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December 22, 2025<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Trump Administration Targets Offshore Wind Farms, Citing National Security Concerns<\/p>\n The U.S. Department of the Interior announced it would \u201cpause\u201d leases for five large offshore wind farms, imperiling the fast-growing clean energy industry<\/p>\n By Dan Vergano edited by Claire Cameron<\/span><\/p>\n Pilot project turbines for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Program, slated to be completed in 2026.<\/p>\n Kendall Warner\/The Virginian-Pilot\/Tribune News Service\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The Trump administration on Monday announced it was \u201cpausing\u2014effective immediately\u201d leases for five large offshore wind farms being built off the East Coast. In the announcement, Department of the Interior secretary Doug Burgum cited \u201cemerging national security risks\u201d for the decision, but the agency provided no evidence as to what risks had been found.<\/p>\n The five projects affected by the pause are offshore of New York State, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Virginia. Around 5.8 gigawatts of offshore wind was expected to come online in the U.S. between 2025 to 2029\u2014enough to power millions of homes across the Eastern Seaboard. Some $10 billion has been invested in the U.S. wind industry since 2021. The Trump administration decision imperils that both that investment and future energy capacity.<\/p>\n A statement announcing the decision on Monday indicated that wind turbines caused radar \u201cclutter,\u201d referencing a 2024 Energy Department report that looked into wind turbines\u2019 effect on radar systems.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n That report warned that clutter from wind turbines in the line of sight of defense and civilian radar systems can cause interference and lead to false alarms. One strategy to mitigate this problem, the report noted, is to lower radar detection thresholds\u2014which reduces the clutter but could result in missing \u201cactual targets.\u201d Another option the report proposed is to ensure wind farms aren\u2019t built in a radar\u2019s line of sight.<\/p>\n “We should not be kneecapping America\u2019s largest source of renewable power, especially when we need more cheap, homegrown electricity,” said Ted Kelly of U.S. Clean Energy at the Environmental Defense Fund, in a statement. “Instead, this administration has baselessly and unlawfully attacked wind energy,” he added.<\/p>\n One of the affected projects, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, was sited \u201cin close coordination with the military,\u201d according to a spokesperson for Dominion Energy, which operates the wind farm, in comments to the New York Times. Indeed, wind farm operators, scientists and the military have collaborated on minimizing radar effects of wind farms for decades. Burgum on Monday told Fox Business that the decision to pause the projects came because the Department of Defense \u201chas come back conclusively that … these large offshore wind programs create radar interference.\u201d<\/p>\n The Department of the Interior and the Department of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Note: This story is in development and may be updated.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" December 22, 2025 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Trump Administration Targets Offshore Wind Farms, Citing National Security Concerns The U.S. Department of the Interior announced it would \u201cpause\u201d leases for five large offshore wind farms, imperiling the fast-growing clean energy industry By Dan Vergano edited by Claire Cameron Pilot project turbines for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[794,3318,2974,4160,120,16546,1242,1415,81,962],"class_list":{"0":"post-38698","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-administration","9":"tag-citing","10":"tag-concerns","11":"tag-farms","12":"tag-national","13":"tag-offshore","14":"tag-security","15":"tag-targets","16":"tag-trump","17":"tag-wind"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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