The Wall Street Journal reports how the Trump administration has stalled wind energy, blocking federal permits and leasing for new projects both on land and at sea. “We’re not going to do the wind thing,” the president said, calling turbines ”ugly windmills that ruin the neighborhood.” The consequences are already being felt: Total Energies has postponed a major offshore project, Shell has written off more than $1 billion in wind investments, Orsted has posted losses of $1.7 billion and cut investment plans by 25 percent.
Republican Senator Jim Risch was pleased to point out that the government is moving away from the Green New Deal, the economic and social reform plan aimed at meeting the challenges of climate change and economic inequality, and thus away from progressive energy policies that included steps to decarbonize energy for clean energy production.
In recent years, the U.S. wind power industry was growing rapidly under previous administrations that were strongly considering wind power as an alternative energy source. However, the industry has faced its fair share of obstacles, such as supply chain disruptions, rising interest rates, and inflation. Now Trump’s decision amplifies these problems locally, and broadening to a global perspective, it will likely have a negative impact on the climate and the stymie efforts that many other countries are making to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
