‘Bad for Business’: What Trump’s Plan to Halt Offshore Wind Means for New York’s Economy

Trump s decision to halt new permits for offshore wind and pause construction of New York s Empire Wind project puts thousands of local jobs at menace and jeopardizes the promise of a billion economic boost to the state A model wind turbine during a press conference at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal where personnel declared plans to transform the site into one of the largest offshore wind port facilities in the nation Ed Reed Mayoral Photography Office The Empire State is standing up to President Donald Trump s attacks on the maturation of offshore wind farms New York is not backing down without a fight Gov Kathy Hochul mentioned last week after Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit to stop an executive order that suspended new leasing and permitting for wind projects And it may not be the only legal challenge on the horizon Offshore wind developer Equinor is also considering suing the Trump administration after the president halted work in mid-April on its New York based wind farm Empire Wind Although it took years to secure federal approvals for the venture the administration claimed the process had been rushed and all work needed to stop on site until further review is completed Trump who received record donations from fossil fuel industry groups on the campaign trail has pitted himself against the generation of non-polluting electricity through renewable sources like wind and promised to drill for more oil and gas instead But offshore wind advocates in New York challenge the President s suggests that he is ushering in a golden age of economic prosperity Halting wind projects is truly bad for the financial market and threatens local jobs they say If New York makes the five offshore wind solicitations it has in the pipeline a reality it would generate a combined economic impact of more than billion across the state according to state government And it would patronage more than jobs with average salaries of approximately per year On the local level New York City s South Brooklyn Marine Terminal an industrial port in Sunset Park was slated to become an operational and maintenance hub for Empire Wind and other offshore ventures These plans are part of a larger push to transform the industrial zone which has long been overlooked for economic financing into what the city calls a prime destination for environmentally sustainable industry The Trump Administration s stop-work order on the Empire Wind project and offshore wind generally is a devastating hit to South Brooklyn s economic activity as well as the nation s revealed New York Congressman Dan Goldman in an email The project was set to effect in million in income for New Yorkers On the state level it would inject billion into New York s commercial sector during the planning and construction phases of the project the developer Equinor notes By halting this fully permitted fully financed American-made project President Trump not only hurts working families in Brooklyn he stalls a major opportunity for long-term economic rise in our region Goldman added Drone footage of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal site which leaders planned to turn into one of the largest offshore wind port facilities in the nation Courtesy of Equinor Local jobs in limbo When Christopher Erikson business manager for Local Union No which represents employees at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal SBMT heard that a stop work order was issued on Empire Wind he was sorely disappointed Construction on the SBMT which has already employed over people and sought to power half a million New York homes with clean power was more than percent complete We were anticipating this work opportunity for such a long time and to see it almost come to fruition only to have the rug pulled out from under us was disappointing to say the least Erikson described City Limits The facility was on its way to becoming an assembly and maintenance hub for turbines that would be later ferried out and installed at sea to capture wind and generate electricity But we live to fight another day Erickson disclosed pointing out that while Equinor has halted work offshore to comply with the stop-work order it continues construction on building out the SBMT facility on land The decision to pause offshore construction was given after Trump s Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum instructed the Bureau of Ocean Resource Management BOEM which is responsible for issuing the permits to cease all construction exercises on the project Burgum claimed on social media site X that he had received information that suggests the Biden administration rushed through its approval without sufficient analysis While BOEM didn t comment on the stop-order it stated in a letter that Empire Wind may not resume sessions until the agency has completed its necessary review of the approved permits But Equinor s Empire Wind which Gov Hochul described as a fully federally permitted venture reportedly underwent a -year permitting process The federal review for setting up in the New York area began in Equinor then obtained its first lease for the project in during Trump s first presidency and its final federal approval in In the end pausing a project that has been over a decade in the making will have direct implications for workers and the surrounding public relying on the future cash flow Equinor signed a Project Labor Agreement PLA for the construction of SBMT that guaranteed over union construction jobs and apprenticeships in local New York communities the developer announced in a press release The agreement prioritizes hiring union members from the Sunset Park neighborhood and secondarily union members from New York City It also includes a local hire requirement that gives priority to union members who are Section New York City Housing Authority NYCHA residents veterans and those who live in Sunset Park Equinor noted Bad for business Not only were locals counting on job opportunities but Equinor says about current employees who were responsible for setting up the wind farm s structure in the sea bed off shore had to stop working promptly and can t count on a future paycheck This really does affect people s lives declared Esther Rosario executive director of the labor union coalition State Jobs NY We can debate science or even the atmosphere situation but saying no to a project like this that is already underway is just bad for business she mentioned And construction at the SBMT isn t the only part of the industry potentially taking a hit A federal grant awarded to the Educational and Cultural Trust Fund administered by Local Union No last September to build an onshore and offshore wind safety training facility in upstate Walden NY may now be at exposure too The U S Economic Expansion Administration which issued the grant recounted staff at Local Union No who spoke to City Limits on condition of anonymity that the decision to give them the money was sent to Washington for further review The facility would have made it more cost-effective for projects in the northeast to guarantee the Global Wind Organization certificate that employees need to work on a wind farm Experts say there are only a handful of facilities in the U S that issue the certificate which demands to be renewed every two years forcing employees to advance long distances and spend more to secure the training The bottom line members of the environmental society say is that Trump s interference in the offshore wind industry could scare off future investors and cost the country money on other business transactions This is essentially the leadership assuming control of privately owned assets It is the worst thing a leader can do for broader capital or foreign direct funding mentioned Vanessa Fajans-Turner executive director of Environmental Advocates New York It sends out the message to other companies that there is a strong chance that even if they have all of the legal permissions they need on a project the administration can still block their ability to follow through and make good on their investments she added To reach the reporter behind this story contact Mariana citylimits org To reach the editor contact Jeanmarie citylimits org Want to republish this story Find City Limits reprint guidelines here The post Bad for Business What Trump s Plan to Halt Offshore Wind Means for New York s Commercial sector appeared first on City Limits