NICK LORIS: Trump Already Won Gold For Stopping Offshore Wind

President Donald Trump is no fan of offshore wind. His administration has impeded its development since he began his second term. Projects have been suspended, new leases frozen and permits slowed or stopped altogether. Yet the biggest casualty of this largely successful harassment campaign could be realizing American energy dominance.

In its most recent foray against offshore wind, the administration announced it would appeal court rulings that allowed five offshore wind projects to proceed despite last December’s blanket construction halt on national security grounds. Yet the Administration’s ongoing actions risk derailing the possibility of reforming our broken permitting system—a downside far greater than allowing five fully permitted wind projects to go forward.

The Trump administration did not pioneer executive intervention in energy policy. Democratic administrations took similar steps long before. President Barack Obama denied the Keystone XL Pipeline permit on weak grounds. His Environmental Protection Agency revoked an already-issued coal mine permit and preemptively vetoed another project in Alaska. The Biden administration canceled or restricted federal oil and gas leases, revoked Keystone XL’s permit a second time and paused liquefied natural gas exports. The dye was cast long ago.

To its credit, the Trump administration has reversed much of that approach, refocusing policy on American energy dominance and consumer affordability. With rising demand and prices, the United States needs more generation, pipelines, and transmission capacity. The administration has pledged to cut red tape and accelerate development, signaling that regulatory bottlenecks should be fixed—not weaponized.

Offshore wind, however, has proved an exception to these worthy aims. Continuing to challenge projects that have already cleared the permitting process undermines the broader message of regulatory reform. When policy swings with the stroke of a pen, investors hesitate or demand higher risk premiums, ultimately inflating consumer utility bills. Regulatory whiplash erodes the certainty markets need to finance pipelines, power plants, transmission lines, and emerging technologies. Creating new pathways to block disfavored projects simply hands future administrations new tools to do the same in return.

Many of the offshore wind projects now under challenge rely on subsidies, state power purchase agreements, and targeted tax credits. If the administration has concerns about costs to taxpayers and ratepayers, the solution is to reform or remove market-distorting policies—not to reopen duly issued permits. Legitimate national security concerns, if they exist, should be addressed directly. Projects that have already passed review should move forward.