MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 26, 2025
President Trump’s executive order temporarily halting offshore wind lease sales in federal waters and pausing approvals, permits or loans for onshore and offshore wind projects is bad news for Maine. The first victims of this sweeping decision are the commercial leases for floating turbines in the Gulf of Maine. The second hit lands on Sears Island, the state’s preferred site for a terminal at which to build turbines for offshore wind energy. The third project is the plan for a cluster of as many as 12 floating turbines over 15 square miles that promises to give a number of parties an opportunity to study offshore wind in practice. This executive order was signed by President Trump without a care for the economy of the future or the creation of thousands of jobs for more than one generation of workers. We’ll save the climate change argument for another day.