Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he pulled $679 million in funding for offshore wind projects on Friday, suggesting investments be made elsewhere.
“Wasteful, wind projects are using resources that could otherwise go towards revitalizing America’s maritime industry,” the Transportation Secretary said in a Friday statement.
“Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg bent over backwards to use transportation dollars for their Green New Scam agenda while ignoring the dire needs of our shipbuilding industry,” he continued.
The bulk of the Biden-era funds will be clawed back from a marine terminal in Humboldt County, Calif., set to be used to build and launch wind turbines that can float in the ocean. The project received $427 million in federal funding.
The move will also strip millions from two projects in New Jersey, $47 million from an offshore wind project in Maryland, $10.5 million a project in Connecticut, $11.2 million for infrastructure upgrades to the Port of Davisville in Rhode Island and other projects in Virginia, Michigan and elsewhere.
“Thanks to President Trump, we are prioritizing real infrastructure improvements over fantasy wind projects that cost much and offer little,” Duffy said on Friday.
However, clean energy advocates and leaders in the states losing funding criticized the move, predicting it would contribute to higher energy costs and elimate jobs.
“It’s so dogmatic. They are willing to eliminate thousands of jobs and an entire sector that can bring cheap, reliable power to American consumers,” California Rep. Jared Huffman (D), ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, said to the Associated Press.
Others agreed.
“This administration has it exactly backwards. It’s trying to prop up clunky, polluting coal plants while doing all it can to halt the fastest growing energy sources of the future – solar and wind power,” Kit Kennedy, managing director for the power division at Natural Resources Defense Council, told AP.
“Unfortunately, every American is paying the price for these misguided decisions.”
A separate project known as Revolution Wind is also set to lose funding as ordered by the Trump administration. The wind farm built in Rhode Island to the tune of $6.2 billion had its funding revoked despite its expected completion in 2026 and projected ability to power 350,000 homes.
“This political move by the Trump administration will drive up the cost of electricity bills and contradicts everything the administration has told us. It wastes years of state investment in renewable energy designed to diversify our energy supply and lower costs for families and businesses,” Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) said of Duffy’s decision.
“All of that is now at risk,” he said Friday.
