

Trump administration moves to yank approvals for Maryland offshore wind project, adding to crackdown

The Trump administration is accelerating its crackdown on offshore wind development by moving to withdraw federal approvals for a project planned off the coast of Maryland.
The Interior Department intends to remand and vacate the construction and operations permit granted to renewable company US Wind for its Maryland Offshore Wind Project, also known as MarWin, according to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court in Delaware on Friday.
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The project was approved under the Biden administration in early December 2024 and could generate more than two gigawatts of energy, enough to power over 718,000 homes.
Construction and operations permits obtained from the Interior Department last year approved the construction of up to 114 turbines, four offshore substations, a meteorological tower, and up to four cable corridors connecting the wind farm to the coast of Delaware.
The wind farm, set to be roughly 10 nautical miles off Ocean City, Maryland, has been 10 years in the making. U.S. Wind won the offshore lease auction for the block in August 2014.
Court documents reviewed by the Washington Examiner reveal that the federal government plans to reevaluate the permits for MarWin no later than Sept. 12.
The Trump administration has claimed its predecessor failed to comply with the Coastal Zone Management Act when issuing the approvals, an allegation US Wind denied in a separate filing.
The Interior Department is also requesting that the court stay a lawsuit filed against the agency, which challenged federal approvals under the Clean Water Act and Rivers Harbor Act.
“If Interior’s motion is granted, the agency action that Plaintiff challenges will be vacated, and thus his claims will be entirely moot,” the court filing reads. “And even if Interior’s motion is denied, the agency’s reconsideration of the [Construction and Operations Plan] will likely result in significant changes that will impact the positions and arguments of the parties here.”
The government indicated that the plaintiff of the lawsuit, a local Maryland resident, would not object to the stay, given the decision to vacate the permit. It also claimed that a stay of the case was unlikely to affect US Wind, as the company was not scheduled to start construction until 2028.
US Wind has remained adamant that it obtained every necessary permit legally.
“Our construction operations plan approval is the subject of ongoing litigation, but we remain confident that the federal permits we secured after a multi-year and rigorous public review process are legally sound,” a spokesperson told WBOC, which broke the news of the Interior Department’s plans Monday.
US Wind did not respond to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment.
The court documents detailing the Interior Department’s intent to revoke the approvals were filed the same day that the agency issued a stop-work order for the Revolution Wind offshore wind farm in New England, citing unspecified “national security” concerns.
The project is estimated to be roughly 80% completed, with 45 out of 65 planned turbines installed off the coast of Rhode Island.
ISO-New England, the independent grid operator for the region, warned Monday that the move would increase risks to grid reliability, hurt the local economy, and increase consumer costs.
This is the second project under construction that the Trump administration has attempted to block, the first being the Empire Wind project off the coast of New York. The Interior Department lifted its stop-work order in May, after one month of delays.
Offshore wind has long faced the ire of President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly expressed his disdain for the carbon-free source, calling it “ugly” and “expensive.”
WIND INDUSTRY DOUBTS ANY NEW OFFSHORE PROJECTS IN NEXT YEAR THANKS TO TRUMP
Earlier this month, Trump vowed that his administration would not allow a wind turbine to be built in the United States.
Despite the president’s criticisms, many wind advocates have expressed hope that fully permitted projects and those under construction would still be allowed to move forward. The recent actions from the administration, though, indicate that it is taking every step to delay even those.