think it's productive though.

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#25

Post by catigula »

It's interesting that people are very incredulous of there being a legitimate defense reason for this when we have had unilateral unanswered drone incursions all over Europe and the US.

There's obviously some sort of arms race occurring and some of it is public.

The world in on the precipice of many technologies advancing at an all too rapid pace. The idea that technology will become tightly regulated isn't inconceivable.

FYI Sweden did the same thing last year. There is likely a (drone) reason, it's all but completely clear.

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#26

Post by ribosometronome »

linuxftw wrote: post #20

To be fair, there could absolutely be national security issues. One example might be undersea (or even surface) navigation. If the coastline is littered with windmills off shore, this might create a negative of submarine navigation routes. That's clearly information we don't want shared with adversaries. There might be undersea classified cables. There might be classified sonar stations. It might be hard to detect ad…

If that were the case, why would they have been granted the leases in the first place?

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#27

Post by lateforwork »

verdverm wrote: post #11
lateforwork wrote: post #8

The Saudis have enormous influence over Trump through business deals. So does Qatar through the jet they gifted Trump, and the UAE through crypto deals. These oil rich countries are no fans of clean energy. Is it merely coincidence, then, that Trump is canceling wind and solar projects in the United States? Previously Trump also canceled the largest solar project in the United States. Known as Esmeralda 7, the projec…

It's more the Scottish that caused this than the oil princes, the windmill stuff is all about petty hatred from losing a court case and now one of his precious golf courses has windmills visible out on the ocean for a few of the holes https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15l3knp4xyo

But he didn't just cancel wind projects. He cancelled solar. He cancelled EV tax credits.

Then Trump went a step further: He is using tariffs to pressure other countries to relax their pledges to fight climate change and instead burn more oil, gas and coal [1].

The oil princes are getting their moneys worth.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/climate/trump-internation...

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#28

Post by blahedo »

I've been wondering all year about what happens when an executive-branch office issues orders that it is not legally qualified to issue; by and large everybody has just... followed them. This may be another example (I don't know quite enough of the legal specifics in this case, though there are certainly others that are more slam-dunk-y in this respect).

What are the enforcement mechanisms here if the states in question---MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, and VA---just said "no go ahead, keep building"? What happens to the companies if they just keep building? I'm not saying they should but at this point rule-of-law has fallen apart so badly that I literally don't know what happens when the government invents a new rule and people just... disregard it. (Particularly if state-level enforcement decides not to play along.) Do they bring in the FBI? Military?

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#29

Post by linuxhansl »

What the... It seems we crossed into the realm of intentionally doing damage. I'm reminded of threatening tariffs to successfully derail global carbon levy on ship emissions.

Meanwhile China runs away with all the clean energy tech (solar, wind, batteries, etc, etc.) while we hold to fossil fuels to save less than 200,000 jobs.

Re: US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified

#30

Post by dmbche »

blahedo wrote: post #28

I've been wondering all year about what happens when an executive-branch office issues orders that it is not legally qualified to issue; by and large everybody has just... followed them. This may be another example (I don't know quite enough of the legal specifics in this case, though there are certainly others that are more slam-dunk-y in this respect). What are the enforcement mechanisms here if the states in quest…

These things take large amount of money from upstream, if the money is cut they can "say" what they want, nothing is getting done, from my understanding
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