Trump officials allow massive New York offshore wind project to restart

The Trump administration lifted the stop-work order on a major wind farm off the coast of New York on Monday, according to a statement by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, following direct appeals she made to the president. "After countless conversations with [the wind project developer] Equinor and White House officials, bringing labor and business to the table to emphasize the importance of this project, I'm pleased that President Trump and Secretary Burgum have agreed to lift the stop work order and allow this project to move forward," she said. The reversal comes after intense efforts to lobby the Trump administration by Hochul and the Norwegian energy company building the Empire Wind project. Equinor Renewable Americas President Molly Morris had said last week the company would be forced to cancel the project within days if there was no sign from the administration of a possible resolution. Hochul, a Democrat, had three roughly one-hour calls with President Donald Trump, the most recent on Sunday, asking for the stop-work order to be rescinded, according to a person familiar with the matter. In the calls, she emphasized the need for projects that bring more energy to New York, while highlighting the number of jobs Empire Wind would create. "Thousands of jobs. Hundreds of thousands of homes powered by clean energy. That's what Empire Wind 1 was poised to deliver until a stop work order was issued on April 16 by the Department of Interior," Hochul said in her statement. Empire Wind is set to create more than 1,500 direct jobs building and operating the wind farm and thousands more indirectly. Morris and Equinor CEO Anders Opedal met with Kevin Hassett, head of the White House National Economic Council, earlier this month, and Hassett seemed sympathetic to the situation, Morris said. Equinor also communicated with lower-level contacts in the Interior Department in a bid to find a solution. "We feel strongly that this is bigger than Empire Wind and the offshore wind industry. This is about energy projects that are under construction being stopped," Morris said in an interview last week. Equinor had been burning through $50 million a week on the Empire Wind project in the weeks since the stop-work order, she said. Despite the offshore stop-work order, roughly 500 union workers in hard hats have been pushing ahead with the construction of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, where a control center, warehouse and substation for Empire Wind were half-built. Morris said 11 ships had been idling each day waiting to begin offshore construction. When Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued the offshore stop-work order in April, Equinor had already invested $2.7 billion in the project and built half its onshore operations facility for Empire Wind in Brooklyn. Work was set to begin on installing turbines in coastal waters this month. In halting the wind project, Trump had put the very existence of a nascent U.S. offshore wind industry in doubt. He issued an executive order on his first day in office to halt all new approvals for wind projects, but wind industry executives expected roughly half a dozen fully permitted wind projects already in some stage of construction - including Empire Wind - to go forward. Proponents of renewable power said that Trump's suspension of the project had sent a dangerous signal that it wasn't safe to invest in the United States, because the government can at any time reverse past approvals and kill billion-dollar projects. Adrienne Esposito, executive director for Citizens Campaign for the Environment, welcomed the announcement. "This is cause for celebration and signifies that when all parties come together to discuss important issues that common ground can be reached," she said. "This is a huge milestone in the fight for clean energy, clean air and a diversified energy plan."