


The Transportation Department on Friday said it was terminating or withdrawing $679 million in federal funding for 12 projects around the country intended to support the development of offshore wind power, the latest of the Trump administration’s escalating attacks against the wind industry.
The funds, approved by the Biden administration, include $427 million awarded last year to upgrade a marine terminal in Humboldt County, Calif. The new terminal would be used to assemble and launch wind turbines capable of floating in the ocean, which the state of California had been planning to deploy to meet its renewable energy goals.
The list of targeted projects also includes $48 million for an offshore wind port on Staten Island, $39 million to upgrade a port near Norfolk, Va. and $20 million for a marine terminal in Paulsboro, N.J. Most of the projects were intended to be staging areas for the construction of giant wind turbines that would eventually be placed at sea.
“Wasteful wind projects are using resources that could otherwise go toward revitalizing America’s maritime industry,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. He said that, where possible, the funding would be redirected toward upgrading other ports.
Mr. Trump has been a vocal opponent of wind power for years, and on his first day in office he issued a moratorium on federal approvals for new offshore wind projects.
In recent weeks, his administration has sharply increased its attacks on the wind industry, going so far as to order the halt of construction at Revolution Wind, a $6.2 billion wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island that was nearly finished. Officials in Rhode Island and Connecticut have assailed the move, saying there was no legal justification for blocking the order and that the move would threaten the reliability of the region’s electricity supply.