Court orders restart of all US offshore wind power construction • Hacker News Board

Re: Court orders restart of all US offshore wind power construction

#11

Post by einpoklum » Mon, Feb 02, 2026, 11:18 PM UTC

Judge: "Why were these projects put on hold?"

Government lawyers: "Uh, well, we could tell you, but then we'd have to kill you."

Now, I would point out how the US is making itself into a joke, but I'm afraid the joke's on us, because carbon output is not decreasing dramatically like it must, and the effects of global warming will, slowly but surely, become worse with every passing year. I live in a region where warming is predicted to be near twice the global average, so I'm particularly worried about what it's going to be like when I'm old, or in the generation following mine.

Re: Court orders restart of all US offshore wind power construction

#12

Post by softwaredoug » Mon, Feb 02, 2026, 11:22 PM UTC

If these projects ultimately end up canceled they’ll be the largest “mostly done” infrastructure projects to be cancelled. A huge waste. And a monument to US incompetency.

Re: Court orders restart of all US offshore wind power construction

#13

Post by maxerickson » Mon, Feb 02, 2026, 11:24 PM UTC

ggm wrote: post #7

kentm wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate the sentiment behind steelmanning but Trump has had over a decade of publicaly, vocally hating windmills because some were built too close to his golf course. See https://www.npr.org/2013/07/01/196352470/thar-he-blows-trump... Its completely in-line with his personality to hold onto personal grievances for decades to the point that they become policy.

The Judges appear to have responded to something specific. If it was made-up, they would have thrown the case out harder and sanctioned whoever submitted false evidence. So I assume somebody with an ability to legally bind intel into the right form was persuaded to say something.

In the quote in the article there, the one judge responds to something specific by calling it "irrational".

Re: Court orders restart of all US offshore wind power construction

#14

Post by sandworm101 » Mon, Feb 02, 2026, 11:28 PM UTC

I am all for green energy, but these windfarms were designed years ago. Since then, solar has progressed in leaps whereas wind has not. Im not so sure that fighting the olds over wind farms is the fight worth winning. Let them cancel the wind farms if that means a free hand to develop solar.

Re: Court orders restart of all US offshore wind power construction

#15

Post by unyttigfjelltol » Mon, Feb 02, 2026, 11:31 PM UTC

pjdesno wrote: post #9

In the 70s the oil companies were furious that Venezuela (if my understanding is correct) revoked their leases and forced them to abandon their equipment investments. That's basically what the administration was trying to do here, under a legal system which (unlike Venezuela in the 70s) is very keen on protecting corporate investment. It seems like a classic "takings" case.

If the concern is the control module of the wind turbine— that’s not a nationalization and confiscation program. It might look similar in the near-term to participants, but that’s simply because they are functioning as instruments of the control module supplier, extending the inference, which isn’t a legitimate owner of the wind farms or US electrical grid anyway, and is quite unlike the fossil fuel companies in Venezuela of the 1970s.

Re: Court orders restart of all US offshore wind power construction

#16

Post by Rapzid » Mon, Feb 02, 2026, 11:31 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #14

I am all for green energy, but these windfarms were designed years ago. Since then, solar has progressed in leaps whereas wind has not. Im not so sure that fighting the olds over wind farms is the fight worth winning. Let them cancel the wind farms if that means a free hand to develop solar.

Whether or not these wind farms are economically viable sounds like something for the companies building them to work out.

Re: Court orders restart of all US offshore wind power construction

#17

Post by duskwuff » Mon, Feb 02, 2026, 11:36 PM UTC

ggm wrote: post #7

kentm wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate the sentiment behind steelmanning but Trump has had over a decade of publicaly, vocally hating windmills because some were built too close to his golf course. See https://www.npr.org/2013/07/01/196352470/thar-he-blows-trump... Its completely in-line with his personality to hold onto personal grievances for decades to the point that they become policy.

The Judges appear to have responded to something specific. If it was made-up, they would have thrown the case out harder and sanctioned whoever submitted false evidence. So I assume somebody with an ability to legally bind intel into the right form was persuaded to say something.

Perhaps the objection started out with something fundamentally irrational or opinion-based, and someone was ordered to "reverse-engineer" an objection out of that which wasn't trivially refutable - e.g. "the noise from the turbines will keep our submarine sonar from working" or "reports say that human smugglers are hiding aboard the windmills" or whatever.

Re: Court orders restart of all US offshore wind power construction

#18

Post by aspbee555 » Mon, Feb 02, 2026, 11:37 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #14

I am all for green energy, but these windfarms were designed years ago. Since then, solar has progressed in leaps whereas wind has not. Im not so sure that fighting the olds over wind farms is the fight worth winning. Let them cancel the wind farms if that means a free hand to develop solar.

solar only runs during the day and when it is not cloudy, wind farms can run constantly with low weather impact

multiple energy sources are what is important to make up for where solar falls short. sure solar is amazing, but it will never replace everything on its own

Re: Court orders restart of all US offshore wind power construction

#19

Post by ggm » Mon, Feb 02, 2026, 11:38 PM UTC

duskwuff wrote: post #17

ggm wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Judges appear to have responded to something specific. If it was made-up, they would have thrown the case out harder and sanctioned whoever submitted false evidence. So I assume somebody with an ability to legally bind intel into the right form was persuaded to say something.

Perhaps the objection started out with something fundamentally irrational or opinion-based, and someone was ordered to "reverse-engineer" an objection out of that which wasn't trivially refutable - e.g. "the noise from the turbines will keep our submarine sonar from working" or "reports say that human smugglers are hiding aboard the windmills" or whatever.

Yes, I think thats very plausible. "inshore defense operations in an area of strategic importance will be excessively impeded by both development of this site, and future operations in ways which " type thing.

Re: Court orders restart of all US offshore wind power construction

#20

Post by Analemma_ » Mon, Feb 02, 2026, 11:41 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #14

I am all for green energy, but these windfarms were designed years ago. Since then, solar has progressed in leaps whereas wind has not. Im not so sure that fighting the olds over wind farms is the fight worth winning. Let them cancel the wind farms if that means a free hand to develop solar.

What olds? The shutdown here was ostensibly for national security reasons.

> Let them cancel the wind farms if that means a free hand to develop solar.

That's not actually a bargain anyone has the power to agree to in a binding way. The people protesting the appearance of wind farms are on the coasts, the people protesting solar are in the country's interior. There's no "deal" you can make to get the latter instead of the former. Just build all the power generation and then we'll have cheaper electricity and a more resilient grid.